Hi All. Any drills to improve front leg block? 2021 RHP gets great drive down mound but leaks out of front leg. Have heard medicine ball and throwing up the mound? Any others? Kid is 82-85 looking to make jump to 85-88 before fall.
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BaseballDad72, Both of those are helpful, I'm not sure what you have seen or heard about Driveline, but they have a drill called the rocker (can be done with a regular baseball) that I am sure there are a ton of videos of them being done on youtube. Another drill with the med ball would be a kneeling rocker, with your lead leg the one up, you create some momentum by rocking back and forth before throwing the med ball forward while standing up, the momentum you build up from rocking helps you to stand/ get over your front leg. When done correctly the position you finish in would be similar to when you deliver a pitch off the mound. Not sure how well I explained that unfortunately.
I always find this curious. There are lots of hard throwers that lock the front leg and use body torque to generate velo. Verlander was never a big strider, but really locks his front leg. Stride length is important as well and the further you stride, the harder it is to lock the front leg. The hardest thrower in the last decade has been Aroldis Chapman. Mechanically he never really locks his front leg.
Anyway, leg strength is the answer. Trap bar deadlift, goblet squats, front squats. You want to strengthen the glutes, the hamstrings, and quads in that order. Mix in some leg extensions, calf raises, and step ups, lunges, and split squats. I really like reverse lunges, recreates a lot of the forces that you use to push down the mound and when bracing the front leg for landing.
Weight is not nearly as important as form. Legs are really tough to train in the beginning. But if you use good form, in a few weeks, the increase in strength and power becomes evident and they seem to get stronger with every workout.
I didn't mention traditional back squats because even experienced HS lifters cause themselves problems with bad form. Remember training athletically is different than training for "show muscles". Many guys in the gym don't understand that. Whatever you come up with, don't skip leg day. Should be two days a week for pitcher in the offseason and one day a week when in season.
That’s thing thing I can’t figure out. My son has a really long stride. If you watch pitchers from the 80s and 90s you don’t see a lot of stiff front leg action. Seaver, Ryan and Gooden. Thing is I can’t think of where else he’s mechanically flawed. Needs to eat! Needs to lift more I guess.