Pitchers Power & Speed: In the Legs or Arms?

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Jan 24, 2013
25
0
New Hampshire
Hi Folks,

I've been told by different instructors that a pitchers power or speed comes from the legs while others have stated that it is the arms (or upper body). Which is it? Arms or Legs?
 
May 7, 2008
8,506
48
Tucson
I used to know a statistic about how much speed the legs add and it was low, like 2-3%. Try it yourself and see how much difference there is w/o using the legs.
 
Jul 14, 2008
1,800
63
Shoulder extension occurs when the humerus moves from behind you to neutral, then forward AFTER delivery...........DUH........What an epiphany to know that "completion of the arm circle from back to front" is the biggest contributor..........

Wrist flexion occurs in almost, but not every pitch delivered.........It is a force generator as the wrist moves from slightly extended or neutral to flexion through release........Wrist Flexion on it's own is a fairly weak contributor of force.......However.......Combined with INternal Rotation, wrist flexion/IR creates a "force couple" which exerts torque on the delivery system.........

This is INternal Rotation, combined with wrist flexion.........Creating torque..........

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Even in my 9:00 drill I'm combining shoulder extension WITH INternal Rotation and wrist flexion to propel the ball........

34t1yf6.gif


One of the biggest issues one faces when teaching I/R is LACK of wrist flexion during the I/R release........This is what you see when inexperienced I/R mechanics appear to be strictly "Arm Roll"........
 
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Jul 14, 2008
1,800
63
As a side note.........MANY change ups are achieved by EXtending (lifting) the wrist through release vs. flexing the wrist during release.......

This is the exact opposite of the move that generates force which is flexion. It in fact, shuts down the force couple and takes force OUT OF the system........

Most flip changes......Back Door Changes........Horseshoe Changes.........All RELY on WRIST EXTENSION to take force/velocity from the delivery.........

Watch Michelle EXTEND her wrist during her flip change........

14tws9u.gif
 
Jul 26, 2010
3,567
0
Learning how to transfer forward momentum to the pitching arm is more important then learning how to generate "more" momentum with the legs. Once the transfer has been mastered, then increasing leg speed and explosiveness can translate into more pitch speed.

The big advantage of an explosive leg drive is that it allows the pitcher to get that much closer to the dish, this lowers the amount of time the ball has to reach the batter, and delays the speed decrease that much closer to the plate that all pitchers have to deal with. Most 6' pitchers will easily stride outside of the circle, putting their "real" pitching distance at the 10u 35 foot mark.

Getting closer to the batter works for all pitches, breaking, offspeed, ect, as the closer the release point to the batter the less time the batter has to react to any given pitch. Actual speed means nothing, it's just a matter of timing.

-W
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
Which is it? Arms or Legs?

It is a little more complicated than that.

The answer to just your question: The upper body contributes about 80% of the pitching speed, the legs about 20%. A real simple test is to have the pitcher get open and throw the ball without any leg drive. She'll hit probably 80% of her top speed. So, a 60 MPH pitcher will throw 50 MPH without using any legs.

BUT (and this "but" is almost as big as GD's) 50 MPH pitchers are a dime a dozen. To hit 60 MPH and above, the pitcher has to use her legs.

Bottom line: A pitcher has to have excellent arm motion and excellent leg work to achieve her best speed.
 
Jul 17, 2012
1,091
38
"There are four major lever contributions to ball velocity in an underhand pitch such as fast-pitch softball. The spine is of minor contribution of only 7.9%, hip rotation is 14.3%, wrist flexion is 32.4%, and the shoulder joint moving in flexion is a major contributor of the motion at 45.3%. "

This study does not include the legs because they are not levers (?). I am trying to find the study that does. When you add in legs, the percents above drop. I recall that the wrist dropped to 5 percent. Will keep looking.
Those sound like some pretty elaborate guesses in my book...... Seems there's a simpler answer. Measure a pitchers speed from a static open position ONLY using her arm, then have her throw a pitch using the full motion. The increase in speed (hopefuly) is the percentage of the equation. I always tell my DD to feel "power" in the legs, "speed" in the arm.

**Edit** Sorry Sluggers, I basically regurgitated your post. I didn't realize there was a page 2 to the thread.
 
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