MMV #046: Should You Shutdown, De-Load, or Keep Throwing?

Read time: 4 minutes

This is the most critical time of the year for pitchers.

What you do between and the spring will dictate what kind of a season it will be.

You have 3 main options:

1. Shutdown

2. De-Load

3. Continue high intent throwing

I want to walk through all 3 of these scenarios and at the end give insight into what I would do.

*At the bottom there is a link for multiple build up and de-load plans*

 Lets begin.

Shutdowns

Lets use Monday, November 6th as the beginning of the shutdown, de-load, or next block of high intent throwing as a point of reference.

The first thing we have to do when creating a throwing plan is to look forward a couple months from now.

Where do I or my pitchers need to be come opening day?

How many pitches and innings do they need to be prepared for?

And with that information, how much time can we afford to take off?

To do this we need to work backwards, starting with opening day.

To help with this process, here are some general guidelines:

1 week off = 1-2 week build up

2 weeks off = 3-4 week build up

3 weeks = 4-5 week build up

4 weeks or more = 6 week build up

Build up means you are ready for bullpens or high intent throwing.

Build up from the time bullpens start to be prepared for 5 innings = 7 weeks

I want to briefly highlight how much time you can afford to take off with each levels respective opening days.

22 weeks until opening day for HS (early April)

• Bullpens start week of February 19th
• 16 weeks from 11/6 until bullpens start
• Most time off is 9 weeks (start throwing week of 1/8)

18 weeks until opening day for HS (early March)

• Bullpen start week of January 22nd
• 12 weeks from 11/6 until bullpens start
• Most time off is 5 weeks (start throwing 12/11)

15 weeks until opening day for D1 (Mid February)

• Bullpens start week of January 1st (to be ready for 5 innings opening day)
• 9 weeks from 11/6 until bullpens start
• Most time off is 3 weeks (start throwing week of 11/27)

12 weeks until opening day for JUCO (end of January)

• Bullpens start week of December 11th
• 6 weeks from 11/6 until bullpens start
• Most time off is 2 weeks (start throwing 11/20)

This can be adjusted depending on how many innings and pitches the player needs to be prepared for come opening day.

Relievers don’t need to be built to 5 innings so you can start having them pitch 2x a week once they reached the desired amount of innings.

De-loads

A de-load is reduced volume and intensity, but still throwing.

De-loads are great when there isn't a lot of time to shutdown or if you want to jump into a development phase during the winter.

An example de-load week would be 3-5x a week of throwing of only low and medium intent throwing.

You could still do mound work during this time if intensity and volume or lower.

Think of this as a time to give yourself a breather, but not to the point you have to build up from ground zero.

Depending on how long you de-load, make sure you give yourself 1-2 weeks of higher intent throwing before jumping back into your inning build up for season.

Continued High Intent Throwing

This has its pros and cons.

The pros are you give yourself more time to work on things and to develop.

The con is you don't get a breather until essentially May or June.

This can make sense for someone that really needs to make strides and improvements to pitch meaningful innings in the spring or someone who shutdown for a while earlier in the year.

My Thoughts and Opinion

More often than not, a de-load is the right play over shutting down. Especially for college level players.

Most players are still fighting for a spot in the rotation or meaningful innings out of the pen.

Shutting down and only giving yourself enough time to build up is not the best way to take advantage of time away from the team.

A de-load allows you to take a breather but you can also jump back into high intent work in December to work on things.

High school players starting their season in March or April can definitely take time off and still have time for development and to build up.

Summary

• Give yourself enough time to build up if you shutdown
• De-loading is probably the best play for most players
• High school players have more of an opportunity to shutdown during the winter

To help you through this process, click here to download build up and de-load plans, as well as a player plan template.

I also hosted a Space on Twitter (X) about this as well. You can listen to that here.

That's all for today.

See you next week!

Whenever you are ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:

1. Remote Training: a personalized training program for you to do anywhere in the world. 

2. In-Person Training: Work with me in Phoenix, Arizona. Trackman and edgertronic for bullpen sessions.