76 mph

[Fluid Fastpitch]

I think that the fact that the exact spot where the contact takes place is very vague (rib cage, hip, outer thigh) keeps it from being a causal factor, for both control and velocity. There some intuitive examples used to justify BI, one is the action of a whip. But a whip is not forcibly halted, just like when you throw overhand the upper arm is not impeded, the energy gets transferred as part of the process. The brick on the hood of a car is another example. Yes the brick flies off when you hit the brakes, but it doesn't accelerate. I am not anti BI, I tell my pitchers not to be concerned about it.

Actually the hand stopping when you snap the whip is what causes the transfer of energy.
I believe that the stopping of the arm is necessary to transfer energy all the way down to the fingers into the ball. Even Barnhill and Pickens have a moment where the upper arm is stopped (compressed against the ribcage) that accelerates the unravel/extension of the arm.
9 minutes well spent here to understand how whip happens (in actual whips - skip the last 2 minutes)

 

[ArmWhip]

Actually the hand stopping when you snap the whip is what causes the transfer of energy.

It's an interesting video but it looks to me like the hand 'throws' the handle of the whip and after the hand throws anything it comes to a stop. A whip itself is basically passive, it operates linearly and it doesn't have muscles and generate any energy, so you have to decide, is the arm a whip (passive) or is it a catapult, powered by muscles.

 

[RADcatcher]

All that chit chat about miscellaneous and mechanics...
Could just be that Champions have something more!

 

[Shawn]

It's an interesting video but it looks to me like the hand 'throws' the handle of the whip and after the hand throws anything it comes to a stop. A whip itself is basically passive, it operates linearly and it doesn't have muscles and generate any energy, so you have to decide, is the arm a whip (passive) or is it a catapult, powered by muscles.

The whip just transfers, the human body has muscles that can transfer and create energy.

 

[Vertigo]

All that chit chat about miscellaneous and mechanics...
Could just be that Champions have something more!

You don’t have to be a champion to throw hard. Just like throwing hard doesn’t automatically make one a champion.

 

[Fluid Fastpitch]

It's an interesting video but it looks to me like the hand 'throws' the handle of the whip and after the hand throws anything it comes to a stop. A whip itself is basically passive, it operates linearly and it doesn't have muscles and generate any energy, so you have to decide, is the arm a whip (passive) or is it a catapult, powered by muscles.

I'll take a whip by analogy all day. Never heard of a catapult breaking the sound barrier.
There's a reason the trebuchet was a breakthrough in siege weaponry - put a whip on top of a catapult. Lag is necessary for acceleration, and the sudden stop transfers the energy.

 

[ArmWhip]

A) That gun that had Pickens at 76 was 3-4 mph fast (it had Bahl at 71 at one point..she was no faster than 67-68 all year). That seemed to be the only game it was off by that much as Bahl was back to her usual speed in later games (eg I don’t think Pickens throws any harder than Canady..)

Jordy Bahl hit 70 multiple times in the Stanford and Florida St games, Canady was at 72 a couple of times, so the argument would have to be that the gun was juiced at the whole WCWS. How accurate the radar gun is at any facility is an unanswerable question.

 

[ArmWhip]

Never heard of a catapult breaking the sound barrier.

What does the sound barrier have to do with anything here?

put a whip on top of a catapult.

The sling on top of a trebuchet is not a whip, it stays perfectly straight during the throw.

Lag is necessary for acceleration,

Agreed, but lag and BI are two different things. There's lag when you throw overhand but no BI.

You would have a better argument if you equated the BI to the pivot point in a catapult or trebuchet.

 

[PJR202]

Absolutely not. The number of new pitchers who will bowl the ball, almost forcing themselves to not internally rotate, is well over 90% from my experience. These are girls who have not had any pitching instruction. They're trying it for the first time. Some adjust quickly, but almost none of them internally rotate the arm.

It's a natural body movement, but for most, it's not instinctive.

You're saying they face the ball to the rear at 11:00 or so? I've never seen that with a new thrower. They'll stiff arm and shove the shoulder as high as it'll go, but I've never seen then point it toward the back at any point. They most definitely all bowl though...lol

 

[El Oso]

If brush contact is so important for control then why do Cat Osterman and Sara Pauly often wear neoprene elbow sleeves? Wouldn't a sleeve reduce sensitivity and therefore hurt their control?