Arm Action, Arm Path, and the Perfect Pitch by Tom House & Doug Thorburn

Author:Tom House & Doug Thorburn [Thorburn, Tom House & Doug]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Coaches Choice
Published: 2011-09-04T04:00:00+00:00

19

“Glove to Hip”

“Pull the glove to the hip.”

Doug: A pitcher’s glove side is an important aspect of mechanics. As such, correct glove positioning can have a positive impact on a pitcher’s level of efficiency. Previously, the effects that the glove side can have on the delivery were studied, with respect to maintaining “tightrope” balance, and to achieving opposite-and-equal arm angles into foot strike. In fact, the pitcher’s glove continues to influence the delivery after foot strike and into ball release, as, it can have an impact on the position of the throwing hand at release point. The weight discrepancy between the baseball and the typical pitcher’s mitt is an obstacle for this stage, as well as for opposite and equal. Failure to balance out the arm angles at foot strike will often result in a “soft” glove at release point, as well.

Conventional wisdom states that a pitcher should actively pull the glove to the hip after foot strike. The underlying concept to this piece of wisdom is that doing so will aid in creating more power with upper-body rotation by invoking the glove-side shoulder to pull back as trunk rotation begins. Theoretically, this movement would apply force along the desired direction of rotation for the trunk and shoulders, since both shoulders rotate around the spine after opposite and equal. In this situation, the throwing shoulder moves along a path toward the plate, and the glove shoulder seemingly moves back away from the plate. When watching a pitcher’s upper body, from foot strike into ball release, it also appears at first glance that the glove is physically pulled in towards the body and away from the plate, given that the space narrows between the glove and torso as the pitcher tracks forward.

If pulling the glove to the hip provides meaningful benefits, then we should expect to see the five aces demonstrate this technique. Whenever possible, we try to study the most successful players when learning about proper pitching mechanics, because these great athletes typically utilize the most efficient techniques for delivering the baseball, with few exceptions. The best methods that produced the best results have withstood the test of time, having been shared by baseball’s greatest pitchers over several generations, often despite conventional instruction. In that regard, Figure 19-1 shows the glove position of the best pitchers of our generation. These images help to illustrate whether these athletes pull toward the hip as they get into maximum external rotation (MER) of the throwing arm.

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