My pitching form

Side view

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3842748050716460771

It's bigger on youtube so I put them there. Any comments on it or things I need to work on?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jrCrxwjofI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esGaxKACfOE

Just wonderin..have you been clocked? How fast?

I haven't been clocked in about 3 years. I threw 60 but it was from a shorter distance than high school and I was 12. So no, I haven't been clocked in awhile. Why do you ask?

Oh I was just wonderin. Personally I think your mechanics look pretty good. I'm no professional though. There are many others who can say a lot more than I can on this site.

Pretty good, but it's a little strange how you kick your front leg way out before you land which is especially noticeable in the front view. Looks like you're throwing pretty fast.

quote:

I threw 60 but it was from a shorter distance than high school and I was 12.

How far you're throwing has nothing to do with out-of-hand velocity on a good gun.
Did you play HS baseball last year? How'd you do?

Showed your video to an "expert". His comments: pretty smooth, leg kick looks like Roy Oswalt's delivery. You could probably speed up your delivery a bit more to gain more speed. You slow up your delivery when you kick your left leg out which causes you to lose momentum towards the plate.

Oswalt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Iem_Gc59Fw

Yeah the front leg kick is just soemthing I do that helps me balance. When I'm usually in better form it goes out farther and lower to the ground. I did play high school ball. I went 6-3. The year overall wasn't good for me because I was leaving the ball up and they were teeing off so the record could have been better. Thanks for remindming to speed up the delivery. That's something my coach preches to me is to move faster towards home plate. I'm glad you reminded me about it. Thanks for all your comments so far.

I think you need to use your legs/hips better. You seem to have a pretty smooth delivery until you get to the balance and separate point. As stated by others you do something funky with that front leg when you should be focusing on driving your legs and hips down your center line to front toe landing. This is something that can be easily fixed with some work. Do some medicine ball core drills to work on that leg/hip explosion that you are lacking. Also work on some very simple balance drills where you get your body into these balance positions and visualize the correct path that you should be taking as opposed to what you are doing now. Flat ground towel drills are also good for developing proper rhythm/balance/explosion in the delivery. I also think that when you are in the windup like you are that your hands should be slightly more active during the windup for better rhythm and pace in the delivery. Take a look at some of the guys on the A's staff to see what I mean. Hope that gets you started.

Keep working hard,
Justin Stringer
Do It Right Baseball
Lane Tech Baseball
www.doitrightbaseball.com
HSBASEBALLWEB SPONSOR

All in all, some nice stuff there. I'll chime in as well on the leg kick. In the side view, the foot can be seen to go horizontally above the bucket before it drops. Fixing the leg kick along with increasing tempo should make a big difference. It might be a chicken and egg thing here. Fix the leg kick and the tempo will get better OR fix the tempo and the leg kick might change. A different mental image might help here. My suggestion would be to make the first move from high leg lift be with the front hip. I'm guessing that right now your mental picture would be to get the foot going out. If your mental imagery was modified to fire the front side (sideways) while letting the leg drop a bit (relaxing) before it goes toward the plate, things may work themselves out. Speeding up the tempo is key here but it should be in the context of firing the front side at the target.

I got clocked today when I went to my pitching coach. I hit 74 on 4 out of 5 pitches. And I'm fixing the leg kick too. My motion is getting different and I'm throwing harder

quote:

I hit 74 on 4 out of 5 pitches.

Wouldn't be surprised if you could zing one in at 76-77 if you were gunned longer.

Did you do a lot of warming up first? My experience is that 30-40 warmups are required to reach good speed. Many HS pitchers top out in the 3rd-4th inning of a real game.

A lot of what kids/dads think is improvement is simply being gunned at the optimum moment.

The bit of what we used to call "stylin'" with the front foot is counter productive, if you're after your max velocity. What you're doing there is stretching out your hips too early, and this is keeping you from using your hips to turn towards the plate as explosively as you could.

Mid-70's for a kid your size and age is pretty good, but you have a smooth arm action and you may be able to reach greater heights.

One thing I saw in your arm action is that you reach back fairly straight, and though it's hard to see clearly, there appears to be some slight cupping of the ball, which costs you hand whip and creates tension in the forearm -- two factors that will cheat you of 1-2 mph here and there.

Try experimenting with a shorter reach back that puts your arm in a "downward L" position, then flips up to the "upward L" with the ball facing backwards towards second base. This is how you get into the pure power position. If you keep your hips under control up to this point, instead of extending them for your little front leg thing you're doing now, you'll be ready to explode to the plate better.

It is a myth that you "reach back for a little extra". Your arm is more powerful when you have flex in your elbow and your shoulder can roll with help from your middle and lower back muscles. Right now you're not really getting much elbow flex, and I'm not sure you're getting all you can out of your shoulder/back action, either.

Thanks Midlo. My coach taught me exactly what you're describing about the L position. But to answer you mic, I didn't warm up a whole lot. What I did was stretch out with bands, did some practice throwing just doing drills and then got on the hill and threw.

I think dm59 nailed it when he said picking up the tempo might fix the leg kick thing. With a faster tempo (meaning getting the hips going sooner/faster without sacrificing the knee lift), the front foot won't have the time to "take the scenic route".

You said you do the leg kick thing for balance. My guess is that you initially did it to compensate for a lack of functional strength or some other mechanical flaw and then it became a habit. Of course, this is just speculation. But it's not uncommon for tall and lanky kids (which you appear to be) to lack the functional strength necessary to stablize their body and maintain good balance throughout their delivery. If yours is a functional strength issue, then you should be able to develop the strength you need to maintain your balance and eliminate the kick.

I'd also add that the "out and down" motion of your front foot results in a harsher foot plant which can cause other unwanted movement that can affect the consistency of your release point. It can also cause the hips to open up early which wastes energy as Midlo Dad pointed out.

Be sure that when making adjustments to your tempo that you dont start off quick and end quick...start your delivery with the same speed that you have been, and build up the tempo throughout your motion. Also I would recommend that you try pumping your hands up at the same time your knee starts to kick up...this pump helps get the ball out of your glove easier and at the same time every time. (As your knee comes down your hands will also come down from their "pumped" position, seperating as they do so.) It also promotes freedom in your delivery, as well as making your release point much easier to repeat.
You do an OK job of leading with your lead hip, but you are capable of using it a lot more. Be sure to make a effort to lead with that lead hip closed as long as possible, and when its time to open up that hip, let it rip...dont decelerate through your finish....Its difficult to teach over a key board, if anything gets lost in translation give me a shout.