- Jul 26, 2010
- 3,553
- 0
I honestly never understood the point of the really wide stance on the rubber. Maybe if someone explained to me why this is a good idea, I might have a better idea. I've never actually observed a pitcher falling off the rubber from having too narrow a stance. If the idea is to move the body from a perpendicular position to the power line to a parallel position, I'm not exactly sure what the wide stance accomplishes.
That said, what Rick said is true, and it's very similar to hitting. Stance doesn't really matter, it's where the feet are at push off that does matter. Sort of like stance and toe-touch with hitting.
My own kid just came back from an Oregon clinic and got to spend about 3 hours with Mike White and about 7 other pitchers. He stressed a negative move (rock back) to a positive shin angle, hips over the balls of the feet, and letting gravity do a lot of the work by falling forward just before push off. I think that as long as all of these things are happening then the sliding of the foot or not is pretty much a moot point and more of a style issue. The pitcher with the wide stance will have to slide the foot. The pitcher with a more natural or narrow stance will not need to slide the foot.
-W
That said, what Rick said is true, and it's very similar to hitting. Stance doesn't really matter, it's where the feet are at push off that does matter. Sort of like stance and toe-touch with hitting.
My own kid just came back from an Oregon clinic and got to spend about 3 hours with Mike White and about 7 other pitchers. He stressed a negative move (rock back) to a positive shin angle, hips over the balls of the feet, and letting gravity do a lot of the work by falling forward just before push off. I think that as long as all of these things are happening then the sliding of the foot or not is pretty much a moot point and more of a style issue. The pitcher with the wide stance will have to slide the foot. The pitcher with a more natural or narrow stance will not need to slide the foot.
-W