quote:Originally posted by TG2:
And now if I understand your presentation correctly you are saying that a back foot which immediately goes out to the throwing arm side indicates poor use of the hips and lower body. Yet that is exactly what is going on with Lincecum and Koufax, who in my opinion get much more out of their lower bodies than John Smoltz. Incidentally, in the case of Lincecum, his foot going to the right is not entirely explained by his dominant “ferris wheel” delivery.
When the back foot drag goes out to arm side, for me, it is an indication that the lower half is not working with the upper half. When the athlete is “upper body aggressive,” you will see a straight line from release to back foot as well as the path of the drag line out to arm side. My example with Prior was to show him as “balanced” approach (upper half working with lower half) in a game vs an “imbalanced” approach in which he is using more upper body than lower half (doing the towel drill). With TL’s approach, I would not be one to say that he uses his lower half poorly. As I mentioned in the previous response, he shows me that he uses his lower half pretty good. You are correct that it cannot be entirely explained by his “ferris wheel” upper half. It factors in greatly with how I see the approach as using his lower half optimally in connection with his upper half. Just looking at his drag and figuring out what I just expressed…..TL’s back foot works in such a way as to follow his direction line at the start because of his great leg drive or push. It then will go toward the target at and on his stride line when the shoulders start to rotate. Because of the ferris wheel like approach of his upper half and or the posture taken to pitch from his arm slot this action will be short and will have to start out toward his arm side as an act of balance. These actions occur because there is balance and connection with top and bottom halves.
As for Sandy Koufax, (Who is my all time favorite) you will see that his drag line goes out to arm side immediately. This is a strong indication for me that there is an imbalance in his approach.
The length of his stride length made him very upper body dominant and you can see that in a lot of his game footage in which his back side foot rarely finish even or ahead of his stride foot. It always had that tugging back toward 2nd base look. Both are large stride guys and the launch that makes TL’s lower half work better is the missing component for me that Koufax didn’t have and ultimately it may or may not have contributed to Koufax’s exit at the age and productivity he was at.
quote:.....However I don’t see this reaction as a key indicator which definitively determines whether a pitcher has made good use of his hips….again look at Koufax and Lincecum.
I would agree and again re-iterate that it is not about the use of hips but and indication of balance or connection of lower half with upper half.
I hope this explains my thoughts and especially my clip on understanding the drag line as a understanding of "balance or imbalance". Which, for me, translates to "efficient or inefficient", "healthy or unhealthy," and or "something you want" or "something you don't want."
quote:“A clash of doctrines is not a disaster—it is an opportunity” Whitehead
If I understand his one of Whithead's clearly and not saying that I do because I am not that bright, but I agree.
Happy New Year as well and to all!