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Well I've always believed as a coach we can always learn something and we never know where it might come from. With that said I know the angle isn't great but does anything jump out at anybody. He's heading into the last off season before his freshman year so we're trying to tighten things up before the season starts. Here is his pitching.

https://youtu.be/sAyyZ992n-o
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Originally Posted by Scotty83:
Well I've always believed as a coach we can always learn something and we never know where it might come from. With that said I know the angle isn't great but does anything jump out at anybody. He's heading into the last off season before his freshman year so we're trying to tighten things up before the season starts. Here is his pitching.

https://youtu.be/sAyyZ992n-o

Again, a heck of a lot of good.  He cuts off his rotation at finish just a bit early.  Let that throwing shoulder (and momentum) finish coming through.

 

Yours truly,

Peanut gallery

Last edited by cabbagedad

Agree, lots to work with.  That initial step way to the left throws him off "horizontally" or "east-west", IMO.  Watch how much his head moves from left to right from the start to finish.  You want less head movement and more kinetic energy building with "north - south" movement toward the target.  Contrast his head with Gerrit Cole, for example:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm5A1wAbmE4 .

 

When I was teaching 12-14 year olds (I am not a coach, just a dad who pitched D1 who pretended to be one for a few years), I did drill where I would stand behind the pitcher and put my hand on his head during the wind up.  Just slight pressure to try to help reduce the side to side movement or, at least, make them aware of how much they were moving left to right.   You likely can't eliminate it completely, but...well Gerritt Cole nearly has.  I think this helps with the ability to repeat the delivery and with command.

Last edited by BucsFan
Originally Posted by Scotty83:
Thanks again and good eye. That's the main thing we're going to work on this offseason also. I think he could gain a few MPH if he does. It's almost like he hits the breaks right before he releases the ball.

Same idea here -- he has more mph in him. Hard to tell exactly from behind, but often you see pitchers who are throwing really hard finish with their back more horizontal to the ground, like in the last frame of this: 

deceleration_after_ball_release2

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  • deceleration_after_ball_release2
Agree too much side to side. Looks like he leans back (posture). Would have him work on keeping spine & head upright, might help with all issues. The other thing I see he needs to work on is landing leg stability. Seems to be running down the mound. Firm up & finish the pitch. Lots of potential, good luck with the upcoming season.
He had fixed the side to side by winding up looking in a mirror for a few hours lol. Then he went to a back step which worked really good for him but he started getting too fast with it and it threw off his timing. So he went back to the side step at the end of summer and apparently forgot the mirror training lol.

Not really sure what yaw mean by throw around the body. Never was a pitcher so I'm just learning. I think I understand though. His coach last year worked on that during the winter and his delivery did look, for lack of a better way of saying it, straighter line to the plate and less rotation looking. Problem was his fast ball became flat as crap. After the first two middle school scrimmages he got lit up he went back to his old way and had a good season and summer.

I think his biggest problem is, and I maybe very wrong on this, his front leg seems to act like a shock absorber instead of a brace, if that makes any sense. Which I feel slows down his upper body and why he's still so vertical at release and by slowing down his upper body causes him to throw around his body. I feel if he braced his front leg with more of a pow than a woah it would fix some of the problems and give him a little more velocity. I believe it accomplish what his coach was trying to do without killing his movement.

But that doesn't come from any pitching knowledge. I work mostly with football players and fixing the lower half corrects all kinds of upper half problems lol. Now to figure out how to explains it to a 14 year old without screwing something else up hahaha.
Scotty, I may be missing something but I don't see him throwing across his body. I see a 3/4 arm slot and leaning to his glove side. I believe the lean is something that starts early in his delivery. Pause the video and watch as he comes set and you'll see a slight lean backwards. I agree with you on the landing leg, needs to firm it up. Also needs to finish the pitch.

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