Rachel Garcia - Analysis of Right Leg AFTER Push off - Leg Adduction

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Nov 25, 2012
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Wanted to share one of my favorite pitchers and ask for a breakdown of leg adduction ie. what the right leg does after it leaves the rubber.

One video is a side view of her warming up at UCLA. 2nd video is her from behind catcher from what appears her HS days.

While we have discussed hip snap/ hip torque/ leg adduction on multiple threads I really want your input on every muscle you think is being used to adduct her legs together so powerfully. We have heard knee to knee, laces to catcher, etc. but what muscles are being used to make that happen in your opinion. I used to believe it was hip torque as many of you know but now in the camp of the hip snap to a 45 is an effect of leg adduction and have posted about that over the last year or so.

But I am still struggling with how to get the legs to adduct. Squeezing the glutes is one option but is that the answer? Rachel seems to really kick into a figure 4 or donkey kick (I think both are the same but could be wrong). Is it a strong kick so that you are going hard calve to calve by kicking? Not sure I am explaining this well or not.

Anyway, I want to revisit this further as I have been seeing some extremely fast pitchers of late that look really similar to Rachel so using her as an example. Thanks for the future discussion on this topic and hope it might help someone else as well.

So, what is the leg doing and what muscles are being used to kick, pull, etc. etc. ?

 
Last edited:

shaker1

Softball Junkie
Dec 4, 2014
894
18
On a bucket
I noticed a big change in my kids drive leg adduction when we started working on getting onto the front leg, transfer that weight forward into the front side. Once she started working forward and up at release, I really started seeing the dust fly, no weight on the rear leg.
 
Mar 20, 2015
174
28
I like the way she rocks her right foot and builds momentum times the push


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

shaker1

Softball Junkie
Dec 4, 2014
894
18
On a bucket
Wanted to share one of my favorite pitchers and ask for a breakdown of leg adduction ie. what the right leg does after it leaves the rubber.

One video is a side view of her warming up at UCLA. 2nd video is her from behind catcher from what appears her HS days.

While we have discussed hip snap/ hip torque/ leg adduction on multiple threads I really want your input on every muscle you think is being used to adduct her legs together so powerfully. We have heard knee to knee, laces to catcher, etc. but what muscles are being used to make that happen in your opinion. I used to believe it was hip torque as many of you know but now in the camp of the hip snap to a 45 is an effect of leg adduction and have posted about that over the last year or so.

But I am still struggling with how to get the legs to adduct. Squeezing the glutes is one option but is that the answer? Rachel seems to really kick into a figure 4 or donkey kick (I think both are the same but could be wrong). Is it a strong kick so that you are going hard calve to calve by kicking? Not sure I am explaining this well or not.

Anyway, I want to revisit this further as I have been seeing some extremely fast pitchers of late that look really similar to Rachel so using her as an example. Thanks for the future discussion on this topic and hope it might help someone else as well.

So, what is the leg doing and what muscles are being used to kick, pull, etc. etc. ?



I really have to stress, a big change happened to dd when we started working on the front side. My dd had a issue with her FSR, her upper and lower didn't work together. On landing, all that energy would sink into her hip, causing a disconnection of lower and upper, which I believe caused too much brush. Often bruising the area around her hip bone. Accuracy was all over the place. So we went in a little different direction, trying to stay more open, get just inside the hip with the forearm (Rich Balswick) That combined with working on her front side, by working on getting taller at release. Often we will work on a hop just after release, where that forward energy is used to push up at release, not back. Its really helped that adduction happen, actually by not even thinking about the rear leg. Speed and accuracy are much better. Hope it helps

Just wanted to add, Garcia's hips seem fairly quiet through the pitch. Something else that perked my interest. Another one that comes to mind is Gabbie Plain
 
Last edited:
Nov 25, 2012
1,437
83
USA
Just wanted to add, Garcia's hips seem fairly quiet through the pitch. Something else that perked my interest. Another one that comes to mind is Gabbie Plain

I agree about her hips and they do seem quiet. She is one of the pitchers that made me look at "hip torque" a bit differently. She is very linear and not rotational but throws lightning. I still wonder if there isn't something to her leg adduction especially in her HS video above. It is appears very intentional and strong IMO which is what I am trying to understand better.
 

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