My son is 12 yrs old, is talll (about 6ft) and throws very hard. He has always had good control in the past, but for some reason, this year he is consistently high. He isn’t wild inside and outside so much as just high. By high I mean from the chest up. I can’t seem to figure out what he’s doing differently/wrong. I’m actually starting to think maybe it has to do w/how fast he’s grown.
Any suggestions what to look for?
[quote=“Ken”]My son is 12 yrs old, is talll (about 6ft) and throws very hard. He has always had good control in the past, but for some reason, this year he is consistently high. He isn’t wild inside and outside so much as just high. By high I mean from the chest up. I can’t seem to figure out what he’s doing differently/wrong. I’m actually starting to think maybe it has to do w/how fast he’s grown.
Any suggestions what to look for?[/quote]
Sounds like he could be rushing.
By that I mean that he could be trying to get a little something extra on his pitches by striding forward extra hard.
One solution is to either not stride forward so quickly (I tell my pitchers to be smooth and to not “jump” toward the plate) or to break the hands a little sooner so that the arm is up and in the ready position at the moment the shoulders start to turn. Reminding the pitcher to take a nice long stride can also help.
I have had this problem with a couple of my pitchers this year and recently wrote an article that tries to explain this problem in depth…
Let me know if that helps.
I would first check to make sure his head stays upright and only moves toward the target.
Next I would check what his glove does. Missing up and down is often an issue with the glove.
could be his stride foot isnt landing far enough down on the mound or his release point or maybe “short arming”.
[quote=“Chris O’Leary”][quote=“Ken”]My son is 12 yrs old, is talll (about 6ft) and throws very hard. He has always had good control in the past, but for some reason, this year he is consistently high. He isn’t wild inside and outside so much as just high. By high I mean from the chest up. I can’t seem to figure out what he’s doing differently/wrong. I’m actually starting to think maybe it has to do w/how fast he’s grown.
Any suggestions what to look for?[/quote]
Sounds like he could be rushing.
By that I mean that he could be trying to get a little something extra on his pitches by striding forward extra hard.
One solution is to either not stride forward so quickly (I tell my pitchers to be smooth and to not “jump” toward the plate) or to break the hands a little sooner so that the arm is up and in the ready position at the moment the shoulders start to turn. Reminding the pitcher to take a nice long stride can also help.
I have had this problem with a couple of my pitchers this year and recently wrote an article that tries to explain this problem in depth…
Let me know if that helps.[/quote]
Thanks…that makes sense. I’ve actually been telling him that I think his upper body is behind his lower body, but didn’t no how to correct it.
Well, you DO want your upper body to stay behind your hips into foot strike. But you also want your upper body to stay upright and not lean backwards.
I agree with Roger.
The hips MUST rotate well before the shoulders for the pitcher to generate significant power (by stretching the muscles of the torso. My favorite Casey Fossum photo shows this well…
You can tell in the photo above that Fossum isn’t rushing because his shoulders haven’t yet started to turn but his forearm is vertical.
The problem with guys who rush is that at the moment their glove-side foot plants, which causes their shoulders start to turn, their arm is not yet up and in the ready position. An example of what this looks like is this photo of Kerry Wood. Notice how his forearm is horizontal rather than vertical (or near-vertical). Often this is caused by striding forward too quickly, which causes the glove-side foot to land too soon.
I agree that he is rushing to the plate. When a pitcher “rushes” he is not giving his arm time to get ready to throw “down hill”. If your body goes to quickly, your arm is not ready to throw, you leave it behind. Short arming the ball is another down side that rushing to the plate may cause. Want anything else let us know. Thier seems to be a few baseball educated comments here. Jeff Hunter
I agree with Roger.
The hips MUST rotate well before the shoulders for the pitcher to generate significant power (by stretching the muscles of the torso. My favorite Casey Fossum photo shows this well…
You can tell in the photo above that Fossum isn’t rushing because his shoulders haven’t yet started to turn but his forearm is vertical.
The problem with guys who rush is that at the moment their glove-side foot plants, which causes their shoulders start to turn, their arm is not yet up and in the ready position. An example of what this looks like is this photo of Kerry Wood. Notice how his forearm is horizontal rather than vertical (or near-vertical). Often this is caused by striding forward too quickly, which causes the glove-side foot to land too soon.
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could doing that take stress of your arm , because my hips and arm come around about the same time so…and my elbow has been hurting sometimes after i throw…
Yes.
What it does is enable you to generate force using the muscles of your torso. This enables the muscles of your shoulder to focus on holding the shoulder together.
However, elbow pain can be related to other problems (e.g. supinating the forearm) and may not be relieved by throwing this way.
Roger,
can you be more specific on this point?
Next I would check what his glove does. Missing up and down is often an issue with the glove.
Keith[/b]
The issue with the glove is that the throwing arm often does the opposite of what the glove arm does. (Tom House recommends that the arms be in an opposite and equal position at foot strike. Many pitchers do this automatically when the rest of their mechanics and timing are sound.) So, when the glove is extended high (ala Andy Petitte), the throwing arm extends low (i.e. shoulders are aligned uphill). If the throwing arm doesn’t get up, over and back down (which takes more work), then the pitch sails high. On the other hand, if the glove is dropped, the shoulder gets pulled down, the shoulders align downhill, and the throwing hand extends high. In the case, the release point usually shifts higher and it is common for the throwing arm to drag in which case the pitch usually sails up and in (RHP to a righty) or the pitcher over-corrects and the pitch sails low and away.
None of this is absolute but it is fairly common based on my experience.