Release point

[Doug Romrell]

So... if I were to make a recommendation to a pitcher learning... I'd recommend a backswing... any day... every day.

YUP!!
Even though my recommendation in this regard didn't stick with one of my three pitching students. I just let it go. She's doing well without it, but I still think it would help her.

 

[riseball]

My DD uses a backswing which gets a little longer when she is on and really putting the coals to her pitches. If you can pick it up, process it and use it more power to ya.

 

[drc9805]

My question was more about the way Hillhouse teaches you to get into a sprinters position vs. shifting weight from the drive leg to the leaping leg and back to the drive leg as a way to propel your body forward.

 

[Cowdogz]

Video from the throwing arm side.

Got video, but I can't get it off the stupid phone.

 

[javasource]

My question was more about the way Hillhouse teaches you to get into a sprinters position vs. shifting weight from the drive leg to the leaping leg and back to the drive leg as a way to propel your body forward.

The point is to transfer weight rearward... then forward... creating more momentum through a greater distance travelled.

Which is better? An all-forward connected swing... or one that utilizes a load (batting)?

Better yet...
Can you jump further from a standing position... or by using the two-step? The answer is obvious. What gets you further out? Energy.
Will your timing improve? Yes. Will your speed improve? Yes. Is it what 'they' actually do'? Yes. Is immediate transfer of weight better than gradual? Yes.

All high-level pitchers start with their weight on their drive foot... and then transfer weight from the stride to the drive foot... we've already been through that excercise (not talking to you drc9805). Is it all one flowing process like the 2-step? Not always... but the sequence IS there every time.

I've shown how I teach it... so you can all 'teach' and make your dd better. That's all.... and the results have always improved the student. That... is the goal.

 

[Doug Romrell]

This is misunderstanding or misstating what the pitchers do. They start with weight on the back foot (a noticeable pause or sinking in), and go forward and that works, as 80 percent of elite pitchers do it that way today. They don't do the rocking back and forth part, which cause false loads and/or gym steps off the front.

Would you care to provide us with your research so that we might understand where you got this 80 percent number? Or, was this a number you just pulled out of your ear?

 

[javasource]

"Pitching Position" is when the pitcher has both feet on the rubber with the hands separated ... by rule.

Where is the weight at the start of the sequence in nearly every pitcher? Drive foot.
Where does it go? Stride foot.
Where does it go to push? Drive foot.

Oddly... I hear OILF talking about Lacey Waldrop in other threads... I know she approves of RLG and Waldrop...

Rita Lynn Gilman's Best of the Best

Yeah, Lacey Waldrop, excellent pitcher at FL State. She also taught the VA pitcher, whose name escapes me, in the top five or so in ERA in the nation a few years ago at U MD. And she has more in the pipeline. Thanks to Angela Tincher making VA a place to look at and RLG, the state is on the rise.
I again don't like the approach of selling gadgets (like the elbow straightener, yikes), but you can't argue with the success.

Surely... you can't miss the premotion of one of your favorite pitchers???!!!

I guess you can...

Doug... when I read the response - I threw one of the hundreds of game discs I have in (the one on top of the stack) and stopped at the first two pitchers... as I've already posted many other (current players) pitchers. Here's the other one... from the other team:

So... In all sincerity... stick with instruction that leads to what pitchers do - not what HS coaches say - especially when they shoot from the hip... and not the brain.

 

[Doug Romrell]

Those two pitchers sure look like they are doing that 2-step drill! One is even doing that slide-the-foot action.

Somebody better notify these two pitchers that 80 percent of "elilte" pitchers don't do such things.

 

[drc9805]

Yeah, I see most doing the 2-step pre-motion myself as stated earlier. Actually, I see them as both being very similar minus a back-swing but maybe I'm wrong.

I really think the way Java teaches and how the two girls above stay on the ball of their drive foot would help for a a field that is very flat at the mound. Unfortunately, every field my daughter has played on has a hole in front of the rubber which automatically puts your drive foot on an angle to drive off of. I'm sure this is a result of playing on tournament fields that see very many games every week.

I always thought this must be why some girls struggle with having their drive foot come off the ground at the College World Series because I figured they must play with the same hole during the year which would mean their drive foot starts a couple inches lower and ends up right on the top of the ground when they leap but after watching more college games during the season that doesn't seem to be the case as most fields seem to be very flat at the rubber.

 

[javasource]

Drc, I don't see it as a disadvantage... as that hole requires that they push off ... or from the front of the plate... out. If a step-down plate is used, there's a limit to how deep the hole is, too. It gets the foot away from a flat-foot orientation. Just a different perspective, that's all... Thanks for sharing.