Arm bent Vs. Straight Question?

Hillhouse said:

"back in the day" men's fastpitch was one of the most popular games in the country. Where I grew up, Erie PA, there was so much men's fastpitch every night of the week that they actually had a "morning league" for guys who worked 2nd and 3rd shift and could not play city rec ball on weeknights. So, my father played fastpitch in the morning league and my brother and i would go to every game, be the bat boys, imitate the pitchers, and just became "park rats" by hanging out there non-stop. As time went on, I keep practicing pitching, mimicking the best pitchers in the city, and never gave it up. I never played a single game of baseball in my life, only fastpitch. In my high school, the baseball coach also played in the men's fastpitch league and I would see him at the ballpark on weeknights and would even pitch against his team (getting my butt kicked as a kid pitching against grown men). But, during school.. he was relentless trying to get me to play baseball for school just to DH... as I was a pretty decent hitter. And hitting the better men's FP guys would make baseball look like beachballs, so he would tell me. But, I never had any interest. I was so engulfed in fastpitch that it absolutely consumed my life.

Bill

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Hillhouse said:

Coach McCombs,

Keep in mind, there is a HUGE difference between "straight" and "locked". 99% of pitchers who preach "straight arm" are actually teaching locked arm... very bad. Lots of shoulder problems occur this way.

There is a such thing as "too bent" also. So, there is a delicate balance. While I don't advocate posting video of someone else's kid on an internet board, it's hard to say how your pitcher is doing without seeing it. But, I can tell you that I believe in a long, loose arm (words that combine both straight and bent arm) but, if you see pics of me pitching, it always looks like I have my elbow bent. So, a pitcher needs to find the balance between the 2. By and large, I'd say YOU are in the right. But that's my skeptical nature of anyone who tells you to straighten your arm, which usually means to lock the elbow. I do not recommend it. Nor do I know any World class pitchers who do that.

Bill

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Sparky Guy said:

What I tell the girls I work with is they want to have a relaxed arm throughout the circle with a slight flex in the elbow. If you use the word "Bend" the young brain almost always jumps to bend meaning 60+ degrees. Slightly flexed and relaxed are softer words to the young mind and they seem to comprehend them better. At least in my experience with working with younger kids.

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