Pitch AI vs Armored Heat: which is right for your arm?

Armored Heat describes itself as an "all-in-one arm care and performance solution" built by Ryan Yoshida, a former Los Angeles Dodgers Doctor of Physical Therapy. The app delivers shoulder, scapular, and elbow strengthening with video and written cues for each exercise. Its site lists testimonials from MLB pitchers and college pitching coaches, including Vanderbilt's pitching coach, and says the program is used by MLB players, college programs, and youth athletes.

Pitch AI is broader. It builds a personalized throwing program from the athlete's profile, goals, season phase, schedule, readiness, and recovery, then coordinates strength and conditioning, mechanics video feedback, pitch design tools, and nutrition tracking around it. Arm care work (for example band and scap activation in warm-ups) is part of that plan, but it is not a standalone physical therapy program the way Armored Heat is.

Armored Heat's arm care depth is its clearest strength. Its website lists four program types: Pre-Throw Activation, Full Armor (strength work for heavy throwing days across the scapula, shoulder, and forearm), Recovery/Mobility, and Scap Emphasis for medium throwing days. The company says programs progress with new exercises every two weeks to avoid plateaus. Its monthly package describes a six-day week: two days of total arm strengthening, two of scapular emphasis, and two of recovery and mobility, with video guidance for every session. The app also logs workouts and tracks personal bests.

Armored Heat also sells a 15 inch and an 8 inch water-filled stability ball that it says are used throughout the program, so some exercises expect that equipment.

Pitch AI includes arm care inside a bigger plan. Warm-ups can include J-Band and scap activation work based on the equipment the athlete owns, and the strength engine counts arm care sets as part of weekly training load so the gym and the throwing plan do not pile up on the same days. That is useful, but if arm care volume and variety are your priority, a dedicated physical therapist-designed program offers more of it.

Armored Heat is built to fit around a throwing schedule rather than to write one. The company says you select whether you are throwing light, moderate, heavy, or not at all each day, and the app delivers the matching arm care. Its annual bundle adds personalization where you send your throwing and lifting schedule. Its public materials do not describe a throwing program, throw-count logging, or workload ratio tracking.

Pitch AI writes the throwing plan itself. It logs throwing sessions and calculates an acute (7-day) versus chronic (28-day) workload ratio using exponentially weighted moving averages. When the ratio drifts outside a target range for the athlete's season phase, the plan adjusts volume and intensity. It also tracks game pitching and applies age-based Pitch Smart rest days. The goal is to build capacity steadily, not just to cut throwing. Research supports ACWR as one useful part of a broader monitoring system rather than a standalone injury predictor, and the EWMA method as the more sensitive calculation (Griffin et al., 2020).

Armored Heat keeps things simple on purpose. It advertises "no time-consuming assessments": you open the app, pick or follow the day's routine, and train. Drag-and-drop scheduling lets you plan the week around games, and on-demand access lets you pull up any pre- or post-throw routine. The App Store listing notes Apple Watch support synced with HealthKit.

Pitch AI asks for a short daily wellness check-in: readiness, soreness, sleep, stress, arm freshness, and elbow, shoulder, and back pain ratings. Those answers, together with the workload ratio, change that day's intensity and volume. It can also read selected Apple Health data such as sleep and resting heart rate as context. That takes a little more input each day in exchange for automatic adjustments.

Armored Heat offers custom team packages and positions them as a way for coaching staffs to hand off the whole arm care program. Team pricing is not publicly listed; the site asks teams to reach out.

Pitch AI's Coach View gives coaches a roster, readiness review, workload trends including the acute to chronic ratio chart, a team calendar, and the option to assign coach-authored or Pitch AI programming. Team plans are listed publicly at $209.99 per year for 12 athletes, $419.99 for 25, and $699.99 for 50 on the web ($299.99, $599.99, and $1,000 in the iOS app).

Pitch AI prices are web prices billed through Stripe at pitch-ai.app, with U.S. App Store in-app prices in parentheses. Armored Heat prices are from armoredheat.com, where the subscription is sold; the app itself is a free download. Storefront pricing, promotions, and taxes can change.

The price gap reflects different products. Armored Heat's annual bundle includes equipment and personalized support from its team. Pitch AI costs less but is software only, with no physical gear.