TJ's Pitcher

The most obvious issue is his glove hand needs to come strait back.

Thanks cap-n for putting him up there.

Should try to stay closed longer. I think he could add 5 mph right away.

These two guys have already hit on why he misses high to the right. 1. Bring the glove hand right to the chest, and 2. he's opening his front leg like a gate. He should be instructed to take his left heel toward the catcher and stay closed longer. He's opening up way too early which puts a great deal of strain on his elbow. I'd be surprised if he doesn't have elbow pain on a pretty regular basis.

He has a pretty natural move so with some minor corrections he could be even better.

Jon

I agree with both the above points...

"Staying closed" - high velocity pitchers create torque between their hips and shoulders. That is, the hips open up before the shoulders, creating a differential much like you see in a golf swing.

The video you posted looks as if the hips and shoulders open together. Staying closed means he should work on keeping shoulders parallel to the plate as long as possible after the hips open.

From what I have been taught, opening the shoulders early puts a lot of strain on the throwing arm.

I also agree with the comments on the glove side. You can see after release that the glove swings down around his ankles. He should "stick" the glove - it should finish tucked into his chest/armpit area.

He looks like a strong kid. If he is throwing 80 now, with these changes he should improve pretty quickly.

I'm not expert, by any means. That is just what I've picked up by paying attention.

With everything everyone see's, I also see him throwing his left leg into balance position and pointing his toe up instead of relaxing the foot, and then that leads to a heel land. He can definitely improve, get him back in the pen and fix those mechanics.

Front arm...

He has to open early to support that front arm action and the energy expended there is gone forever. You can't go backwards in the chain.

Tons of upside.

Does the front of his shoulder hurt? Just curious.

Razor

He has not had many arm problems. He read all your comments and was very excited to get to the pen and work out the kinks. thanks fellas.

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When yall say "open up to early"...... what do yall mean by that?

I'm not sure if I can speak for everyone but here's what I'm thinking...we are referring to his front shoulder and front leg/hip. Imagine there is a line running from second base through the pitching mound to home plate. When he reaches his balance point, his shoulders and hips should be right in line with this imaginary line. They should simply stay on this line longer before opening up.

I would prefer to see him drive toward the plate a bit more before opening up his front shoulder and front leg. A mental key that my son uses is to take his left heel (for a RH pitcher) and, from the balance point, drive it toward the plate. If you stand up and imagine you are pitching, try taking your left heel toward the plate(rather than your toes) . It naturally keeps your hips square to the imaginary line.

If you master that and want to get a little more advanced, you can work on the timing of letting your hips open slightly ahead of your shoulders, thereby creating torque (try to focus on keeping the shoulders square or closed longer). When done correctly, this should add additional velocity.

Best of luck.
Jon

We use the lines in a gym to practice staying closed.
Back foot on the line and stride foot land on or close to the line when landing.
Have been taught to l;and on the line or close to line on the glove side.
The glove has to go straight out and straight back close to his arm pit.
Use the towel drill to help him.

I see that he gets his hand up too early. He doesn't lead with his elbow long enough either. It appears that he is throwing his hand more than his entire arm. He doesn't lead with his elbow long enough. The proper way to throw is to get the elbow up first with the hand down. Then when the elbow gets above the shoulder, bring the hand up extremely fast, while turning the torso so that the shoulders turn as well. It's hard to explain like this. Most people want to get their hand up behind their head before they start their rotation and only throw with their arm. If you throw like I explained above, you can get more out of your arm by using your entire body, not just the arm.

From this angle, it looks to me that he should hold his hands closer to his chest,
develop a higher leg kick,
trust his mechanics to generate power rather than arm power alone. He seems too conscious of his front foot landing position.
Employing his legs more should improve his accuracy and speed.
As well as leaving him in a position to field a come backer after release.

I usually just say 'Relax and pitch'

when is front leg lands make sure it is at a 45 degree angle, he is pulling off to the left and will probably miss outside to right handed hitters a lot, and as mentioned he should try to not drop the glove as much as he does but rather leave it out and go right to the glove and keep his whole body going to the plate for more of a follow through, if he does everything everyone has been saying he will be up to around 85+ by the end of the season.

Like the others have said, his shoulders are open at footplant. Hip/shoulder separation isn't there. The otherthing I see is that the throwing hand finishes quite high on the follow through. I'd like to see him bury that throwing shoulder more and finish more beside his front knee as oppoosed to across his chest like he does now.

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Any comments on this pitcher fellas? Travis struggles with missing armside high a lot. Velocity tops at 80 and cruises at 77. 6'0" 175 lbs. Senior in high school. Thanks. Trojan-Skipper

Missing arm side high suggests rushing, which is a common timing flaw in which the pitching arm side forearm isn't vertical at the moment the shoulders start to turn. The result is that the arm is late and pitches miss either up or up and in.

This is often caused by trying to move forward too powerfully and quickly with the lower body in a misguided attempt to get more power behind the throw.

I don't see signs of rushing in this clip, but here's the general idea.

Assume a pitcher normally takes .75 seconds from lifting their glove-side foot to planting their glove-side foot (at which point they start turning their shoulders). Also assume that they normally break their hands .5 seconds after lifting their glove-side foot and then take .25 seconds to get their pitching arm up to the high cocked position.

Now assume that the pitcher rushes (their lower body) in order to get a little bit extra on the ball.

As a result, they speed up their lower body such that it only takes them .7 (not the normal .75) seconds from lifting their glove-side foot to planting their glove-side foot (at which point they start turning their shoulders). If they stick to their standard upper body rhythm, where they break their hands .5 seconds after lifting their glove-side foot and then take .25 seconds to get their pitching arm up to the high cocked position, then at the moment that their glove side foot lands, then their pitching arm side forearm will not be vertical at the moment that their glove-side foot lands. Instead, it will still be on the way up to vertical (.05 seconds short of vertical, to be precise).

As a result, the arm will bounce (or lay back) differently and the ball will be released from a slightly different point.