javasource
6-4-3 = 2
I finally made my way through the entire Drive Mechanics thread today. I'm sure I will be going back to it many many times. It is packed with so much great information.
Thank you. That means a lot.
To make suggestions outside of the absolutely incredible I/R progressions that BM posted would be counter-productive, IMO.Can you please give a bit more detail on what exactly you suggest for helping with this?
What I might suggest... is that you really look at the success she is having with drills like 'Lock-it-in' and 9:00. IMO, many blast pass these... and their quest for 'finding the whip' always takes them back to these two progressions...
Take a closer look at this stud...
If you can take your eyes off his rock-solid stature... start at the ground. Look at his feet. They put him in an 'open' stance. The front foot might be a little more to the target... but it's not pointed SO MUCH to the target... that it causes his rear hip to close (wanted to say 'fly-open'... cause that makes more sense...). I'd say that foot is in the 45-60 degree neighborhood.
Watch his hips. Are they really rotating into release? No... that ball travels in front of both... not around one.
Watch his shoulders. Are they rotating much prior to release? No. 80% of his shoulder rotation happens after the ball is out of the hand.
Now... let us take a look from 9 o'clock:
Hips/Shoulders rotating much?
Then Liberty:
Hips/Shoulders?
You get the point, hopefully.
In my experience, young pitchers really associate torso turn with pitching... ESPECIALLY those that are H/E converters... because that allows them to get their hand behind the ball early.
So... watch those again... but this time... watch his arm/hand/ball position as he comes into release of the ball. Palm to sky... pinky leads... releases off the back hip. He can feel the whip BECAUSE his body allows him to attain those articulations in his arm.
If your body rotates too closed, those articulations/positions are not possible. When I work with older beginners (14+)... they all have that light bulb moment... where they can feel the stretch and the resultant whip of the ball... but only when their body allows those things to happen... meaning they stay open... and throw across the body. You can't feel the whip with a rotating release phase... because it removes the possibility of anything other than the hand behind the ball early. Does that make sense?
Lastly, I'm not a fan of the 'hand to oppo shoulder' finish. Notice BM's follow-through. Just like he does (in these examples)... I like the wrist-laser to target, low follow-through... and my pitchers always learn control quicker... when a consistent and LOW finish TO THE TARGET is a focus. I feel better whip this way... my students do, too... and this consistent release has them spinning like champs. The other huge benefit?
They learn brush... without being taught it.... BECAUSE - a low finish is much easier with brush resistance. If they aren't maintaining some type of brush... getting that arm to decelerate (and finish low) makes the task really difficult. It's a pretty handy residual benefit...
We have been fortunate enough to have help from Ken B. and he is a wonderful help to us in this transition.
Yeah... he's a pretty cool cat.
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