The Kelly Barnhill Thread

[knightsb]

As a side note, I was talking to DDs PC a former men's pitcher regarding Barnhill and what corley describes as the "K"** position at release. He said it's hard to find a pitcher like that who has a good drop (down movement) pitch. He said those "K" release pitchers are almost always riseball pitchers.

**That "K" position (hinged at waist, upper body leaning forward, rear leg lagging behind) and midline to almost forward release.

 

[CLM265]

In her Senior year and plays first at BYU.

2016 | Junior Year

NFCA All-Pacific Region Second Team
2016 WCC Player of the Year
All-WCC First Team
2016 WCC Commissioner's Silver Honor Roll
WCC Player of the Week twice
Led the team in batting average (.400), runs (44), hits (66), doubles (12), total bases (121) and stolen bases (12)
Second on the team in home runs (13) and RBI (49)

 

[RubberBiscuit]

As a side note, I was talking to DDs PC a former men's pitcher regarding Barnhill and what corley describes as the "K"** position at release. He said it's hard to find a pitcher like that who has a good drop (down movement) pitch. He said those "K" release pitchers are almost always riseball pitchers.

**That "K" position (hinged at waist, upper body leaning forward, rear leg lagging behind) and midline to almost forward release.

Absolutely - Almost all skippies I have seen over the years struggle with down-balls

 

[Rocketech1]

Imagine swinging a bat without generating power from the drive leg.

Ken - if you look at most elite batters, they have very little weigh and push generated from the rear leg (if fact as the bat comes into contact with the ball many elite batters back foot is completely off the ground). If the back foot generated so much "torque" you would see elite hitters keeping that back foot planted hard into the dirt for leverage?

With Barnhill, I see her getting strong front side resistance, bicep brush interference, IR (albeit not Ueno level of rotation), and as Corlay mentioned very good overlap and lag into release. She also generates excellent spin with her lower arm and fingers as she demonstrated a few weeks ago on an ESPN segment during the Florida game. Lastly she is extremely accurate, throwing her riseball on three different planes, at will.

She is an impressive pitcher, albeit with flawed mechanics. Will be interesting to see if she is called for any IPs in the WCWS and if the umpires will consistently call it for ALL pitchers, everytime. My guess is no.

 

[spleen1015]

Cheri has been kind enough to respond to a few of my tweets to her.

Basically, according to her, Barnhill is not illegal all of the time. Its hard to see any leaping real time. She doesn't replant, NEVER, EVER, EVER does she replant. None of this has anything to do with how good she is. And last but not least, I am out of my expertise.

EDIT - her definition of a replant - "replant, not looking for touch of foot but weight shifted there"

 

[Ken B]

Ken - if you look at most elite batters, they have very little weigh and push generated from the rear leg (if fact as the bat comes into contact with the ball many elite batters back foot is completely off the ground). If the back foot generated so much "torque" you would see elite hitters keeping that back foot planted hard into the dirt for leverage?

Hitting is not my strong area, but I can't imagine hitting a ball hard without getting the power from the back leg. I wonder if a better example is an outfielder making a long throw without the crow hop?

 

[Rocketech1]

Hitting is not my strong area, but I can't imagine hitting a ball hard without getting the power from the back leg. I wonder if a better example is an outfielder making a long throw without the crow hop?

I think the pitchers "crow hop" is different than an outfielders crow hop. With pitchers, their pivot foot is dragging towards the 1st base side (see KB videos) whereas an outfielder is pushing directly toward home plate (or if they crow hopped from the circle) towards 2b. There is definitely a difference in the back foot push or drag with a true crow hop vs a pitcher.

 

[DNeeld]

It would be neat to see a frame by frame comparison of Barnhill and Adam Folkard like was done with Barnhill and Ocasio. All I can think of is men's style when I see Barnhill pitch.

On a seperate note, this issue is rapidly becoming a common argument with my DD. She knows she can throw harder being a skippy and is starting to ask how it can be illegal if it never gets called and all these famous people insist it isn't illegal and Barnhill is just that damn good. There are a couple of skippy's in her age group that she will eventually compete with for playing time in school ball. She is better than either right now but knows, or rather thinks she could be considerably better than either if she could throw like they do. It is really hard to convince a 12 yr old that doing the right thing is best when he wrong thing is so clearly rewarded.

Thanks skippy defenders!

 

[DNeeld]

I can get with Kempf regarding seeing the replant in real time. That is a tough one to spot. But the two foot jump and being a foot outside the pitching lane? Inexcusable! Not a single call all year.

 

[Swim Coach]

It's sort of comical. Let's say Florida had a big stud left tackle who never gave up a sack and was a real player. But just to make sure, he tackled the outside linebacker every single pass attempt just to be sure. Would the referee, line judges, etc., all look the other way because, well, he's so good, and besides, he would have probably blocked the OLB anyway? That's what you have here. Maybe one swimmer always false starts by a couple tenths of a second. Think that's going to fly? How about long jumper in track get to foul the board every time?

No way. It really de-legitamizes (is that a word) the sport IMHO.