Scarborough Says 90% of Power is in Legs

[Adman]

The ground is not solid, it is loose and unstable, especially inside a pitchers circle.

Hal,

I was being general in my use of the word "ground". The pitcher's rubber is attached to the ground.

 

[halskinner]

No slam on you, no insult intended.

There is a pitching instructor that uses the phrase 'Ground power' to teach his very weak form oi step style pitching. There is another more famous instructor that teaches students to push off from the dirt in front of the rubber. That is who I was aiming at.

 

[starsnuffer]

Scarborough endorses the power drive, which helps develop power in the legs. Stop being capitalist sheeple and taking everything a salesperson says as cannon.

-W

 

[JDBerry]

I think the more accurate way to determine what the legs do is try and pitch while sitting/kneeling on a large medicine ball (Abbott) or a chair so that the legs are not in contact with the ground. Even in Ks, you still have the leg providing resistance. Compare the non-leg throwing speed with a real pitching speed.

If we are to get this technical. Let's jump to the closer. 100% of power is derivered from between the ears.

 

[NVfishing]

When my DD is having a problem with her pitching I look at the legs first. Her drive from the rubber tells me a lot. Walk throughs are a prime example. I'm sure my DD throws 3-4mph faster in a walk through. Energy is produced through motion. Less motion and there's less speed.

 

[Ken B]

Just a shot on this one, but maybe 90% of the drive power comes from the legs?

 

[Ken B]

When my DD is having a problem with her pitching I look at the legs first. Her drive from the rubber tells me a lot. Walk throughs are a prime example. I'm sure my DD throws 3-4mph faster in a walk through. Energy is produced through motion. Less motion and there's less speed.

I think that generally, kids throw harder when they drive harder. I wouldn't say the speed actually comes from the legs, but more that when you drive harder, the hands need to speed up to keep the timing.

 

[JDBerry]

I think that generally, kids throw harder when they drive harder. I wouldn't say the speed actually comes from the legs, but more that when you drive harder, the hands need to speed up to keep the timing.

I had to be careful with this with my daughter. Much like telling a kid at second to move left. Either they will move 1/2" or 20ft.

We made the mistake of telling my daughter to drive "harder" and she did. But she lengthened her stride. She put all her effort into striding out and her arm speed actually slowed and she really got no benefit to the leg drive because she was so extended. She wasn't blocking up at the end and sometimes her back foot would stay back and not drag forward.

Her pitching coach started telling her to get out as fast as he can. Hard AND quick. Just like in our discussions, semantics can be difficult, kids might not relate what you are saying with what you are meaning.

 

[CoachFP]

The speed comes from three sources: the linear power delivered by the legs; the angular power delivered by the arm circle and torso and the whipping from the snap of the elbow and fingers. The legs offer a relatively smaller percentage of the total speed. What percentage that is depends on who you talk to but in a 60 mph pitch I would say no more than 7-8 mph. So in my thinking if someone was standing still and whipping their arm they would get about 85% if their velocity.

 

[Thuba]

How about just having your pitcher do her 12' knee warmup from the rubber (after warmup) and it will tell you the difference in her power.

Guessing as i'm wet behind the ears new 10yr old DD in (12u):
Lunge further out gives more power as the arm has to keep up (and also less reaction time = speed to plate(2-4mph?).
Hip and figure four release all time perfectly gives more power with front foot resistance.
above the hips:
Shoulder speed rotation
elbow down whip (see I/R stuck to top of forum) on whip
proper ball location in hand
proper finger location and pressure
proper follow through
Nothing shiny to distract.