Pitching from " the stretch "

[cblake33]

My DD is 12 and watches allot of baseball with me. Even goes to Spring Training with me. One day in practice she was pitching with a runner on first. She yelled at me " hey dad watch this ". She proceeded to bring her hands together at her waist , check the runner , and leap and throw her pitch. Totally eliminating her premotion and wind up. She threw a strike and totally caught the batter off guard. She looked over at me and said " pitching from the stretch " with a big grin on her face. The other coaches busted out laughing and asked her to do it periodically without notice during the rest of practice. She didn't seem to lose a whole lot of velocity and she had a ball keeping her friends off balance.

Just wondering if anyone else has any experience with this or use it at all during games?

 

[halskinner]

The 'Back Pocket Push'

Hi Cblake,

This sounds an awful like my 'Back Pocket Push'. Cant be called a wind up as there is no wind up at all. You get decent velocity but the ball is released and crosses the strike zone SO QUICKLY the batters do NOT have time to react well at all.

There are a few things you MUST know and do to make sure it stays a legal pitch. It can make the other batters and their coaches go ballistic.

Takes a little practice to get the timing perfect but as I said, it happens SO FAST they seldom react at all and when they do, they react badly. I taught it to my students just as an extras 'Fun' thing they could add a few times per game. Do it at least once in the first inning just to let them see you CAN throw it. Good to show it to the blues before the game too. THEY can even get taken totally by surprise.

The 'Back Pocket Push' is chapter 29 in my new book.

sneakysoftballpitching.com

 

[ArmWhip]

The are several problems with this approach but the idea in general can be used. You must have 2 feet on the rubber and the stretch position will make this difficult. Also the stretch position will give away the pitch. So you start from the regular position but instead of starting the windmill wind up you bring the glove arm forward, pitching arm back, open up and throw it sling shot style. It can be done several times before it loses the element of surprise.

 

[Lozza]

As someone who's had little to do with baseball (only since I moved to Perth where the two are a lot closer. Plus I play for a softball/baseball/t-ball club now so going to cheer on the baseball boys is part of the culture) what is 'the stretch'?

 

[sluggers]

Without a runner on base, a right handed pitcher will stand with his right foot across the pitching rubber, pointing generally toward home plate.

If there is a runner at 1B or 2B, the pitcher throws from "the stretch". A right-handed pitcher will stand with the right side of his right foot touching the pitching rubber with the foot pointing toward 3B. This allows the pitcher to look over his left shoulder at the runner at 1B before starting his full pitching motion.

There is some loss of leg drive when pitching from the stretch, thus resulting in a reduced speed if the pitcher has to pitch from the stretch for an extended period of time. Most relief pitchers always pitch from the stretch even when there are no runners on base.