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Loewen

Hirsh

Wagner

Hirsh and Loewen both counter rotate a bit and then stride directly where their hips are aligned leading to throwing across the body a bit. Billy Wagner is not what I'd call a counter rotater but he does counter rotate his hips a bit. He opens his hips back up right away and then is able to stride directly to the plate. He gets a bit of momentum out of it without losing the direction.

2 pitchers who counter rotate big time are Jered Weaver and Aroldis Chapman. Weaver strides extremely closed and doesn't come back around significantly leading to throwing across his body big time. Chapman gets back on line like Wagner but much later and seems to be still rotating quite a bit into landing.

This clip from Dick Mills shows Burnett and a HS kid both counter rotating. Burnett strides out and doesn't rotate significantly into foot plant. The HS pitcher rotates into foot plant to get back on line.

IMO, Mills is all wet on his analysis of this one as Burnett is in a much better position at foot plant. It is going to be hard on his shoulder but it isn't causing him control problems. The HS pitcher is losing velocity and control and is a bit more open at foot strike despite rotating far less than Burnett. IMO, the HS pitcher's mechanics aren't bad at all and all he would need are some minor tweaks, either landing a bit more closed or striding a bit more in line with the plate.

Mills on counter rotation

The other thing he doesn't seem to realize is that Lincecum uses the counter rotation to get the fast movement toward the plate and that he gets his hips and leg drive aligned toward the plate prior to foot plant.
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I would think it to be hard on the shoulder, true, but the biggest concern for a h.s. pitcher who over-rotates is balance. If the kid is not in balance he not only will have control problems but velocity will suffer as well. The guys in the bigs have figured out the balance issue so it (counter-rotating) works for them.
It works for Aroldis Chapman but for most pitchers showing their numbers to the plate results in opening early. I don't think there's much of a problem with counter rotating the shoulders some about the spine as long as the hip remains lined up with the plate and the pitchers hips drive fairly directly toward the plate. When the hips counter rotate is when the shoulders tend to open up with the hips while the hips are getting back to on line.

When a pitcher who counter rotates the hips strides closed then the shoulders don't open up as much and they are more likely to be closed as the pitcher lands. Studies have shown that throwing across the body isn't as stressful on the arm as people tend to assume.

It also tends to be more difficult for pitchers who counter rotate to start to open at the same time on every pitch resulting in poorer control.

Having said all that Matt Cain manages pretty well.

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