Model Pitchers

Ueno:

Does her biceps contribute or is that just follow thru?

I was impressed with how Ueno’s left leg was directed forward, turned inward, and then externally rotated just prior to landing.

University of Arizona's Kenzie Fowler:

Corpus Christi's Jordan Trujillo:

Corpus Christi's Constance Brandenburg:

University of Arizona's Shelby Babcock:

Paige Arnold, Coppin State

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FiveFrameSwing said:

Ueno:

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Take a close look at where her hips are when she releases the ball. Looks to me like she's at the 45 to 52 degree angle we always talk about. Her slamming of the door, so to speak, doesn't occur until after release.

Think about it this way. If she were hitting with this type of hip rotation, we'd be all over her for not really driving the back hip through properly. Instead, it's a little move with the hips the following the hands afterwards. A true door slammer is taught to close the hips completely, in one motion, as fast as she can.

As for how she throws 70 mph without being a giant, there could be lots of reasons, starting with her muscle structure and how much of it is fast twitch. Difficult to determine that without a biopsy. Or maybe there is more elasticity to her body, allowing her to achieve more of a stretch or recoil or something else than other pitchers.

There is way too little real, verifiable data, and way too many variables, to come to a conclusion. Two pitchers with the same motion can achieve vastly different results because there's more to it than just how you throw. Could be that Ueno devoted more time to deep practice -- the 10,000 hours thing -- than other pitchers, so her movements are more refined or better timed. We may not be able to see it with the naked eye, even on high def video.

kenkrause said:

Take a close look at where her hips are when she releases the ball. Looks to me like she's at the 45 to 52 degree angle we always talk about. Her slamming of the door, so to speak, doesn't occur until after release.

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With all due respect Ken there is no way in heck she is 45 to 52 degrees open. There are indicators here and no pitcher(that I have seen) uses their body as well as Ueno. The heel is straight up and even a goes past that with the heel toward 3rd and the toe to first. The heel is a good easy indicator to watch for hip action. This is opposite of what you see for most pitchers. Her knee is facing the catcher. She is 100% closed when she releases the ball. She is 45 degrees somewhere between 12 and 9(i go 12 to 6 in the back of the circle). The fastpitch hip myth goes out the window when Ueno is added to the evidence.