Jimster Mechanics Log

#1

Beaver26 (sorry if I typed the name wrong) had a great idea with his mechanics log.

This thread will contain videos of my pitching and/or throwing.

I would appreciated responses and advice to the videos that I will post.

There are tryouts this week, so I’m not sure if I will be able to get a video up this week, but I will try. I may put up a video of me long tossing. If I can set up the camera to see my throwing.

I have put many videos on here before, so having this thread will allow me to have them all in one place.

If you want to check out the videos that I have on YouTube already you can click the link in my signature and it should take you directly to my channel.

Thank you all in advance!

#2

I will try to edit my videos to make them shorter, so you don’t have to watch me as much in between pitches. I’m getting better with the movie maker on my computer, so I should be able to do it.

#3

Jimster,
After following your posts and your journal I wanted to wish you the best of luck with your tryout this week.

You certainly deserve it and most certainly have put in the hours dedicated to your craft.

Turn 22

#4

Thank you very much! That’s means a lot!

I am almost 100% positive that I will make the team. The big thing for me is getting playing time in the field and on the mound.

I was on jv(wrongfully) last year during my entire junior year. I was quite peeved at getting moved down. I made varisity then shortly after was moved down to jv. As fate would have it, we only lost one game the whole spring and (in my opinion) could have beat the varsity team 9/10 times.

The head coach was fired and now the jv coach from last year is the varsity coach this year, so I believe I will have a significant advantage.

Being a senior helps as well.

Thank you again for your kind comments!

#5

I went to the baseball facility where I go to hit and pitch. Unfortunately I was unable to pitch because all the mounds where being used and did have any to video tape me. I will try again to pitch tomorrow.

#6

So whatever happened to the clips?

I was looking forward to seeing them.

#7

I took some video yesterday. I got a big test tomorrow, so I won’t be editing them tonight. But I will try to get them posted on here tomorrow. I will try to get regular speed and slow motion.

Sorry about the wait. But I have them, I just need to edit them so it doesn’t take 3 hours to load to youtube

#8

Sounds good looking forward to seeing them

#9

One quick note. I think that I will start my hands lower.

I didn’t really look too deeply at my mechanics, but I would like to see my arm a little lower.

My next post will contain the videos.

#10
#11

Both the pitches are both a fastball.

#12

I like your intent to throw. Overall pretty good delivery EXCEPT one very important segment, i.e., lack of external rotation of the throwing arm.

Your camera speed is slow and it’s difficult to really see which arm is doing as it accelerates to throw. But there’s enough information there to see that your not getting more than 130-140° of external rotation.

It looks like you should be able to get more i.e. your arm might be a little late but not what I would consider enough delay to cause such a small amount of external rotation.

The first thoughts/impression would be lack of flexibility in the shoulder complex. But what is interesting is that on average the maximum voluntary external rotation is something in the vicinity of 110-120°. In other words the maximum that you can try without applying force to the arm to externally rotate is something in the vicinity of 120° ( for the most flexible of arms).

So that additional 60-70° in order to get to the magic number of 180° is due to inherent dynamic flexibility i.e. the ability for the connective tissue that holds the shoulder joint in place to stretch along with the aggressive rotation of the shoulders leaving the forearm behind.

That being said, and looking as best I can as close as I can at the clips, One possibility is that you’re trying to rush the throw toward the end of the delivery i.e. you’re pushing your arm out prematurely (muscling the throw?) as opposed to allowing the rotation drag the forearm back and then allowing the body (upper torso rotation) to unload the arm.

Again it’s difficult to tell without better video i.e. faster shutter speed.

#13

I know you’ve been working on getting more separation and although I can’t tell if this is the case with you for sure, I’ve noticed a lot of lack of separation comes from getting the hands up too soon. Starting your hands lower could shorten your arm path and make your hands get up sooner, so it’s something you’re going to have to think over.

#14

To add onto what coachxj said with your muscling of the ball what I have found helps is just get your arm into a good position to throw, but when trying to actually unload the ball don’t focus on unloading the arm, but unloading the scap. I hope this helps!

#15

[quote=“coachxj”]One possibility is that you’re trying to rush the throw toward the end of the delivery i.e. you’re pushing your arm out prematurely (muscling the throw?) as opposed to allowing the rotation drag the forearm back and then allowing the body (upper torso rotation) to unload the arm.[/quote]In the side view, I did the best I could do to stop the video right at front foot plant, and noticed that the throwing arm isn’t up in the “high cocked” zone yet. coachxj, could modifying this timing assist with what you’re noticing?

#16

When I looked at the video I was “borderline” in commenting between not getting his arm up soon enough and trying to push the ball.

I do not like YouTube video. The frame rate is insufficient to really do a decent analysis. I long for the good old days of 30 frames per second interlace where you could use software to de-interlace and get effective 60 frames per second as opposed to YouTube 25 frames per second progressive (noninterlaced). The throwing sequence happened so fast i.e. the actual upper torso rotation and external rotation of the arm that you miss a lot.

That being said, I would agree that he is not getting his arm up soon enough prior to upper torso rotation. Was deceiving to some degree is he’s almost there just prior to foot plant but does not possess the external rotation velocity (degrees per second) necessary to get his forearm vertical in time to take advantage of the rotation of the upper torso.

These two clips show the critical part of the delivery in terms of getting the forearm up in time.

The clip of Nolan Ryan is 60 frames per second de-interlaced. Jimster’s clip is YouTube, not very good for analysis video.

As a side anyone who’s serious about doing effective comparisons using video needs to have frame rates that are much better than what can be produced on YouTube, my opinion.

part of the problem is possibly the way he separates his hands i.e. hangs his arm back straight as opposed to what Nolan does where he separates with a bent elbow i.e. what could be called the flat W. This is a more efficient handbrake position with respect to elevating the forearm.

Thanks dm59 for questioning what I posted.

#17

It seems like if I would get my arm up sooner, it would help my externally rotate my arm.

To me it looks like my arm is beginning to externally rotate, but because my arm is late getting up to where Nolan Ryan’s arm is, my arm is forced to start moving forward because it wants to. Hence the ‘muscling’ up on the ball.

Would a combination of keeping my arm up sooner and keeping it back longer help with this issue?

How does my hip and shoulder rotation look? I have been focusing on that and my arm action as of late. But mostly my separation(hip/shoulder).

Good thing is that I can throw 82 mph with those mechanics!

Let me know if I’m off-base with my comments on my video or if they were in-line with what you’re thinking. Thank you for the comments. Keep them coming!

And thank you for the video comparison. How would I get my frames per second up in my video?

I was using my Ally droid to record in my early videos, but now i’m using my brothers Aiptek video camera.

On the side it says that it’s HD 720p, 1280x720, 30fps. Does that mean my highest possible frame rate is 30fps?

#18

Would trying to keep my pitching hand back as long as possible help with this?

#19

It’s about getting the forearm up sooner and not hanging the arm up there. If you look at Nolan Ryan’s clip you’ll see that as soon as the elbows start to elevate, the forearm begins to rotate upwards in one continuous motion.

Also if you look at the clip below you can see that Nolan is preparing to throw the baseball before his front foot touches down.

It’s possible that when you learn how to throw you based your throw upon the front foot touching down i.e. that you really didn’t start your throw until the front foot planted.

It’s been my philosophy/instruction that the throw begins as soon as the hands start to break from the glove.

As far as working on how to correct the problem it’s difficult to say what cue or cues will work. I can say that if you don’t get yourself constantly i.e. every three or four throws what you think your doing may not be what you are actually doing what I call the action perception gap.

Bottom line is that you have to figure out what it is in terms of your thought process that achieves the desired result. And this can only be done through a trial and error process and constant video taping.

As far as your camera specifications 720p simply means it’s an HD progressive frames video capture. I don’t know what of the settings you have in the camera. The problem is that the actual capturing of the image is taking too long and therefore you get the blurring action. A classic camera “speak” the length of time that the “shutter” remains open determines the sharpness of the picture. So you need to have a camera setting that is very fast in terms of how quickly it actually acquires the image for the frame.

If the camera has a 60 frames per second setting that’s what you want to use.

#20

By looking at the slo-mo clips, like what was said, its obvious your arm isnt getting up soon enough. You start your hands very high and lowering them can shorten your arm path and potentially get your arm up sooner. Try starting your hands around waist height and see if that helps. Just make sure not to focus on changing ANYTHING during the throwing process just change the starting point, as you may screw up your mechanics if you try to “keep your arm back” which could slow down your entire body.