Fixing Fowler

[ArmWhip]

It just goes to show you that just because you are a successful athlete does not mean that you understand the mechanics of what you are doing. This is a classic case.

 

[Ken Krause]

Here's the closest I've ever seen to her actually doing what she says in that video. It's a workout on a day she wasn't pitching. Notice, though, that while high the finish is still long and loose, she never comes close to touching her shoulder.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

I think there is a misperception that if a pitcher has a "power L" finish that she has no internal rotation (arm whip). I disagree. When my DD first started pitching, she was taught the push down from 12 o'clock and finish with the elbow up to the catcher. Some would call this "bowling technique". Over time however, she started "naturally" getting more arm whip into the pitch and her hand would finish across her body. As months went by, she got into a bad habit of overrotating her forearm prior to release and the elbow would flare out away from the body at 6 o'clock creating what we called a "chicken wing" or "monkey arm" and the ball would fly high and left of the target. In order to fix the problem, her PC had her finish with the "power L" finish.

Did this kill her arm whip? No! Is she maximizing arm whip to its full potential? Probably not. But she is pitching more accurately than ever and if she has to sacrifice a couple of MPH for consistency, I think its worth it. As she gets more experience pitching, I'm sure we'll move away from the "power L" finish and focus on a natural follow through.

To summarize, the "power L" finish and arm ship are not mutually exclusive. A picher can incorporate both and still pitch with velocity and accuracy. As long as some arm whip is incorporated into the pitch, beginning pitchers should experiment with different follow throughs and determine which one works best for them.

 

[CoachFP]

It's clear that Fowler could have used a good pitching coach, (like Hillhouse). There are plenty of them around who would let someone with her talent be so mechanically unsound.

 

[Jojo]

A more definitive article, with a picture of part of her follow through, too.

Ace looks ahead, not leaps ahead

Sounds to me like she is saying it was her backswing that was causing the problem.