Thanks for these posts. This filled in many years of something that didn't make sense, and now does. TG2, would love for you to give my kid a lesson.
My older kid threw mid-90s and I was always concerned about his lack of "connectivity."
The important part of all the clips isn't the connectivity or toe drag, but the angle of the front and back legs through the delivery. The angle of the back leg is about 45 degrees, more than the angle of the front leg. The stride is downhill with the mound surface elevated higher on the backside foot. The angle has to be greater to AVOID contact with the dirt. When the release then subsequent follow through happens, the foot taps because the follow through is down and over the front side. These pitchers are throwing through and not around their bodies. Those pitchers are also striding a typical length.
Guys like Lincecum and Oswalt have long stride lengths. The drag line appears to be more a function of how far they stride out. Once they are at plant, the mechanics look similar. It appears they are "cheating" the distance to the plate and using the drag line to get there.
Most MLB pitchers release at about 90% of body length. Lincecum is over 110%. The drag line would have to take place to do that. His is fairly diagonal. A normal percentage of stride length and a drag line doesn't appear to be supported from the posts. The drag line posts are long stride lengths. They appear to support those.
Thanks TG2, great posts.