The Strike Out Only Mentality On The Mound
December 4, 2011
Baseball Pitching: Preparing For 2012 Season
January 5, 2012
One of the first things I notice when I watch young pitchers who have little training is the glove arm. Often times when they throw, their glove arm flops off to the side as they go through their throwing motion. It’s almost as if they are trying to pull their throwing arm through to the release point. Not only is this going to create inconsistent results, it’s not good for the throwing arm. While pitchers individuality in mind, take a look at what the glove arm does with these two guys when they pitch.
Both of these great pitchers have different styles, but neither of them pull their glove arm off to the side uncontrollably during the pitch. This is simply because in order to maximize velocity, a pitcher must delay the rotation of his shoulders for as long as possible. This will allow his hips to rotate first (you can see this as well in those video clips above) which begins the propulsion of his arm to release point. If the glove arm pulls away and the front side opens too soon, the pitcher will lose his torque with the lower half of the body and rely on his arm to generate the momentum. This is something that wears on the arm, and if done long enough will cause injury.
One of the best ways I correct this mistake in young pitchers is to have the athlete either throw with both knees on the ground, or one knee up. This takes the lower half of the body away and allows him to work on feeling his body do the work instead of his arm.
Try and get him to let the glove elbow only slip slowly along the rib cage each pitch. A few throws with the glove flopping off to the side and the athlete will begin to feel the mechanical flaw. At this point it just becomes repetition and fine tuning. But, the key for sure is getting the pitcher to feel the mistake. Once that happens, there is a greater chance he can fix the error.
In the Pitching Mechanics DVD, Dan talks a lot about delayed shoulder rotation and how to make sure you maximize your body during the throwing motion. Don’t wait until injury, get those pitching mechanics fine tuned for the spring.
