help, whats going on?

I would get it checked out by a doctor. One thing that explains that much loss in velocity is injury imho. I have heard of guys with labrum issues who did not experience a lot of pain yet saw a huge decrease in velocity.

I would be interested in what is going on with your decrease in velocity. If you do take ClevelandDad's advise (and I suggest you do), I'd like to know the findings. If you don't mind.

bakstop, you state that your arm doesn't hurt so I would recommend that you and your coach go through your checklist of your mechanics.
Loss of velocity comes from several areas.

1) Start with your leg lift and make sure you close your front hip.

2) Balance position after leg lift. Are you stacked properly-head and trunk over pivot foot? Shoulder and hips level?

3) Stride length correct for your motion?

4)Stride foot plant-check balnce and see if your hips may be opening early.

5) Hip and shoulder rotation- make sure that these two do not open together.

6) You mentioned arm slot

7) Hips and shoulders square to plate just before release point.

8) Release point- fingers behind ball for FB, head and shoulders over stride leg.

9) Last but not least, follow through. Make sure your arm arc is relaxed and extended.

Make sure that you do drill work that puts emphasis on these areas.

Don't get frustrated and stay focused on your mechanics and you should be able to right the ship again.

quote:

Originally posted by ClevelandDad:
I would get it checked out by a doctor. One thing that explains that much loss in velocity is injury imho. I have heard of guys with labrum issues who did not experience a lot of pain yet saw a huge decrease in velocity.

CD has given you very good advice, loss of velocity could very well signal an issue, even without pain.

BTW, this may not be just tired arm syndrome, where the arm feels tired but still has full velocity. I am not sure of your work load, but best to discuss it with a professional.

CoachO we are talking about 15-20MPH difference.

If this is real and assume he was throwing 85 and he is now throwing 65-70....No amount of tweaking of mechanics are going to cause this kind of drop off. Something is wrong, really wrong, go see a doc.

Now if these numbers are "your guess" and maybe they are 8MPH but it "seems" like 15 then maybe some checks are in order.

Good Luck!

BOF, I agree with everyone that he should have it checked.

It is also my experience that it can very well be mechanical.

He is going to be a junior in college next year and obviously has some experience.

I had a pitcher a couple of years back that went to play juco ball and was throwing in the upper 80's when he got there. At the end of his freshman year he was down to low 70's.

In his particular case it was mechanical. He was bringing the ball to close to his head and would actually hit himself once in a while.

I truly applaud the responses of concern for his health and would expect him to have it checked.

I just simply gave an alternative to consider without rehashing the same ground.

You don't have pain now but did you have a sore arm for a while in the past? There are shoulder and elbow injuries that could lead to that type of loss in velocity and yet not hurt once the the ligament or tendon involved was fully torn.

As far as mechanics go I'd recommend trying some long toss and seeing how far you can throw the ball compared to how far you threw in the past. Your mechanics are less likely to be significantly different when long tossing. If you can throw just as far as you used to then it is probably pitching mechanics related.

The other possibility that many of us can relate to but you probably can't is getting to be 45 or 50 years old. That's usually worth a 15 to 20 mph drop in velocity.

I can relate CADad I have a blazin' 65MPH FB. From 35 ft it works just fine for BP.

haha no i havent turned 45 yet...
i know its 15-20mph cause we got a radar gun out, yes we did calibrate it.

last year i screwed up my ankle really bad, and its still wont allow me to bend and flex much at all in my push off leg, but i thought it was enough. theres pain that i dont notice in the heat of the moment so it thought it didnt affect me but is very noticable now as i try to flex and push off after a game. this pain seems to cause me to open my hips and shoulders immediately as i drive down the mound so i guess in essence im throwing with all arm. this makes sense because i can throw the ball just as far with my two feet planted facing a target and a running crow hop long toss.
i begin pt at the end of the week, an mri and ortho appointment. so hopefully it can be fixed by the end of the winter

i appreciate everyones input i just keep praying this is the fix

Yep, 65 mph these days, and it hurts a bit to get "up" there.

bakstop,
An inability to push off could certainly hurt your velocity.