Pitching with Just Your Arm.
November 10, 2008
The biggest problem all young pitchers face is learning how to NOT PITCH WITH JUST THEIR ARM. I talk about this issue in the beginning of the AcePitcher Instructional Video 5 Components of Pitching. What we as pitchers are dealing with here is that using the arm mainly to generate velocity in the pitch is a natural human behavior. We as humans always find the easiest way to achieve the most reward. So if we continue to look at pitching in this light, we see a 5oz baseball as something not that threatening to our body. I mean think about it, my sister can throw a baseball, but what if the ball weighed 60 pounds? My sister would probably tell me to get a life, because the weight of the ball has now become a threat to her physique. This is where you should experience an epiphany. What does the body do mechanically when it is under threat? It recruits more power. Hence the essence of “Power Pitching.” To learn more about “Power Pitching” watch the AcePitcher Instructional Video on Power Pitching.
It is important for us Pitchers to constantly discipline ourselves to recruit more of our core muscles when pitching. This should be driven home everyday, within every drill, every lift and definitely every pitch. So to help you find the signs in your delivery that illustrate that you are using more arm than an equal balance of muscles from your entire body, I will describe those signs here.
List of Signs that you are using mainly your arm when pitching.
1. During leg lift you are leaning towards the plate instead of over your back leg.
2. Your front foot is leading your front glute during the initial movement towards the target.
3. Opening your hips before they travel down the hill.
4. Swinging your throwing arm way out of your glove and reaching ball to sky.
5. No separation in your back hip to back shoulder at front foot strike.
6. Poor pronation after ball release.
7. Short stride. Short drag line.
8. Rotator cuff pain. Long recovery time.
As pitchers, we all are guilty of performing a few of these bad habits every now and then. The questions is, are we aware of it when it is happening? If not, at least we have the last sign, number 8, when our body informs us that you are doing something wrong but sometimes this can be too late in the game. This is why we should always listen to our bodies. It is the best tool we have in coaching ourselves.
To prevent you, as a pitcher, from finding yourself under a 10 ton bag of ice because your arm is hanging, I would suggest you constantly evaluate, or have a coach evaluate, your delivery for these 8 signs. If you need video analysis to help you with your evaluation, please visit www.MyBaseballAnalysis.com or contact us.
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Written by Brent Pourciau · Filed Under Pitching Articles
Tagged: all arm, pitching, pitching advice, pitching analysis, pitching instruction, pitching mechanics, throwing
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[...] in the shoulder and elbow joints. Most importantly you must work to correct your bad mechanics of pitching with mainly your arm. There are many articles on this site that can help you with all of these adjustments. It is great [...]