I think it makes perfect sense, because you're talking about adding a horizontal movement to an action occuring on a vertical plane. It's not like hitting, where the moving part is going parallel to the ground. I think that's the flaw with trying to draw the same conclusions from hitting and softball pitching. The vertical nature makes it more purely linear than other activities. I also don't believe that a slight hip movement can have much impact on a kinetic chain that is otherwise focused on going forward. I've tried it and it doesn't seem to do anything for me.
One of the down sides of watching video is that we're making assumptions on what is happening based on what we see. Or what we think we see. Unless someone puts electrodes on a few pitchers and measures what happens with or without "hip snap" we're just speculating. From my vantage point, I've seen more pitchers struggle because they're trying to snap the hips than from any other cue or instruction. I'd say leave them out of the way and let the rest of the body do its job.
Of course, all of this is theoretical. I'd love to hear from any of those elite level pitchers to see if they're trying to do something specific with their hips, or whether stuff just happens.
Actually, in the clip Mark points to Finch doesn't really display hip rotation .
I think it makes perfect sense, because you're talking about adding a horizontal movement to an action occuring on a vertical plane. It's not like hitting, where the moving part is going parallel to the ground. I think that's the flaw with trying to draw the same conclusions from hitting and softball pitching. The vertical nature makes it more purely linear than other activities. I also don't believe that a slight hip movement can have much impact on a kinetic chain that is otherwise focused on going forward. I've tried it and it doesn't seem to do anything for me.
One of the down sides of watching video is that we're making assumptions on what is happening based on what we see. Or what we think we see. Unless someone puts electrodes on a few pitchers and measures what happens with or without "hip snap" we're just speculating. From my vantage point, I've seen more pitchers struggle because they're trying to snap the hips than from any other cue or instruction. I'd say leave them out of the way and let the rest of the body do its job.
Of course, all of this is theoretical. I'd love to hear from any of those elite level pitchers to see if they're trying to do something specific with their hips, or whether stuff just happens.