Q. Do you push off with the back leg?
General Belief:
• Yes
Well, if you look at closely at enough videotape of power-pitchers (guys that throw 95mph+), you'll see that the back leg actually does straighten. It doesn't straighten out completely but it does straighten some, and that's all it takes to push.
Steven Ellis - http://www.thecompletepitcher.com/should_baseball_pitchers_push_off_the_pitching_rubber.htm
• Yes
Sir Isaac Newton's Law of Reaction says that for every action force, there is an equal and oppositely-directed reaction force. This means that if baseball pitchers want to apply greater force to their pitches toward home plate, then they have to apply greater force toward in the opposite direction, or, toward second base. To apply greater force toward second base with the pitching leg, I teach my pitchers to point their pitching foot at home plate. As a result, my pitchers use the muscles that plantar flex their pitching ankle, extend their pitching knee and extend their hip joint to powerfully push straight forward off the pitching rubber.
Therefore: I recommend that, to apply greater force toward second base, pitchers point their pitching foot at home plate and 'sprint start' their pitching leg off the pitching rubber.
Dr. Mike Marshall -
http://www.drmikemarshall.com/ChapterThirty-Seven.html
Other Philosophies:
• No
As the stride leg lowers, the lead foot should move downward (not swung out!) and slide just above the mound surface.?
– The body should just glide forward.?
– The pitcher should not push off until the stride foot has landed, stabilizing the body.?
– Technically, it is a pulling action of the hip flexors and a pull of the back knee forward and inward rather than a push-off from the rubber.
Bill Thurston, The Fine Art of Pitching http://78pyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Pitching-Manual.pdf
• No
You can’t push down a hill. All elite pitchers find a posture and keep a posture by stabilizing with their post leg.
Tom House – The Picture Perfect Pitcher
• No
I will tell you a big secret right now that 95 percent of coaches and pitching instructors do not know. The pitcher’s legs or his back foot does not move him from his back leg to his front leg. Neither does swinging the front leg out. The pitcher must move his center of gravity. His pelvis. His belly button. It is his back hip that does the moving. His back leg or foot can’t move him 1 inch. His leg is simply used as a support mechanism or something to move the pelvis or his lower body away from.
Brad Mills - http://www.pitching.com/blog/do-pitchers-push-off-the-rubber-or-not-heres-the-secret-to-velocity/
Q. Which side of the rubber should you throw off?
General Belief:
Arm side
A relatively recent development has been the idea that right-handed pitchers should throw from the left side of the rubber and left-handed pitchers should throw from the right side of the rubber. Do I think this is the way to go?
Definitely not. I believe that for pitchers it hinders deception – a seriously undervalued aspect of pitching – and leads to weak lower body action and mild to extreme across the body direction in the delivery, both of which can lead to performance issues and to physical issues, including injuries caused by undue strain on the arm and shoulder.
Guy Hansen - A Baseball Guy (2016)
Other Philosophies:
• Glove Side
This slider seems to move less when you move over (to the glove side), but the reality is that the movement is the same, it is now just going against the grain and appears to be less. It sets up the fastball up and inside (to a RHBatter), change-up down and in, and slider, to all be in the same flight path for 20 feet. This idea of moving to a point on the rubber where more pitches share a line to the 20-foot mark is the very easiest and smartest place to start. Many major league pitchers have made adjustments using this approach with huge success.
The12 to 6 curveball is easier developed using this concept of moving to a point on the rubber, where you are throwing against the grain.
Perry Husband – The Science of Pitch Sequencing – Book 3
• Either
Tom Glavine stands on the third-base side of the rubber when he pitchers – even though conventional wisdom teaches that left-handed pitchers stand on the first-base side and right-handed pitchers stand on the third-base side.
So what the heck is Glavine, a lefty, doing on the third-base side? His fastball sinks and fades. His change-up fades. He wants to start on the third base side of the rubber to catch more of the plate and to give him the proper angle to the right-handed hitter.
The lesson here is that you can’t generalize about where to stand on the mound. You have to experiment to determine what’s going to work best for your personal style of pitching.
Leo Mazzone – Pitch Like a Pro
• Either
Another interesting strategy that has become popular recently is using the drag mark for the pitcher’s back foot as a “tell” or signal for where the pitcher should start on the rubber. In this strategy, if the drag mark goes to the middle of the plate, the pitcher is on the correct side of the rubber because the drag line is a remnant of the pitcher’s line to the plate. If the drag line goes away from home plate, the pitcher should move until his mark lines up properly. I have used this method with pitchers for the past year or two and believe it is a good starting point; however, other questions about ball movement and command of the pitcher still need to be answered. In other words, it is a great place to start, but not necessarily an absolute!
Derek Johnson, The Complete Guide to Pitching (2013)
• Either
Grace and Treinen are just two pitchers in the Nationals organization who have moved along the rubber, a change that McCatty believes can be helpful but is not “a career-changer.” In his nine major-league seasons pitching for the Oakland Athletics, he said he tried moving all over the rubber with little effect. Sometimes, he would have to move simply because another pitcher had been throwing from the same spot, tearing up that part of the mound.
In the end, standing on the rubber is as much about comfort as tangible effects. If a pitcher believes it helps, he will have confidence pitching from a certain spot. And with that confidence, he might have more success.
Article - http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/may/18/nationals-pitchers-mound-position-often-secret-the/
• Either (for a sinker)
The efficiency is the same, no other way to put it, which is the beauty of statistics and sabermetrics.
Scott Johnson - http://www.fangraphs.com/community/does-it-matter-which-side-of-the-pitching-rubber-a-pitcher-starts-from-throwing-a-sinker/
Q. What should the front arm/elbow do in the pitching motion?
General Belief:
• Go to the Glove
Credit here goes to Dr. Tom House who developed this technique over a dozen years ago. An accurate pitcher moves the chest to the glove. In our collective opinion, (the Pinkman family) there is nothing more important a child can do to throw the ball straight than to keep the glove side firmly in front of his chest in line with home plate and his eyes level to the horizon.
Extending the glove to home plate and taking your chest to your glove produces a late release, decreasing the distance the ball travels in the air. This makes it very difficult for the batter to see and hit the ball. The power goes into the ball rather than continuing to circulate outside and to the left of the body, dissipating energy.
The actual mathematical equation states that for every twelve inches you can extend the ball release, you will gain 3 MPH of perceived velocity. However, you will lose 2 inches of arm extension to the plate for every inch your head moves off the center line between your nose and home plate.
John Pinkman - http://www.momsteam.com/sports/youth-baseball-pitching-teaching-proper-mechanics-critical?page=0%2C2
Other Philosophies:
• Pull to the hip
Fire the glove and lead arm toward the plate and following stride foot contract, violently whip the glove and elbow down and back outside the lead hip. Do not allow the glove to go far behind the lead hip.
– Lead with the elbow right at the plate and following stride foot contact, whip the elbow down and back outside the lead hip.
– The lead elbow is flexed with the glove down under the elbow and aligned to the plate.
– Use a flexed elbow as a rifle sight. This helps to keep the arms and shoulders aligned to the plate keeping the upper body closed.
– Both methods help to create trunk arching, horizontal trunk rotation, and centrifugal forces of the upper body which generates arm speed and ball velocity.
– Some hard throwing pitchers "short-arm" the backswing (never fully extend the arm). Most drop the hand to a near-full arm extended position as it drops downward from the hand break. Both types of pitchers flex the elbow early (reducing the arc of the cycle), allowing the hand to get up into a high-cocked position quickly and efficiently.
Bill Thurston, The Fine Art of Pitching http://78pyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Pitching-Manual.pdf
• Let the Glove Go
Over the course of my professional playing and teaching career I have come across numerous pitchers who have been taught to keep the glove out in front of the chest. Honestly, they look ridiculous playing catch and it’s a position that looks forced and overly mechanical. They are all tall through the finish and the baseball is flat as a pancake as it approaches the target. Stressing certain technical elements within the delivery are ok, but not this one. Let the body and arm continue it’s natural course back into the body after the extension point. Let the front arm and particularly the glove be strong, but don’t force it to an unnatural position. If the mind is allowing the torso to fully rotate, the glove will get where it needs to be.
Justin Orenduff - http://baseballrebellion.com/jorenduff/avoid-this-common-drill-or-your-fastball-may-wind-up-in-the-trees/
• Hybrid of Pull & Tuck, with Pinch & Swivel
Unfortunately, the pull and tuck also presented timing problems and caused misplaced energy. Once this action was emphasized, the pitcher would pull the glove side so hard that the throwing arm had no chance to catch up, making it late; in addition, the head would be pulled away (head snap) from the arm at the release point.
As the pitcher begins to rotate, the glove-side hand closes to keep the desired drive line to the plate (pinch and swivel), but the spacing between the glove and chest will narrow as the pitcher arrives at his release point and then beyond. Again, this is not a forceful tuck, but it’s not a robotic “take the body to the glove” either. A good analogy is wrapping your hand around a pole and then pulling yourself toward it. At the end of the delivery, the glove-side hand will finish somewhere in between the armpit and the midline of the chest from the belly button to the waist.
Derek Johnson, The Complete Guide to Pitching (2013)
Q. Should your front leg be extended at release or bent?
General Belief:
• Bent, into extended
Upon firm stride foot placement, the lead leg is flexed at the knee at about a 135 degree angle.
– As the trunk is rotated to a squared off throwing position, the lead leg starts to brace-up (extend) so there is a firm base, a firm front side to rotate up against.?
– The bracing action of the lead leg stops the body from continuing to move forward, allowing the hips, trunk and shoulders to generate tremendous horizontal rotation and centrifugal forces which produce great arm and hand speed, resulting in greater velocity.
– Many young pitchers, after foot contact, allow their lead knee to stay flexed and actually continue to drift forward. This prevents good rotational forces and causes a loss of power and velocity.
Bill Thurston, The Fine Art of Pitching http://78pyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Pitching-Manual.pdf
• Bent, into extended
When talking about good front knee action and extension, I’m specifically talking about what you want to be happening at ball release. I am NOT advising that you should land with a stiff or locked out front knee. This would be very jarring, increasing the stress on the arm and hurting your control. You want to land flexed and firm with that front leg, and then brace up into ball release.
To help understand how this works, imagine you’re riding a bicycle at full speed and suddenly slam on the front brake. What happens? The front wheel will stop and inertia will launch the back of the bike up in the air sending you over the handlebars. Well the same thing is happening in your pitching delivery.
Phil Rosengren - http://betterpitching.com/front-knee-action/
Other Philosophies:
• Lock Out
This supports the data presented by Escamilla et al (1998) which reported that collegiate pitchers demonstrated knee extension just prior to maximum external rotation of the glenohurmeral joint during a fastball pitch.
High velocity cricket bowlers have also been shown to exhibit similar front knee movement patterns. Wormgoor et al. (2010) demonstrated that greater front knee extension at ball release was the biomechanical factor that correlated the highest with throwing velocity.
Graeme Lehman - https://lehmansbaseball.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/the-stride-leg/
• Lock Out/Claw backwards
While back leg “drive” did NOT significantly correlate with increased ball velocity, lead leg posterior force did. This can best be viewed by the following clip of Shohei Otani from the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league in Japan, their version of MLB. Otani has thrown 101 MPH in a game and regularly sits mid-high 90’s! Watch how the lead leg not only compresses vertically downwards, but claws backwards in a direction opposite of the throw before it rotates over due to residual momentum of the trunk and hips following through.
Kyle Boddy - https://www.drivelinebaseball.com/efficient-front-leg-mechanics-that-lead-to-high-velocity/
• Don’t Lock Out
I teach pitchers to firm up but not lock out the GS knee because locking it out, while it WILL give you a velocity boost, can definitely lead to hip and knee problems and maybe arm problems.
Chris O’Leary - http://www.baseball-fever.com/archive/index.php/t-94912.html
• Either, but firm
This is not to say that the leg should land completely straight, or even that it has to straighten as the throw occurs.
There are great pitchers whose front leg is bent throughout the throw, like Roy Oswalt. There are also a lot of pitchers whose leg completely straightens into a bracing position, like Justin Verlander or Zack Greinke. Both are fine, as long as the knee doesn't go forward after foot plant. This is an extremely common reason why a lot of kids have postural issues in the middle and at the end of the motion, don't follow through effectively, and don't throw as hard as they should. It's all related to lack of stability on landing.
The second way a front leg can thwart success, is if it moves left or right on foot plant. This is more common in young pitchers, as their muscles are not fully capable of supporting as much weight as is needed for explosive pitching. To see this, it's best to watch (or video) from behind. If the knee moves inward (uncommon) or outward (more common), then the pitcher's accuracy will be very hard to maintain. Accuracy is largely about release point and there's nothing easy about consistent release point if the knee is steering the body left or right as the throw is happening. This is one of the most common factors in a youth pitcher missing left and right in the zone that I have ever found.
Josh Boggs - http://pitchmechanics101.com/improve-mechanics-by-starting-at-the-end/
Q. Does stride direction matter?
General Belief:
• Yes
Alignment of feet. I always have a white line drawn (midline) on my mound from the ball of the pitcher’s foot toward the middle of home plate. You want the pitcher to land on that line with his big toe or slightly to the open side of that line, but never across that line.
Brad Mills - http://www.pitching.com/blog/simple-pitching-tips-on-lower-body-pitching-mechanics/
Other Philosophies:
• No
One of the knocks on Arrieta dating to his college days at TCU was that he was susceptible to injury because he threw across his body instead of squaring his delivery to the plate.
"I can get over my front side, and why is throwing in a direct line to the plate the better way to do it?" Arrieta said last week. "Who says that's the better way to do it? At an early age if you develop a delivery or a throwing motion that is direct to the plate, then that's fine. If you have one that's slightly open, that's fine too. Can you do the appropriate things with your body to allow that to be useful to you? And that's what I'm able to do with my delivery."
Another veteran AL scout agreed with Arrieta's assessment, although he admitted he didn't believe Arrieta was worth a first-round pick in the 2007 draft. (The Orioles took Arrieta in the fifth round.)
"I never had a concern with him throwing across his body," the scout said. "If there's a problem, it's correctable. Guys do what they have to do to get the job done. If you feel good about it, you'll do better. You can pick 10 to 15 pitchers with perfect arm action and they'll have Tommy John surgery."
Arrieta's slider is particularly effective against right-handed hitters because his across-the-body delivery makes the pitch appear even sharper.
Article - http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-arrieta-cubs-pirates-spt-1007-20151006-story.html
Q. Does Leading with the hip matter?
General Belief:
• Yes
By leading with the hip we mean that from the balanced position his next movement is a slight push outward with his lead hip before his front leg goes down the mound. This will help prevent rushing and gives him his best chance of landing properly.
Bill Thurston - http://www.sportsmanager.us/%5CDocuments%5CKPB%5C12869FA235.pdf
• Yes
So we've got to keep our hips loaded (closed) during our pitching motion for as long as possible. That way we can build momentum down the mound prior to foot strike, thus building the maximum amount of energy that we can use in our final rotation. If we unload (open) our hips too early, we leak all of that momentum that we could have turned into rotational power in the throw.
Baseball Brains - http://www.baseballbrains.net/better-pitching-mechanics-loading-the-hips/
Other Philosophies:
• Clayton Kershaw
When Clayton strides toward home plate, he does something most pitchers don’t do. He drops his landing leg until it almost hits the ground before he even starts his momentum toward the plate. Although this is “unorthodox” that again is his “style” and has nothing to do with his efficient delivery.
The Pitching Academy - https://www.thepitchingacademy.com/pitching-mechanics/clayton-kershaw-pitching-mechanics-3/
Q. How do you have good arm action?
General Belief:
• Smooth
– The hands should break between the letters and belt, directly in the center of the chest, close to the body.?
– The hands should break when the lead leg starts downward.?
– The throwing hand should go down, back, then up in towards the cocked position in a continuous motion, keeping the fingers on top of the ball.?
– The wrist is either in a neutral position (straight, with forearm), or extended back slightly.?
– The glove hand moves forward and upward toward the hitter.
– The path of the throwing hand should go down, back, and up in a continuous, controlled motion with the fingers staying on top of the ball.?
– Some hard throwing pitchers "short-arm" the backswing (never fully extend the arm). Most drop the hand to a near-full arm extended position as it drops downward from the hand break. Both types of pitchers flex the elbow early (reducing the arc of the cycle), allowing the hand to get up into a high- cocked position quickly and efficiently.
– During the arm swing, the hand and arm should be generally aligned with the body and shoulders (in a line between home plate and second base).
– The arm should not flail behind the pitcher's back.
Bill Thurston, The Fine Art of Pitching http://78pyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Pitching-Manual.pdf
Other Philosophies:
• Eliminate stops
The most effective way to train arm action is to eliminate all pauses or stops from the arm action once the hands are separated and the arm begins its arc or swing. This alone will smooth out the arm path and allow for greater transfer of momentum and force. To train the arm to move faster, the pitcher must have the intention (purpose) of moving his arm… drum roll please, FASTER!
Derek Johnson, The Complete Guide to Pitching (2013)
• Don’t do anything
My recommendation for coaches or parents who want to improve a pitcher's mechanics is not to try and talk them into a new arm action by telling them to break their hands some way or to force their arm into a certain position, but to instead let them find their own way into a better arm action. What I mean by this is to simply give the athlete varying goals to accomplish and let him, by attempting to accomplish these objectives, let his arm action naturally evolve. Coach Ron Wolforth always cites the Bernstein principle, which states that the body will organize itself to accomplish the task at hand. Therefore, if you give a pitcher tasks/drills that require certain things to be done then the body will find a way to get that task finished.
Brian Oates - https://www.oatesspecialties.com/wordpress/teaching-a-good-arm-action/
Q. Should a pitcher go really fast or slow or average in his motion?
General Belief:
• Fast
Moving fast into a long stride is the key to pitching velocity that not one coach or pitching instructor in 100 knows about. If they knew this they would never have a pitcher waste time on long toss, weighted baseballs, weight training, or the host of endless towel drills, kneeling drills, or balance drills that only serve to waste valuable time, slow pitchers down, and turn them into mechanical robots who can’t break a pane of glass. Once a pitcher has his delivery built, he does not need many drills.
Brad Mills - http://www.pitching.com/blog/tim-lincecum-how-his-pitching-mechanics-create-95-100-mph-fastballs/
Other Philosophies:
• Medium Fast
They need to realize that they thrive with an upticked tempo rather than a deliberate one. Most pitching coaches emphasize slowing down, staying back, and maintaining balance. My view is I want a connected delivery with a consistent flow to it. Obviously, it needs to be balanced, but I don’t want pitchers to slow down too much or they risk failing to stay connected, fluid, and athletic.
Guy Hansen, A Baseball Guy (2016)
• Slower
In many cases, rushing can be caused by a pitcher trying to get something extra on the ball by striding especially forcefully toward the plate. The problem is that the stride toward the plate isn't the real source of a pitcher's power; instead, the properly timed and sequenced rotation of the hips, torso, and shoulders is. By trying to stride especially powerfully toward the plate when throwing a particular pitch, pitchers are far more likely to mess up their timing, and possibly even cost themselves velocity as a result, than they are to increase their velocity.
In general, when I sense that my pitchers are rushing during a game, I emphasize that they need to be steady and smooth when moving to the plate rather than jumping toward the plate. When they are getting ready to pitch, I will call out to them "Nice and smooth" which usually reminds them to not move too quickly toward the plate. If that doesn't work, then I tell that they should only try to throw 90% (rather than 110%).
Chris O’Leary - http://clients.chrisoleary.com/Pitching/Common-Pitching-Problems/Rushing
Q. Do Pitching Drills work?
General Belief:
• Yes
There are many great baseball pitching drills out there for pitchers to use. As a matter of fact, there are hundreds of baseball pitching drills out there for a pitcher to choose from. So how do we, as pitchers, know which pitching drills are good for us?
I believe that we should use pitching drills to help us correct any flaws we may be having in our pitching delivery. If you are just using a pitching drill because you think drills will help you throw harder, then you are waisting your time. But if you know why you are doing a certain pitching drill, and perform it correctly, it can definitely help you gain some velocity when pitching and most importantly, keep you free from injury.
The way I look at it is, we are the doctor and if our mechanics get sick, we need to know the right medicine to give them. This medicine is the pitching drills.
John Madden - http://www.yougoprobaseball.com/Pitching-Drills.html
Other Philosophies:
• Maybe
There’s tons of great resources out there, but we have to sift through and glean the ideas that make the most sense to us. Not everything I say will work for you, but some of it might, and re-working my words may work better for you. Each pitcher is unique, so not everything will work for everyone. What’s a waste of time for a 20 year old might be great medicine for a 12 year old, or vice versa in some cases.
Read, consider, interpret, and apply. No single drill will turn you into a big leaguer, and no drill will instantly undo lots of hard work (unless its the “take a butcher knife to your rotator cuff” drill).
Dan Blewett - http://www.danblewett.com/pitching-drills-pitching-cues-theyre-debatable/
• Sometimes
The problem with most pitching drills is they’re designed to make coaching easier instead of actually helping pitchers develop movement patterns that translate to an efficient pitching delivery. For instance, a lot of drills (particularly at the youth level) focus on developing “good arm action.” In most cases they do just the opposite.
So Say No to All Drills?? No, I’m not suggesting that either. I said “most” drills are a waste of time… Drills can definitely be effective for developing pitching specific skills and training movement patterns. You can’t beat a good drill for helping pitchers make mechanical adjustments and develop good habits.
Brad Mills - http://betterpitching.com/pitching-drills-part-1/
• Towel Drill
In my opinion, the towel drill, at best, can be a useful tool for teaching proper sequencing in your delivery… at worst, it can create awful mechanics that actually rob you of power and velocity. If not taught or practiced properly, it trains the pitcher to “reach out” or stride farther, which tends to cause them to open early and lose rotational velocity (hip and trunk rotation are two of the biggest contributors to velocity).
Phil Rosengren - http://betterpitching.com/more-pitching-drills-i-dont-like-the-towel-drill/
