Closing the Door: Squaring Hips/Shoulders to Catcher?

[Ken B]

I read a post on another site where the advice was given to "close the door" by forcing the hips and shoulders to square at release. My previous understanding was that the hips/shoulders followed through naturally and that attempting to close creates more problems than it solves. Here's an article I read that seems to suggest the same as that poster: CoachesInfo.com- sports science information for coaches - Softball pitching technique

 

[sluggers]

Look at the attached pictures of Finch and Osterman. Finch, in my opinion, is the best there ever was. She is about as far from "closing her hips" as you can be.

I'm still trying to figure out why anyone thinks that power comes from closing the hips in throwing a ball. It makes no sense.

 

[Jojo]

I found a lot of things in the article rather confusing. It seems to me, they are telling you to square up the hips.
I did like the pictures of the internal release.

FIG. 13: Many softball pitchers are unable to fully rotate their hips fully and square them off with the plate. The male pitcher on the left is the only one of the three pitchers here to have his hips squared to the plate.

If the hips do not rotate forward, as seen in many windmill pitchers (Figure 13), the pitcher will lose force that can be produced by the powerful muscles of the trunk (Alexander 1998). The hips need to rotate to a closed position toward home plate during the delivery phase, and this position is facilitated by forceful back leg drive (Werner 1994).

 

[Sweet Pitch 96]

I found a lot of things in the article rather confusing. It seems to me, they are telling you to square up the hips.
I did like the pictures of the internal release.

I noticed the date of the quote, and a thought came to me. Pitching theory and instruction has evolved tremendously over the last 12 years. With easy access to digital and high-speed video, a lot of the myths about pitching have gone by the wayside. There are a few pitching coaches in our area who still subscribe to the "swinging door, curl up to the shoulder follow through" philosophy. We even started off that way. The best thing we ever did for our dd was getting her away from that style. Opening the hips, relaxed arm whip, with a natural follow through really seem to be the better for way for my girl. I'm sure there are exceptions, but if you really study what the elite pitchers are doing, the "old way" is not it. SOme of those pitchers may even think that they are doing something that they aren't. But, among the elites, there really are more similarities than differences.

 

[3DD'sDAD]

I have a first year 14U that is a good pitcher, but when she gets tired she has a tendancy to Open rather violently immediately after the stride starts. the pivot foot actuall rotates very quickly basically twisting her torso to open which throws her timing off. Does anyone have any drills that I can get her to slow that motion down? Its almost like she isn't trusting the natural rotation of her torso created by the arm circle. She gets WAY ahead of herself. Suggestions? Sorry I don't have any video. She will be pitching Tuesday eve and I will try to get some vid.

 

[Ken B]

Did you get some video?

 

[Geekydad]

Speaking of squaring the hips, here's an example of one of the most "squared up" pitchers I've noticed during the NCAA Tournament, Blaire Luna from Texas.

 

[TowPilot]

Watch the Washington Pitcher tonight vs. OU. There is no closing, no squaring up. Arguably the one of the best. She acutally has a little hop at the end that our PC comes unglued when my DD hops like that.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

"She acutally has a little hop at the end that our PC comes unglued when my DD hops like that."

Sometimes it is more than a little hop. DD's fiance' who only knows what he hears me talk about, pointed that hop out to me. I am guessing that is her drop ball. ??

 

[SoftSocDad]

I'm still trying to figure out why anyone thinks that power comes from closing the hips in throwing a ball. It makes no sense.

Isn't that taught mainly to beginning pitchers that are pretty young?

Both my DD's coaches teach the close, but the one has already told her that she'll adjust her style and mechanics as she gets older. For now, though, she's instructed to do it this way and it works. When she closes, she's close to 80% strikes, but when she doesn't, the number drops to the 40-50% range.

Not knowing jack about the sport, I'm willing to accept this as a reliable method of instruction based solely on the results. Knowing how independently-minded my kid is, though, I'm quite certain she'll have her very own pitch by the time she's 14. hehe