Hi Everybody,

I am new to the Forums and had a question about pitching velocity and how it relates to using your hips.  I understand hip/shoulder separation is important for efficiency and velocity.  I was curious if anybody had an idea of how much velocity would be lost without using hip/shoulder separation?

Reason why I am curious is I realized I was throwing a bullpen this past Saturday with my hips locked, basically my back leg was stiff and straight while I was leading with my hips to the target.  I didn't get any drive from by back knee nor did I get any separation.  I noticed my fastball was flatter, curve didn't break sharp and change-up wasn't droppin' off the table as it usually does. 

The week before I was throwing with good seperation and had the best bullpen of my life.  The ball was jumping, my off speed pitches were sic and I didn't even feel my arm tense up or feel like it was doing anything, it was awesome. 

It was all new to me and I guess my old habits got back to me again this past Saturday.  I realized the mistakes now and I'm drilling into my head on how to start out in a more athletic stance instead of being stiff legged. 

There was a radar gun this past Saturday and I was hittin 77-78 mph but then realizing I didn't have any hip/shoulder separation, how much more could I have thrown, I was thinking maybe 5 mph or maybe even up to 10 but that would seem too optimistic for me I think

Any thoughts and responses would be greatly appreciated!!

Tony

Thank You for the response Brent Pourciau!  I saw a sports science video that was about Aroldis Chapman and they had Tom House breaking down his mechanics.  I purchased a clip of Tom House's Rocker drill where he teaches the Hip/Shoulder separation, where the back knee drives in and the pitching arm moves back.  I bought it yesterday after I was trying to figure out what was so different than my previous bullpen. 

My back knee didn't triple extend, I started out with my leg stiff like the trunk of a tree and didn't get any drive from the back knee.  I noticed that when I start out with my leg slightly bent (athletic stance), after I lead with my hips and bring my stride leg down and out that knee drive really takes care of itself. 

I am pretty confident I figured it out I was just wondering how much of a difference would it make in my velocity.  I throw this Saturday, I guess I'll find out then. 

Thanks a lot for the response again! 

Sincerely,

Tony