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quote:
Originally posted by coach2709:
Seriously - I don't know which impresses me more.....the depth of your knowledge at such a young age or your ability to express those ideas in such an eloquate way.

JH you are truly an amazing young man and have two potential careers ahead of you - coaching or writing.


I agree Coach, I'm impressed with both areas as well. We might possibly have an author/coach in the making? And not only that, JH can appeal to us guys in the Pitching Forum breaking down mechanics...and then go to the Ladies Only Forum and write about Girlfriends! Wink

Hey JH, your PC instructs you to "throw your butt at the plate". I've always instructed my son and others the same thing, but instead of hollering that, I always used "lead with your pocket"...or if it was my kid, a simple "more pocket" in those occasions, basically the same thing.
bsbl247- I can't stress enough how important it is to "throw your butt at the plate", or "lead with your pocket." Not only will that allow for the hips to guide the body into the throwing motion, but it will help the pitcher stay closed as well. Opening up too early is the #1 issue I find in pitchers, and something that is conceptually easy but physically difficult to adjust, especially the older they get. But again, that's another topic for conversation in and of itself, and something that I don't want to take up too much bandwith for here. If anyone would like to discuss pitching mechanics and whatnot privately, shoot me a PM or just post a question on here and if I think I can help in anyway I'd be glad to (hint: watch Aroldis Chapman's closure and torque explosion upon release...incredible).

Thank you all for the praise with respect to both the writing and informational aspect of my posts. I still don't know what the future will bring me, but I'll keep my options open. For now I'm just trying to enjoy college, keep playing the game and learn as much as I can about the passions that I have in life.
JH, not to hijack the thread, but you seem to know your stuff, especially for such a young guy. You must spend a lot of time observing and reading on pitching. Anyway, here is a link to a video of my son pitching. I know it is only one pitch, but his mechanics are pretty repeatable, so it should give you a good idea where he is mechanically. Any feedback on mechanics - changes to be made, etc. Just interested in your thoughts.

This was from late December. 1st time throwing off mound in about 2 1/2 weeks. Didn't feel like he was throwing that good. Had been topping out at 88 during the fall, topped out at 86 during this event.

Like I said, your thoughts would be appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQxDbF5gl0w
bballman- Your son has very sound mechanics and looks to have been taught many of the general pitching concepts very well. If the velocity numbers you provided are consistent then I believe he should have no problem finding his way onto a college roster.

I am a fan of separating the body into different aspects in order to piece a delivery together step by step. A lot of big league pitchers have many different kinds of deliveries, but 99% of them have their body parts work synonymously with one another nearly perfectly.

Your son does an excellent job of leading with his hip and providing a strong base for maximized torque with his lower body, like I've indicated is desireable in my previous posts. However, he has what a lot of instructors refer to as a "lazy" glove side. If you freeze-frame your Youtube clip at 00:23 seconds, you can see that his glove is down by his knee and his front elbow is parallel with his chest. Ideally, I'd like to see his elbow almost parallel with his front shoulder (think of using a scope on a hunting rifle stationed on a tripod, with the elbow being aligned so that it is similar to a scope). Also, the thumb down concept on the glove at the point where the ball is at its peak 90 degree angle (like it is at the 00:23 second mark) will allow for a better ability to turn the glove in towards the chest and enable the throwing shoulder to come through the throwing zone (I don't know if it is actually called a throwing zone, but people call the point of contact for a batter a "hitting zone" so I'll call the point of release for a pitcher a "throwing zone").

Your son does an outstanding job of getting his chest over his front side and into an ideal position for a true finish on his pitch. However, if he can provide a stronger glove arm, like I illustrated, then the symmetry of the posterior scapular load will be much stronger. The posterior scapulars are the muscles in the back of your shoulders, and the correlation of the adverse movements of both the left and right scaps in unison provide extra torque generated for velocity. In an attempt to stray away from the kiniesology aspect of things, I'll try to simplify my point in more understandable terms. If you put both of your arms up in the air at a 90 degree angle bent at the elbows and move them backwards, you will feel a pinch in your shoulder blades, as if they are moving closer to one another. In reality, the majority of what you are feeling is the isotonic extensions of the posterior scapular muscles. The same movement happens when you get into the peak of the throwing motion...when your front foot is planted and you form the "half a Nazi symbol" I illustrated earlier. Your son's weak front glove side prohibits his left posterior scapular muscles from pinching to their full capability. When the body turns and the arm comes forward to throw the ball, the shoulders work in opposite motions from each other just like the upper body and the lower body do. The throwing shoulder will come forward, while the non-throwing shoulder will move just as violently backwards. By not pinching the posterior scaps fully, your son is somewhat hindering his ability to fully utilize the torque he can maximize in his shoulders.

Take this photo of Aroldis Chapman as an example:



I have my own skeptical reserves about his throwing arm action and the pressures on his elbow, but his posterior scapular loading in his lead arm is second to none in my opinion. This is probably one of the factors that allows him to throw with the velocity he does. I think that if your son was to be able to improve the strength of his glove side arm in this way, I believe that a velocity increase could potentially occur.
Last edited by J H
Thanks JH. We have worked with him on his glove side and how it affects his front shoulder staying closed longer. It is a work in progress. I appreciate the feedback.

He has had various team pitching coaches over the years, but one private pitching coach since he was around 9. Son is a 17 yr old junior now. His private PC used to pitch in MLB, was A and AA pitching coach in the Red Sox organization for 4 years and is an advance scout for the Red Sox now. Almost got the ML team pitching coach job this year when their PC left. He really is pretty good. The only problem with him is that he leaves early February every year and doesn't get back till end of November. So, we have around 2 months to work with him every year. I try to soak in everything he goes over so I can keep son on track through the rest of the year.

In terms of the glove side, he has pretty much said what you do. He describes it as holding a shield in front of you as long as you can. Like the old gladiators. Keep the shield up. This leads to the elbow pointing at the target. What you said about the scap loading is good as well.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback. I'm still blown away by the knowledge you have and how you communicate that knowledge for someone as young as you are. I wish you the best in whatever direction you take your life. Hope you stick around here for a while. Many people can benefit from your insights.
JH,
Thanks again for taking a look at the pics. I'll try to do as you suggested and get a short video in the next few weeks or so.

quote:
Originally posted by J H:
As a drill, try to have him shorten his stride length to maybe 60% of what he is comfortable doing. While doing this drill, have him abnormally extend outwards with his hips, to the point where it feels like he is going to fall over. First start this out on flat ground (to make sure he doesn't actually tip over and fall flat on his face), and then work your way up to the mound. This should help place his mechanics into a more sound place.



Can you elaborate a bit on "abnormally extend outwards with his hips"?

quote:
I do believe that there is too much lateral separation between his lead elbow and his lead leg



and this?

My first thought was that it's time to move this to PM but I think everyone seems to be enjoying and learning from your analysis of submissions from bama, bballman and myself, so maybe I'll just keep in out there?? I know I'm learning from your observations of the others as well. Let me know if you prefer otherwise.
cabbagedad- I don't mind either way, I appreciate that people think that my advice helps and will be glad to share with whoever would like to read.

My apologies for the confusion on the above two topics. What I mean by "abnormally extend outwards with his hips" is:

  • Lets say hypothetically his normal stride length is 6 feet. For the sake of the drill, shorten that to 4 feet.
  • When he extends out to the 4 feet that you have determined the stride to be, make sure that he exaggerates the motion of the hips leading his body forward. This will feel uncomfortable and unnatural, but it's supposed to.
  • Have him fall forward with his hips until he just about cannot anymore without falling over, and then have him extend his foot and plant it to keep himself balanced.

    Think of it this way: You have a small tree in your front yard that is beginning to tip. It continues to angle closer and closer to the ground until it's roots cannot withstand the weight of the tree anymore, and it fall to the ground. The last possible moment for you to grab the tree trunk and keep it upright is the moment before it begins the rapid descend into falling down. The same concept would apply in the drill in that your son's body will be falling forward until the last possible second, and that's when the foot plants into its landing place so that he doesn't fall over.


    When I say that I believe there is too much lateral separation between his lead elbow and his lead leg, I mean that I believe there is too much space in between them. I think his elbow should be much closer to the midpoint of his torso, and not so far off towards 3b. The glove arm flying outwards hinders his mechanics because it causes some of his body weight to be going towards 3b, rather than all of it being directly towards the plate. So by saying that there is too much separation, I am saying that the overall attempt should be to try to keep the elbow closer to the body and the weight centered towards home plate as best as possible.


    If this still doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll try to take a video of myself demonstrating it and throw it up here. I understand that some descriptions might work for some, but not others, so don't be shy about it. And if there is anyone else that can chime in and describe it better, or has a different opinion, please do.
  • I feel your pain...this whole pitching thing really screws up normal everyday life. I live with 5 guys in a house off campus and one of them (an outfielder) just bought a 10 week old Siberian husky. So I'm in the living room a few days ago and I'm standing next to the table looking at my reflection through the bay window in the front of the house and going through my motion. As I came through to stride, I stepped on the puppy by accident (he ran underneath me chasing a toy). He yelped and ran away and my roommate came in yelling at me. I told him all I was trying to do was throw a changeup and he said "Well your ****** changeup almost killed my dog."

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