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Mar 23, 2014
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18
SoCal
Is shoulder dip critical? meaning.... do elite pitchers with IR do it?

Just wondering if this is something we need to work on or just a "style" difference among pitchers.
 
Jul 26, 2010
3,567
0
There's tons of bad instructors out in the world. There are also tons of kids who won't/can't listen to instructions and perform. Seeing a kid pitch without observing the instruction isn't really a good example of gathering empirical data to determine what the problem is.

-W
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
Perhaps we have a problem with definitions.

"Shoulder dip" refers to lowering the throwing shoulder so as to be lower than the glove shoulder during release.

Finch has a more exaggerated lowering of the shoulder than others. Esobedo probably does it the least.
 

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sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
For long distance, "power" overhand throwing, the throwing shoulder starts low, and goes up, reaching its apex just before release. For power underhand throwing, the throwing shoulder starts high (at 9), and then goes low just before release.

It is part of the whole chain...the shoulder leads the upper arm which leads the forearm.
 

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Nov 29, 2009
2,975
83
What I tell the girls I work with is to "soften" the back shoulder slightly and let it follow the arm through the finish.

I've found if you tell them to "dip" the back shoulder they end up exaggerating the "dip" and they end up with the hand "falling" out of the bottom of the arm circle leading to timing, leaning and balance issues.
 

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