Got a submarine guy

I've got one, too, and have never dealt with one before. He's also a soph, done growing at 5'5" (doctor has tested), but only gets mid-60s. He's really not a pitcher at all other than getting the ball over the plate well enough, but fashions himself as a pitcher so I worked with him last year as a FY when he threw overhand (with better velo). He's probably the #5 guy on a staff that really only needs (and has) three much better arms. I think he has gone sidearm in the hopes of finding a niche, but I still feel that niche has to be throwing low to mid-70s at the varsity level, and even then........I just really don't know how to help him other than let him keep working as he wishes. The three ahead of him are comprised of 2 juniors and another soph who will all be back in 2011 as well, so there's really nowhere for this guy to go.

That's all just to say, I commiserate with the OP.

My son's pitching coach used to be a submarine guy in the majors and coaches some of these guys, so I have talked to him a little about it. My understanding, is that the elbow, in relation to the shoulders should remain the same as a regular pitcher. The only difference is that the torso tilts to the PAS. The line through the shoulders to the elbow remains the same. Try viewing the pitchers from this perspective and it might help.

Generally submariners get a lot of movement on the ball and if a team is not used to seeing one, it may be tough on them 1st time around in the order.

bbman has it. Check out the technical article that CADad posted. Download the pdf and it has some front views of pitchers showing what bbman describes. Great article if you can get through all of the technical jargon.

A submariner throws the same as an over the top guy with the difference being the chest is tilting downward. The relation of the elbow to the shoulder is the same.

***edit - I didn't see bbman's response. Sorry for the repetitiveness ***

Thanks guys,

i had him throw 'spinners' last year some, just getting the feel without any real bite. That's how I start all of my young guys out who have never thrown a breaking ball. i'll continue to work with him and see what we come up with.

My son is a sub pitcher that started the conversion 2 years ago as a sophomore in high school. He throws both the 2 and 4 seam fastballs, curve, and changeup. Velocity for him is not as important as the movement on his pitches. The line through the sholders to the elbow is relatively the same as most other pitchers, just the tilt is different.