To swim or not to swim glove hand

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Aug 21, 2008
2,359
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The idea should be NOT to swim. We want the glove to stay as close as possible to staying on top of the stride leg. But, it will NEVER stay on top. It will fall behind or "swim" but we need to reduce the swim as much as possible.

#1. the idea should be to have as much if not ALL of your body going in one direction as possible. Swimming pulls the body off line and threatens the straight explosion.

#2. Think of a jump ball in basketball, We need both arms to explode upward to the target (the ball) we don't go higher by swimming with one arm.

#3. Swimming USUALLY means the hands separated very early, probably from a backswing, in the motion. Why wouldn't you want both arms pushing straight to the target, which will help enable to hide the ball from the batter? And will keep most of the body going forward.

#4. Pitchers who swim TOO MUCH will throw a lot of pitches to the glove side. This is a result of the body not staying lined up with the target due to the glove pulling offline.


Bill
 
Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
Spoke with jjsqueeze earlier this year to see how he's doing and he said that he has moved on from the pitching forum as he has other interests. Got the chance to meet him last year at a tourney in OC and he is a fun guy to be around.

The dude has wit that just doesn't quit. Hope he stops by to say howdy now and then...
 
Feb 17, 2014
7,152
113
Orlando, FL
The idea should be NOT to swim. We want the glove to stay as close as possible to staying on top of the stride leg. But, it will NEVER stay on top. It will fall behind or "swim" but we need to reduce the swim as much as possible.

#1. the idea should be to have as much if not ALL of your body going in one direction as possible. Swimming pulls the body off line and threatens the straight explosion.

#2. Think of a jump ball in basketball, We need both arms to explode upward to the target (the ball) we don't go higher by swimming with one arm.

#3. Swimming USUALLY means the hands separated very early, probably from a backswing, in the motion. Why wouldn't you want both arms pushing straight to the target, which will help enable to hide the ball from the batter? And will keep most of the body going forward.

#4. Pitchers who swim TOO MUCH will throw a lot of pitches to the glove side. This is a result of the body not staying lined up with the target due to the glove pulling offline.


Bill

Just saw this for the first time and this is dead on! Well said!

If you are going to save a post as a pearl of wisdom it does not get much better than this.
 
Oct 14, 2019
897
93
No one would point their glove hand at the target when throwing overhand. Why would you point at the catcher when throwing underhand? Wouldn’t glove placement to the side provide more stability?
 
Apr 12, 2019
58
8
My DD has fought swimming for some time now and we've trained it out for the most part. The less swim, the better the spin. Swimming will pull her closed at release and the ball comes off the outside of her hand causing bullet spin from my observation.
Just last week, we watched a few LSU games, Maribeth Gorsuch and Shelbi Sunseri in particular, and she started pitching sans backswing like Elizabeth Torina teaches. WOW, what a difference! No more swim, better spin and a couple mph right away. She's able to get her plant leg out earlier and stick it for better front side resistance.
 
Apr 28, 2014
2,316
113
My DD has fought swimming for some time now and we've trained it out for the most part. The less swim, the better the spin. Swimming will pull her closed at release and the ball comes off the outside of her hand causing bullet spin from my observation.
Just last week, we watched a few LSU games, Maribeth Gorsuch and Shelbi Sunseri in particular, and she started pitching sans backswing like Elizabeth Torina teaches. WOW, what a difference! No more swim, better spin and a couple mph right away. She's able to get her plant leg out earlier and stick it for better front side resistance.
Hope shes not crow hopping like LSU teaches :)
 
Aug 21, 2008
2,359
113
I don’t think they teach crow hopping I think it’s a side effect of the low approach they start with. I noticed Gorsuch has corrected her leaping from last year now she starts low and stays low pitched a perfect game last weekend.

What does that mean, low approach? What does that have to do with the cause of a crow hop?

Bill
 

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