Cage,

     I have so much respect for the young pitchers like yourself who take their pitching seriously enough to seek out information and help that they usually can't get from the coaches in their life.  But, I couldn't help jumping in here and telling you not to waste this opportunity to get better by focusing on irrelevant things. 

     Almost a month ago, Brent gave you 13+ minutes of the most detailed and dead-on analysis of your delivery that you've probably ever had or will ever get.  He didn't say a word about your glove side – because it's not important at this point and there's nothing wrong with your upper body mechanics that aren't a reaction to your lower body mechanics.

     At 18, I don't know if you're a high school senior or a college freshman.  But, you've got a nice smooth delivery and I suspect you've been a successful pitcher at previous levels.  You've got the potential to achieve your velocity goals – but, not by focusing on your delivery out of sequence.  Go back and listen to Brent's analysis again.  Watch it several times.  Take notes.  Pay attention to exactly what he says – and don't spend a second on anything in your delivery that he doesn't talk about.  The first thing he says is move sooner – so, work on moving sooner.  Everything starts there. 

     Brent's program spells out exactly what creates velocity, the movements that are required, the drills to train your body for them, and the strength and conditioning program to build the power you need to reach your goals.  Now is the time to be working on those things.  Don't let someone pick one specific component out of the middle of your delivery and tell you that fixing it will create more velocity.  It won't. 

     Watch the analysis again, Cage.  Work the program.  I promise you can be a successful pitcher and reach your goals.

I like to quantify things so I can measure improvement.  Here are some comparisons of you and Trevor at key points in the delivery.  The numbers are the number of frames from max leg lift.

• Force Vector lines up with front hip:     Trevor: 11,  Cage: 18
• Lead foot breaks front hip:     Trevor: 14,  Cage: 9
• Foot plant:     Trevor: 21,  Cage: 26
• Release:  Trevor: 24,  Cage: 29

Notice that you're out of sequence on the first two.  Trevor lines his Force Vector up much earlier, and his lead foot breaks his front hip much later.  In other words, he is taking off much sooner and leading with his hip much longer.  Consequently, he gets into foot plant and release much quicker.  Plus, because he is moving sooner and faster – Trevor is striding farther as a percentage of his height.  Sooner + faster + farther = more velocity. 

I know you're concerned about your glove side.  The point of triple extension creating separation is that the hips open up and leave your back shoulder behind.  If your shoulders stay in the same place at the same point in the delivery, but your hips opened up and you landed at 21 instead of 26 – because you were moving faster – because you moved sooner - you wouldn't be pulling your glove side early – and you would create more separation – and the rotational speed which resulted from more separation would launch you into the kind of release point Trevor has.  Does that make sense?  (I'm thinking that through as I'm writing it – so that last question is for both Cage and Brent.)

I don't think any of that adds anything to Brent's analysis – just reinforces it.  Cage, I think the key to Brent's analysis is that you should be working hard on moving sooner and leading with your hips longer.  And I think you need video to confirm whether you're actually doing it or not.  I think you'll find that when you master those two moves, the rest will start falling into place.  You do a lot of things well.  I think you're very close.  Focus on getting out of the blocks sooner and leading with your hip longer.  Then video it and see where you are.  And remember, there's more to the program than just the mechanics.  I don't think you're very far from adding 5 mph.