Two really different starting positions here. Two really different starting positions here. One starts with the hands much higher. The other is lower and closer to the body. But what’s interesting is they still get to a lot of similar positions throughout the swing. How they get there is different. That’s something we think about a lot. If we only focus on the position we want an athlete to get to, it can be easy to start coaching everyone toward the same setup. What happens if we move the hands higher or lower? Does the athlete still organize the same way? What feels comfortable? What feels forced? Athletes can complete the same task in different ways. The bigger question is how do we know which way may make more sense for the athlete in front of us? That’s where Motor Preferences can give us more information. One starts with the hands much higher. The other is lower and closer to the body. But what’s interesting is they still get to a lot of similar positions throughout the swing. How they get there is different. That’s something we think about a lot. If we only focus on the position we want an athlete to get to, it can be easy to start coaching everyone toward the same setup. What happens if we move the hands higher or lower? Does the athlete still organize the same way? What feels comfortable? What feels forced? Athletes can complete the same task in different ways. The bigger question is how do we know which way may make more sense for the athlete in front of us? That’s where Motor Preferences can give us more information.

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.

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.