Comment on Division I Tournament Pitchers

[RMGC]

I have been watching the games, as most of you are, and can't help critiquing the pitchers as I watch.
Without mentioning names, the Washington pitcher hops on one leg with her weight forward; the pitcher from Hawaii doesn't have any off speed pitches or a change up; The Louisville Lafayette pitcher "crunches" her body at the waist rolling her shoulders forward on release; the UCLA pitcher uses the straight ahead step method of throwing, never opens, and her arm stops on release without any follow through. I could go on and I am sure there are many more examples i could site.
My question is what kind of coaching have they all had? Am I missing something here about what it takes to reach the upper levels of this sport as all of these I have mentioned have done? Are we all being too particular as to what is a successful motion and what creates speed? I would like to read your comments
on what you have seen and what you think.

 

[Glipski]

Obviously they all have flaws in their mechanics, we all see because we know what to look for. The thing is- they've found ways around what they do "wrong" (in quotes because it's only wrong to us). Look at golf, baseball, football, any sport. Nobody is perfect at any thing, even Woods in golf. He continually needs lessons. The difference, in my opinion, between successful pitchers and not so successful ones is the simple fact that they found ways to overcome their deficiencies and be very effective in what they do. The not so successful ones, no matter how hard they try, don't make it work for them, or even worse aren't in the right place at the right time to get the opportunities to shine that some of the others do.

 

[SoftSocDad]

You two have WAY more knowledge and experience than I'll ever have, but even I know that there's not a single 'right way' in order to be a successful pitcher. Everyone has a different physiology and different limits to their capabilities. The goal is to throw unhittable strikes, which can be achieved a variety of ways, and that's one of the beautiful things about the game. And as you alluded to, what works for a pitcher today may not work next season, so it's important to keep working at it.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I tend to agree with RMGC.

Sure they can throw 65, now. But the beating that their body is taking may show up by their 40s.

 

[tojo]

I tend to agree with RMGC.

Sure they can throw 65, now. But the beating that their body is taking may show up by their 40s.

Good point and it may show up sooner than their 40s

 

[CoachFP]

I have been watching the games, as most of you are, and can't help critiquing the pitchers as I watch.
Without mentioning names, the Washington pitcher hops on one leg with her weight forward; the pitcher from Hawaii doesn't have any off speed pitches or a change up; The Louisville Lafayette pitcher "crunches" her body at the waist rolling her shoulders forward on release; the UCLA pitcher uses the straight ahead step method of throwing, never opens, and her arm stops on release without any follow through. I could go on and I am sure there are many more examples i could site.
My question is what kind of coaching have they all had? Am I missing something here about what it takes to reach the upper levels of this sport as all of these I have mentioned have done? Are we all being too particular as to what is a successful motion and what creates speed? I would like to read your comments
on what you have seen and what you think.

What you are seeing is in fact general poor mechanics. Don't let folks on this board tell you that there is no "right" way to pitch. Let me start to address that by saying that there are many "wrong" ways to pitch and you mentioned some of them. Keeping your shoulders square to the plate is ineffecient and wrong. Sure she can throw like that and be somewhat successful. I could bat by just standing on one leg, but recognize that you can be better on two legs. In my opinion there are too few pitching coaches out there that know what is right and wrong, so this is what you get even at the highest level.

 

[shockcoach]

If you do it enough times, you can overcome those mechanical flaws. Not the best and most efficient way to go about it, though. I see this in every position on the field. Fielding, throwing and hitting fundamentals were left behind with allot of these players. They overcome with pure athleticism. Imagine what you would get if you combined that athleticism with proper fundamental mechanics...

 

[Amy in AZ.]

At Candrea's last camp he said that he has to teach the Freshman, how to play catch.

 

[SoftSocDad]

Very talented and elite level athletes are just different from the rest of us. There are several players on the PGA Tour - and several more playing at clubs around the world - who have a more mechanically sound, safer, and 'better-looking' golf swing than Tiger Woods. But Tiger's won 14 majors.

Tiger's the extreme, of course, but there are countless examples. While I agree that we want kids to have sound fundamentals, I don't agree that there's a single right way to do everything. There's just too much anecdotal evidence to prove otherwise, especially when we're talking about kids who are in those top percentiles in terms of athletic ability.

I'm actually happy that my daughter's PC told her that 'each pitcher develops her own style' for the windup. She's the type of kid who wants ownership of what she does and I'm fine with her devoting a few minutes of daddy practice to experimentation. After 12 balls in a row, though, she'll usually go back to what she knows works without me saying a word.