Stride/drive length

[Shawn]

Less distance, quicker. Stride/drive can have a quicker tempo with a shorter stride. Less head movement with the shorter stride, better shoulder stability for the pitch because it moved forward less.

If I had to choose one for a beginner. I wouldn’t choose a short quicker tempo and no just distance to throw from a shorter distance.

Thoughts?



Don’t trust the video, one might appear quicker than the other because of separate frame rates.

 

[Shawn]

John Gay taught me shoulder stabilization. In Goata, the shoulder is the base.

 

[Shawn]

You know what I like the shorter stride better seems more efficient. I like the FSR, I like the better timing with momentum and block.

 

[CoachCeetar]

actually driving hard up/out is a whole 'nother step, another thing to think about. And it's also something that's additive, you can master your mechanics with a shorter/natural push-off and then add in pushing harder as they get comfortable. My daughter's pitching coach(es) almost never work on it (this is her first year pitching) besides a drill here and there, and some education about it.

One thing I've noticed being around a bunch of new pitchers though, is that as they get comfortable with the mechanics and muscle memory stuff involved with the whole pitching motion, they seem to reach a point where their arms are finishing before their lower half, and they throw it high. Getting them to think about exploding off the mound, or really just taking bigger steps/jumps seems to sync them up a little better.

 

[Rolling Hard]

I always think the big stride leapers have intimidating factor and are harder for the batter to time up. They appear to throw harder than they actually do sometimes. Think effectivly wild.
Steppers ate easier to time up, imo.

 

[ArmWhip]

When I decide to work in this area with a pitcher she usually has a basic, mechanically sound motion already established. I don't want to divert their attention away from the shoulder/arm action too early. And when I do address it I always work from the back to the front, meaning I start with the push off from the rubber. I tell them to 'push the rubber away from you'. I find that doing it this way promotes better launch posture and gets/keeps the hips under the shoulders. When you direct the focus to the landing foot and the stride length there is a tendency to tilt too far forward and not get back to being stacked.

 

[Shawn]

Less distance, quicker. Stride/drive can have a quicker tempo with a shorter stride. Less head movement with the shorter stride, better shoulder stability for the pitch because it moved forward less.

If I had to choose one for a beginner. I wouldn’t choose a short quicker tempo and no just distance to throw from a shorter distance.

Thoughts?

View attachment 29120View attachment 29121

Don’t trust the video, one might appear quicker than the other because of separate frame rates.

That post makes no sense. It should have read, With a beginner I WOULD choose the shorter stride, quicker tempo.

 

[RADcatcher]

Don’t trust the video, one might appear quicker than the other because of separate frame rates.

Does make for difficult visual example.

Also the size and shape of those two pitchers is so physically different.
Particularly when discussing body and stride.
Hard to tell height, torso, leg / arm length for comparison.

 

[PJR202]

When I give advice on the facebook pitching pages, I like to emphasize getting OUT...FAST.

You can tell if the stride is adequate by watching the front leg plant. Did it come down in an arc onto the front of the foot (both example pitchers do...)? Or did the shin get mostly vertical? If the stride is too high/long, the body drops just after peaking. That contributes to zombie drag that kills hip rotation for closing, causes forward lean and collapse of the front side. Now you have a bowler. The body is dropping before front impact and taking everything with it. This is a classic and very, very common mechanical sequence when drive is inadequate. The vast majority of pitchers I've seen at the MS/HS level, regardless of whether they're very bad, kinda bad, average, or even kinda good, have inadequate drive speed. Some of them make it work, and some don't.

With adequate speed, it's much harder for the body to get ahead of the hips. With an explosive/fast drive OUT, the leg should be zooming forward and everything else is holding on for dear life and catching up once the front side is established. Drive, zoom, hit the brakes, and whip the hips back around with all that front side energy transfer.

I'm still fairly new to pitching mechanics, but I'm starting to realize that a lot of pitchers just can't stride out effectively due to a lack of natural athleticism. Could it be trained into them? Sure, in some cases. But getting a kid who works 3x per week to do even MORE work is a big ask. Just gotta find a distance that they can get to fast enough for that the sequence has the best chance of falling into place. I've had to do that with my own daughter. We found her ideal distance (about 10 inches less than her height), and now are just doing a ton of reps to get her out FAST every time.

EVERYTHING works better when the speed is there.

 

[PJR202]

John Gay taught me shoulder stabilization. In Goata, the shoulder is the base.

A habit my daughter is working on correcting is dipping the shoulder and using the upper arm to push. It's something that came along with her poor FSR in her 1.5 years in lessons. It was never addressed, so she would just lean forward and muscle it out there however she could. We spent months learning whip from a standstill or walk through, but that shoulder drop during a real pitch is killing her ability to keep the arm bent and pull the upper arm down.

Basic, basic, basic mechanics are so very overlooked these days. It's mind boggling to me--only maybe a bit past being a standard bucket dad--how rare it is to see proper mechanics on just a basic level in kids who are going to lessons. I don't tell our local kids anything contrary to what they get in their lessons, but when I see something way off and ask them and/or their parent if the instructor taught that or if they're addressing correction on it, the answer is very rarely what I was hoping to hear. I see it in LL and FB level throwers as well. It can be agonizing watching these kids throwing terribly when a correction or two on the basics would make a huge difference. It's like all anyone is concerned with is making sure the foot drags, when drag isn't even part of the actual process.