Arm circle problems

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May 9, 2015
263
18
West Virginia
I’m with James and Rosey, the drive mechanics is the place to start. I’d like to know, #1 Did she have the same mechanics other than the bent arm circle before going to college? #2 Has her college coach or anybody for that matter put an emphasis on driving out farther? #3 Has she she always looked down like that or has that changed as well? I’d also love to see a video of her walk thru since she doesn’t do it on a walk thru. My guess is that if she doesn’t do it on the walk thru but does off the mound, the issue is in the drive.


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Dec 5, 2012
4,143
63
Mid West
We as a pitching community need to realize that the drive is the foundation to the entire pitch!!!
Remember the story from the Bible where the 2 men build houses, one on solid rock and the other on sand?
Pitching is just like that. If the foundation (drive mechanics) is poor, everything else has nothing to build upon.
Hanna is a stud athlete for sure, and is honestly getting away with a lot of inefficiencies because she's so strong and athletic.
Study up on DM, and have her doing a lot of drills specifically designed to get a better outward thrust rather than the dominate left leg reach.
Secondly the premature arm bent from 2-12 is a direct reflection of how her body is turned open so early, the torso is already sideways there... where else is her arm supposed to go?
**Drive OUTWARD not open (use the right leg to thrust, this will keep her more square)
**Shove the ball and glove OUTWARD towards the catcher (this will keep her torso more square initially)
** The arm circle will get the torso opening to about a 45 degree angle as the ball comes over the top (we don't need to be completely open)
** These simple adjustments will correct several issues
PM me if I can further assist you. Maybe you could road trip to Indiana for a few hours with me
 
May 9, 2015
263
18
West Virginia
We as a pitching community need to realize that the drive is the foundation to the entire pitch!!!
Remember the story from the Bible where the 2 men build houses, one on solid rock and the other on sand?
Pitching is just like that. If the foundation (drive mechanics) is poor, everything else has nothing to build upon.
Hanna is a stud athlete for sure, and is honestly getting away with a lot of inefficiencies because she's so strong and athletic.
Study up on DM, and have her doing a lot of drills specifically designed to get a better outward thrust rather than the dominate left leg reach.
Secondly the premature arm bent from 2-12 is a direct reflection of how her body is turned open so early, the torso is already sideways there... where else is her arm supposed to go?
**Drive OUTWARD not open (use the right leg to thrust, this will keep her more square)
**Shove the ball and glove OUTWARD towards the catcher (this will keep her torso more square initially)
** The arm circle will get the torso opening to about a 45 degree angle as the ball comes over the top (we don't need to be completely open)
** These simple adjustments will correct several issues
PM me if I can further assist you. Maybe you could road trip to Indiana for a few hours with me

I totally agree with James. I’ve also discovered that driving out not open can be remedied a lot by getting proper lean to initiate the drive. Getting proper lean limits the amount of getting open that can be done.


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Sep 29, 2014
2,421
113
@mountyfan just to illustrate what we are talking about...she can't have great drive mechanics if she separates from the pitching plate completely open which is basically where she is at IMO. Hopefully pictures help. She does almost look like she leaps for a split second too. This does seem like a minor thing but it does throw the rest of her motion off being so open so early. Another post coming in a second I need to find a pic set in my files. It shows stages of drive mechanics.hannahfootplate.PNGamanda footplate.PNGjenniefootplate.PNG
 
Last edited:
Nov 8, 2018
774
63
This may be a stupid question, but I am wondering about the neoprene elbow sleeve and how it helps give feedback on elbow bend?

It doesn’t give feedback on the elbow bend. It’s there to protect the elbow if it happens to hit the hip. However, there should be an elbow bend moving into BC and IR release. Depending on how much contact your technique provides the pad will help more or less. Some brush contact slightly. Some get that elbow way behind into the glute like Monica, yoko, Garcia etc and May need some help with padding. As far as elbow bend. It’s necessary in ir delivery.


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May 15, 2008
1,913
113
Cape Cod Mass.
This may be a stupid question, but I am wondering about the neoprene elbow sleeve and how it helps give feedback on elbow bend?

I will use a neoprene sleeve on my students who have trouble with their arm bend. It helps to focus attention on the elbow. I like sleeves that are tight and have several sizes in my bag. The more you bend the elbow the tighter the sleeve gets. For those with too much bend the excessive tightness is immediately noticeable. For those with a straight elbow I have them pay attention to the tightness that bending the elbow causes and maintain it through the circle.
 
Jun 16, 2019
38
8
Awesome..tha
I will use a neoprene sleeve on my students who have trouble with their arm bend. It helps to focus attention on the elbow. I like sleeves that are tight and have several sizes in my bag. The more you bend the elbow the tighter the sleeve gets. For those with too much bend the excessive tightness is immediately noticeable. For those with a straight elbow I have them pay attention to the tightness that bending the elbow causes and maintain it through the circle.
Wow..that is very creative! I like it
 
May 15, 2008
1,913
113
Cape Cod Mass.
The role of the shoulder plays in the arm circle goes largely unnoticed. This is not surprising since most pitchers perform it adequately and it is a "no teach". The shoulder leads the arm in it's circle and is responsible for generating some velocity. This is especially important in the 4 o'clock to 1 o'clock part of the arm circle. What is generally thought of as "opening up" is more of a pull back action which adds speed to the arm circle. Shoulder/arm/hand action is similar to that of a sling (as in David and Goliath). A sling has a pocket for the stone and two strings that are held in the hand. As the pocket/stone is whirled in a near vertical circle to build velocity the hand which holds the strings also moves in a small circle and leads the pocket/stone. Similarly in pitching the shoulder leads the arm in it's circle. Look at first 20 seconds of this video of Amanda Scarborough and focus on her shoulder, you will see that it makes a circle. At 9 o'clock she is open, from 6-4 she is about square/closed, from 4-1 you can see her pull back with the shoulder which accelerates the arm/hand. If the timing of this sequence is incorrect, such as opening up early, there is a loss of velocity. This same pull back action is very noticeable in the 17 second video of Cat Osterman





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