Dylan delso bullpen 12/07

Pitching Mechanics
#1

santa got my video camera fixed up. see what you think if i can get it to post

here is a 2 min. compilation of each angle

from the open side

for some reason 2 of the clips will not run. if you click on the link under one that runs, you can click on my name dustydelso and all 4 will come up in youtube.

behind mound

catcher

back

alright, i’ve been critiquing you guys, your turn. what do you think?

and thanks mr. steve, this is good stuff to be able to post video here. it’s simple once you take a little time with it.

#2

Dusty
Some nice stuff here. Good job. I’d be very curious to see him complete his shoulder rotation into a typical “flat back” finish. He seems to truncate that motion and stand up before finishing.

That’s all I’d suggest right now.

#3

A lot of promise in that young man. A lot.

I would like to comment on his stride foot, when his knee lift reaches its peak.
… Aks him to gently point his stride FOOT’s TOE DOWN, and keep it that way as he extends his stride leg… and then extends for his landing.
Try and resist the youngster’s wide-sweeping motion that goes too far out to the side though as he stretches that stride — forward…

You’ll notice right away his stride motion will slow down a bit - causing him to stay back just a bit longer with the end result being his stride FOOT will glide over the surface of his mound, and his FOOT will PLANT with a FLAT landing more then he’s doing now. You’ll also notice when you compare video of the BEFORE & AFTER that he stays down longer at the end of his delivery posture - thus giving him more shoulder rotation and thus more accruacy. However, this small change will not in and of itself add to his velocity. In fact, you’ll notice a slight decrease in his velocity as the body adjusts to this small change.

An excellent practice routine that helps a lot here is one where the pitcher tries this with only twenty feet between him and his catcher, on a flat surface. ** catcher is standing** After about thrity or so throws - 1/2 game speed, the pitcher moves back five paces and continues for another thirty or so throws. Then moves back another five paces. Continue until the distance reaches EIGHTY FEET. After thirty or so throws from the eighty foot mark, step upon the portable mound and notice the smooth delivery and increased accuracy - at 1/2 game speed. After about thrity or so throws, increase to 2/3 game speed.

I’ve had a lot of first year players who have arrived at my club(s) with this heel up posture and the stress on the upper torso is very demanding. So, to lighten the load there and still yield performance and especially endurance, this small change can help a lot. Mind you - this small detail is not a fix-it for other stuff. However, this youngster seems to have some serious coaching in his direction and from the looks of things --HE LISTENS.
In any event, this youngster has real promise.

Coach B.

#4

thanks for the posts. this was our first bullpen after a long layoff. i thought he stood up early too. the view from the back (that you have to go to youtube to see) gets a little better.

he does land on the toe of his stride foot which seems unusual to me but house says it doesn’t matter. i think he could get a little more length and momentum going down the hill landing flat or rolloing into the foot plant.

we’ll do some things and post again in a couple weeks.

thanks very much dm59 and coach baker. hope to hear from some more of you.

#5

Dusty great job with your son

Also how old is he and how hard does he throw?

Looks like great upside in the future, keep the good work up.

#6

he’s 15. throws low 80’s touched 85 this fall. growing so we should see some velocity increase.

his big trick is his breaking pitch and change up. he can pitch backwards when needed.

#7

Was that video low 80’s? If not what was it?

#8

no, he was throwing at 70% for 50 pitches. we won’t begin turning it up till mid-january. that was maybe 70-72. just guessing.

#9

Wow how much does he weight?

He looks so skinny compared to most pitchers that I see that are 15 years old.

#10

[quote=“RIstar”]Wow how much does he weight?

He looks so skinny compared to most pitchers that I see that are 15 years old.[/quote]

Verlander looks so skinny for a big leaguer. Throws 100.

#11

look at Lincecrum (sp?) he throws 100 and is mad skinny

#12

From a mechanical standpoint it’s really pretty solid. I’d say that if you could firm up the front side a little more especially the glove it would help with consistency. I’m a D1 pitcher and what I try to do is act as if there is a pole sticking up from my front foot and try and grab it thumbs down and pull myself up to the glove. This will help you stay a little taller as well and throw the ball down hill a little more.
Also if you could really stick your finish (balance on the front leg, burying the throwing shoulder, and back leg in a “high v”) it will also help with consistency and will just “look better” which is an underrated aspect of the delivery especially when college coaches and scouts are watching you. Here is a picture of a great finish.

#13

first of all, nice job. His mechanics are very solid. Did you teach him to do that motion with his front glove? The “rollover” and tuck or whatever you want to call it? I am working on a similar motion with my glove hand.

When did you start working on his mechanics with him? What was your biggest challenge with him? Did he struggle with anything mechanically, and if so, how did you fix it?

thanks, I hope to be where he is myself in a few months… you have a great son, and he has a great father :slight_smile: Good luck Dusty and Dylan!

#14

Hi Dusty.

Your boy looks very good. I’ll mention a couple things but since you say he was only throwing 70% I won’t attempt to judge other things.

The first thing I’ll mention is that he places his posting foot just to the right of center of the rubber and his drag line looks fairly straight (though you’d want to confirm this on a dirt mound). Therefore, I’d move him to the glove side a bit to get his drag line to end on the centerline of the rubber. That will help avoid postural issues.

The other thing is that, in the stretch position, I think his feet are too wide which causes him to have to make a noticeable weight shift back towards 2B when he lifts his knee. That makes him slower to the plate and gives runners a bigger jump.

#15

[quote=“Roger”]
The other thing is that, in the stretch position, I think his feet are too wide which causes him to have to make a noticeable weight shift back towards 2B when he lifts his knee. That makes him slower to the plate and gives runners a bigger jump.[/quote]

-I noticed that too. Easy fix.

#16

thanks guys, that makes sense. we are going to work on the finish by firming up the front knee. it should lock out just after release to get more momentum back into the arm instead of losing it on a soft knee.

the feet closer together should be easy and we’ll work on it the next bullpen.

we started throwing at 9. we threw into a target about 10 ft away most of the time. that way you just worry about what the ball is doing and not where it goes. that works nice with little guys. we struggled with stride direction for quite some time. he would stride open too far and push the ball. it took over a year to get it better and we just pitched with it while we worked on it. we put a flat side tackling dummy out where foot plant happens to move him over.

the other thing was he would sling his glove to the side and pull his head to that side also. we tried showing the catcher the palm of the glove with the palm down and trying to visualize grabbing a handle to pull the upper body toward the glove and handle (just like throwinched) we need to look at that again.

thanks again

#17

Dusty;

Nice stuff! Motion looks very easy…smooth… good job! Kudos to Dylan for doing the right stuff to get to this point. He deserves lots of credit.

This is more of a question or raising a point to elicit further discussion. Just noticed a couple of things that I would change, but I may be wrong, hence the question.

I noticed in the ‘open side’ view that he seems to pause at peak knee lift. Then his head dips, comes back up and he then goes forward. The result is loss of momentum to the plate. I know he’s only throwing 70% or so, so it may not be a big deal. Just wondering what others think about this - Roger, laflippin?

His front side is pretty good, but could be more consistent in keeping the glove up and in front of him.

To my eye, if he could get and keep momentum going to the plate a little faster and without that pause, together with consistent front side strength, this young man could be dynamite!

I know this all sounds NPA. I just got back from the coach’s certification clinic a couple of weeks ago. Wow. What cool stuff. If anyone gets a chance to do this, I would highly recommend it. Even if it’s just from the standpoint of learning what they know. You can apply it however you like.

Keep up the good work, Dusty!

Cheers;

O

#18

orygun,
thanks for your response. i think you are right about the finish with the glove and getting consistent with the front side. if you look at the video clips of ryan and beckett, they snap the front knee to extension as they release the ball. this throws force back into the shoulder and arm and allows the upper body to catapult forward over the front leg. should help with consistency and repeatability (however he walks less than 2 per game). the pause and lowering of the head comes from getting the hips as far in front of the head and shoulders as possible when he reaches the top. i need to look and see if he’s coming back up. that could be a problem.

i’m really anxious to see whan extending the knee will do. if we add a 1 ft closer release point to the plate and 2 mph from additional leverage, that’s a 3 to 4 mph increase in preceived velocity. that’s a big increase. we’ll see what happens.

thanks guys

#19

[quote=“dm59”]Dusty
Some nice stuff here. Good job. I’d be very curious to see him complete his shoulder rotation into a typical “flat back” finish. He seems to truncate that motion and stand up before finishing.

That’s all I’d suggest right now.[/quote]

I’m thinking the truncated finish might be due to not getting out over the front foot enough. If you try to stop the video at release point, everything appears to be behind the front foot and the release point appears right over the front foot instead of out in front of the front foot. But, since he was only throwing 70%, that’s probably the reason - and why I refrained from judging much else.

#20

I believe Dusty favors not only leading with the front hip but also tilting the posture to set up forward trunk flexion so the pause you se might be related to that postural change. But, since the pitcher was only throwing 70%, I think it’s hard to make certain judgements - especially related to momentum.

Agreed.

[quote]To my eye, if he could get and keep momentum going to the plate a little faster and without that pause, together with consistent front side strength, this young man could be dynamite!

I know this all sounds NPA. I just got back from the coach’s certification clinic a couple of weeks ago. Wow. What cool stuff. If anyone gets a chance to do this, I would highly recommend it. Even if it’s just from the standpoint of learning what they know. You can apply it however you like.[/quote]
We’re taking over the world! Resistance is futile. :viking: