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Aug 9, 2023 · You will often find that pitchers who do not extend well will have the following limitations: hip extension, tight pecs, lats, serratus anterior (just to name a few). Arm Path (push vs unravel): An arm path that is inefficient will result in release extension issues.
So if you see a pitcher flying open and missing high, instead of shouting out to him, try this approach: Have some kind of signal with your catcher (work it out before the game). And before he throws the ball back to the pitcher, have him gesture to the pitcher by closing his front side and tapping his glove arm.
- Postural Problems: After pushing off the rubber, have you noticed that your pitcher lands bent forward or sideways? Maybe her hips are sticking out, or her upper body is leaning across the power line?
- Hip & Shoulder Rotation: One of the most common things young pitchers are taught is to slam their hips and shoulders shut (so their hips and shoulders are square to the catcher) when they deliver.
- Glove flying out: This is SUCH a common problem, and I bet you even see some college pitchers doing this. Have you noticed that when your pitcher pitches, her glove hand goes flying out to the side?
- Pushing the ball: One of the most important parts of pitching is the relaxed release. We teach forearm fire, which utilizes a completely relaxed arm that allows for maximum whip and snap, creating the most speed and command.
- Going Too Heavy on Weighted Ball / Plyo Drills
- Yanking The Ball Across Body on Plyo Drills
- Over-Cueing Strike Throwing
- Flying Open with Upper Half
- Compensating For Current Or Prior Injury
- Tissue Restriction Preventing Smooth Layback
- “Fake” External Rotation
- Closing Thoughts
I first noticed this myself back in 2014 when attempting to go through a standard plyocare routine. In utilizing the 2 and 4 pound plyocare balls, I noticed that my arm was protectively tensing up into layback, not allowing me to relax the anterior shoulder and fire as reflexively from my pecs and lats. Rather, my body's default pattern with this l...
Another common cause for developing this habit on plyocare drills is standing too close to the wall and trying to hit the wall directly in front of your face. This either leads to a cutting action on the ball, a pushing finish to throw throw, or both. I talk about this in more depth here: One solution: think about rotating your back shoulder throug...
This happens at every level, but especially at the youth level. “Just throw strikes” isn't a good cue if athletes' brains interpret it as I better get as linear as possible and throw darts to make sure coach doesn't yell at me again for walking a batter. Keeping a delivery on line is a balance of violent, well-timed rotation that maintains directio...
Another cause of a pushing arm action or linear finish is the inability to keep the torso closed at landing. This leads to a linear finish, which, as we discussed earlier, tends to go hand in hand with a pushing arm action. When the shoulders land completely open, there is nowhere to go with the throw but to finish linearly, as you can see from thi...
A particularly tricky cause of a pushing arm action is a mechanical compensation due to a current or prior injury. A number of structures are stressed during trunk rotation, layback and internal rotation into release. For the arm to “allow” this motion to occur and fire through these positions, the brain needs to believe that the tissues will be ab...
Similar to #5, although not necessarily as a result of an injury, tissue restrictions can often create very real limits to the positions a thrower is able to work through. Quite often, pushing arm actions go hand in hand with one of the following areas being overly tight / toned up / dense / fibrotic, listed in our observed order of prevalence:
Sometimes, athletes want so bad to force layback that they actually end up pushing the ball. From the side, a pushing arm action gets the forearm horizontal and would falsely appear to be reaching 180 (or more) degrees of layback. Unfortunately, this layback is actually elbow flexion masquerading as layback/external rotation, which is why this tend...
This is by no means an exhaustive list on what can lead to a pushing arm action, but it's a decent start. Take some time to evaluate yourself (or your pitching staff) for this mechanical flaw, and work to clean up the underlying cause once you identify what it is. While some athletes canreach relatively high levels of the game with an extreme pushi...
May 20, 2019 · This is why pitching can be so hard. The tiniest thing can make a huge difference in the pitch. So let’s get right into it. Here are the most common mechanical issues that are easy to miss, as well as how you might be able to correct them.
May 7, 2013 · A pitcher that doesn’t effectively use the deceleration phase, will have a high risk of injury in the shoulder and elbow.
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Jan 31, 2012 · “Extension” implies that the pitcher is “reaching” out or somehow moving his pitching arm closer to home plate while the shoulders are squared up to the target, and research shows that a pitching upper arm that is translated closer to home plate with respect to the trunk (shoulder horizontal abduction) is negatively correlated with ...
