Motor Preferences Experts, LLC @MotorPreference

Looking at Pete Crow-Armstrong’s setup from 2025 to what we’ve seen during the 2026 season makes this quote pretty interesting. The way an athlete starts a movement can influence everything that follows. And we’re pretty sure there will be a bunch of young hitters who see PCA having success and go from a lower, wider stance to something a little taller and narrower. For some, it might work. For others, it won’t. That’s the important part. Understanding what your athletes prefer gives you more information to decide what might make sense for them. See Athletes Differently. Develop Them Individually.

Pretty cool one for us. Some of the early days of applying Motor Preferences were with the 2022 and 2023 Maryland teams alongside coaches who are now at Alabama. Years later, we got the opportunity to bring MPE to Alabama Baseball, assess their players and continue those conversations. Appreciate Coach Vaughn and the staff for having us out! 🐘 @AlabamaBSB @rvaughnBAMA

One thing that can get lost when talking about Motor Preferences is the continuum. It’s easy to hear Aerial or Terrestrial and think every athlete falls neatly into one bucket. It’s not always that simple. Two athletes can have the same preference and still express it very differently. One athlete may sit much further toward one end of the continuum, while another may be closer to the middle. That gives us more context. As coaches, we’re always trying to put our athletes in the best position to be successful. The more we understand where an athlete sits on that continuum, the more information we have when deciding what to emphasize, what to adjust and what might be better left alone. We’re not trying to make an athlete look like their preference. We’re using the preference to better understand the athlete already in front of us. That’s part of what helps us get beyond putting athletes into categories and start actually understanding the individual.

Want to learn more about how Motor Preferences can help you better understand the athlete in front of you? Learn more here 👇 motorpreferencesexperts.com

All four of these pitchers are Aerial. But look at how different they move. That's because Aerial is only one piece of their Motor Preferences. An athlete has multiple preferences that can help us better understand how they naturally move. Put those pieces together and we start to get a clearer picture of the individual. So identifying someone as Aerial doesn't give us one delivery they should use. It gives us another piece of information to help understand the athlete we're coaching. Same general preference. Four very different pitchers. That's why we want to understand the individual before deciding on the solution.

Cal Raleigh. 2025 vs. 2026. We noticed something interesting looking at his right-handed swing. His bat speed is almost identical: 2025: 75.2 mph 2026: 75.0 mph But the contact quality has changed a bit. Hard Hit: 49.6% → 39.0% Barrel: 19.5% → 14.3% Avg EV: 91.3 → 89.9 mph Cal has talked about the oblique injury he dealt with this season and said that was a big part of his struggles. That's important context, and it could even be part of why we're seeing some differences in the swing. From an MPE lens, we're curious about the change in how he's balancing from the right side. If an athlete prefers balancing and pivoting more over the left leg, what happens when we see him become more anchored over the right? Does it change where he rotates? Where he makes contact? Where the ball goes? We're not saying that's the answer here. But put the swings side by side with the numbers and it's definitely fun to look at. What do you think?

There was one time we had the opportunity to talk with a high-level coach about two hitters he had coached for a long time. He told us they would almost alternate having good days. A cue would work really well for one, but not the other. Same thing with certain drills. It was almost like when one was getting better, the other would regress that day. That was when he started to realize that what worked for one athlete wasn't always going to work for the other. Same goal, but they might need different ways of getting there.

Just want to say a quick thank you to @SuzyWillemssen for coaching @MotorPreference to my daughter @GigiPayne2030 and educating me about it too which has changed the way I coach. It has changed my daughter’s game and the players on my team who have embraced it! #FreedomOfMovement

A training program doesn’t have to completely change to become more individualized. Two pitchers may throw the same bullpen, lift in the same weight room and work toward the same goals. The difference may be what we emphasize within that training. Same environment. Different priorities.

Oklahoma was the first school we had the opportunity to visit back in 2024. Since then, the questions have gotten deeper and the conversations have continued to evolve. An assessment gives us another piece of information, but the value comes from combining it with what coaches see every day, what athletes feel, and the context surrounding their development. Really appreciative of the Oklahoma staff for taking a chance on us early and continuing to explore alongside us. And a big thank you to the athletes for their curiosity and openness throughout the process. See Athletes Differently. Develop Them Individually. #MPEFam | @OU_Softball

Observe first. Then gather context. Has the athlete been coached to get deep into their legs their whole life? Have they always been told to stay back over the rubber? Is the movement you’re seeing something they naturally chose, or something they’ve learned to do? Before deciding what needs to change, look for the hints the athlete’s body is already giving you about how they may prefer to move. The more context you have, the better the coaching decision.

Two elite pitchers can be trying to accomplish the same thing and look completely different doing it. And those differences don’t disappear just because two athletes share the same profile. They may still express that profile in very different ways. The key is understanding the athlete at a deeper level. If we can start by getting athletes balanced and better understand how they naturally move, we can put them in a better position to perform without forcing everyone toward the same solution. In 2025, MLB teams had more than $1 billion in salary tied to players missing time with injuries. That doesn’t mean every injury is preventable, but it should make us think about how we develop athletes and the solutions we ask them to use. One size does not fit all.  Before changing a delivery, ask yourself: Does this actually need to change?

One of the easiest ways to learn about an athlete is to watch what they do when nobody is telling them how to move. How do they stand? How do they pick something up? How do they throw something that isn’t a baseball or softball? Sometimes the little things tell you a lot.

Grateful for the opportunity to work with the USA Softball Women’s National Team 🇺🇸 A huge thank you to the athletes for their curiosity and openness throughout the process, and to the USA Softball staff for having us. We’ll be back in December to continue the work. motorpreferencesexperts.com/blog/softball-…

We would think it would match a Front Leg Extension delivery pretty well. Context can tell us. Next step would be to watch run walk, jog, play catch, etc. Does he show similar patterns and qualities? Does he have a shorter ground contact time on the front leg (left)? Great question! Observe and learn and see the individual ✌️

Individualized coaching doesn’t mean every athlete needs a completely different program. Sometimes it’s one cue. One setup change. One drill. It doesn’t have to be an intimidatingly big overhaul. Small changes can make the solution fit the athlete better.

Just because an athlete CAN move a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the easiest way for them to move. Athletes are adaptable. They can find ways to perform outside of their preferences. But if an athlete has to think more about HOW they’re moving, that’s attention they can’t put toward the task. See the ball. React. Compete. You could say that a good solution for an athlete is the one that comes most natural

Put two athletes in the same fielding drill and watch where they choose to start. Does one naturally work lower? Does another stay taller? What happens when you stop telling them exactly where their feet or body need to be? Before correcting the setup, ask what the setup might be telling you about the athlete.