| Item | How | Why |
Throwing From the Circle Position (Q1)
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| Starting Point called the "circle position" | No Ball, toes on the power line, feet turned 30 - 45 degrees, hips and shoulders also turned the same amount, glove hand arm pointing straight to target, throwing hand elbow pointing straight to target with some elbow flex to bring the hand over the glove said arm. | This is an intermediate step. In a real pitch the body is facing the target when the arms are extended forward, not rotated back 30 - 45 degrees. Starting in the position helps the student get fully open, shoulders and hips parallel to the power line, by circle peak. |
| Transition from circle position to K position | Raise the throwing hand arm and the stride leg at the same time getting the knee as high as the hip by circle peak. The upper arm should be pointing straight up to the sky, not tilted away from the body, at circle peak. At this point reach the stride foot forward and let that action turn the body to be completely sideways or completely open. The action of rotting the body will also rotate the throwing hand so that it faces sideways at toe touch. Do not twist the arm to make that happen, just allow the shoulder joint to make the final amount for rotation to get the palm of the hand sideways. Remember to arrive a the K position with a slight lean towards the power line so that the elbow can clear the body at release. It is OK for the student to lift the leg before moving the arm. | All parts of the pitching motion should be as simple as possible. By allowing the shoulders, hips and hand to rotate without forcing them to do so puts less stress on the body and is more repeatable as fatigue sets in. |
| Weight Transfer | As the arm comes up shift the body weight from being evenly distributed to having more on top of the push leg. As the arm comes down the back side shift the weight to the stride foot. At this point it is just a slight movement of the hips, sliding along the power line aided by lifting the hell of the stride foot up as the student goes back then lowering the heel and raising the heel of the push foot by the release point. The legs should do the work of shifting the body weight, not the shoulders/upper body. | The movement of the body weight along the power line is important to support the key principles of alignment and sequencing. |
| Back side of the circle. | The hand must remain above the power line from circle peak through release. There should be some hand lag (elbow flex) at circle peak increasing to 30 - 45 degrees by elbow connection. The hand remains facing sideways until it is rotated by the action of the elbow straightening out after elbow connection. Do not force any movements. Review video #4 if necessary. | Keeping the arm relaxed is critical for developing hand lag needed for speed. |
| Release and Follow Through | Elbow connection needs to occur with the elbow in a position to swing freely past the hip. After elbow connection the student can add some force to the forearm making sure that the motion is down like a karate chop and not rotational around the upper arm like a pinball flipper. Allow the elbow to release from the body once the hand has passed the hip and has achieved 30 degrees or so of hand lead (the opposite of hand lag). The hand lead can be reduced/eliminated during the follow through if the back of the hand faces the sky on follow through. | Key principle of sequencing |
| Add a Ball | First do the throws into the glove, but not too fast. Stay relaxed and focus on the technique of the body rotation, hand lag and weight transfer. After that is good, throw a ball into a net at half the pitching distance, eyes closed then with the eyes open. Do not let the weight of the ball pull the arm out straight so that eliminates the hand lag. | The body needs to transition to fully sideways by toe touch for the key principles of spacing, alignment and sequencing. |
| Start Facing the Target | With no ball, stand facing directly towards the target with the outside of the throwing hand foot on the power line. Lift both arms directly in front of the shoulders to point at the target. Bend the throwing hand elbow enough to have the hand rest right next to the forearm. Open the glove wide to hide the ball from the batter (once there is one). Lift the stride leg so that the knee is as high as the hip. Bend the stride foot knee slightly and begin leaning forward, preferable from the ankle. Before the student falls down, have her extend the stride foot out and push forward with the push leg. Once the push leg knee is extended start moving the arms around the circle. Arrive at the K position just as the stride foot toe touches the ground. The stride leg reaching forward should in effect pull the glove hand hip to the power line. Make sure the body is fully open at toe touch. Finish the motion as above. | Executing the body turn from fully closed to fully open by toe touch. |
| Throw the Ball | First do the throws into the glove. Being able to do this is a quick check to see if the hips are fully open and that the arm is not using the flipper motion that brings the ball away from the push leg. After doing that successfully, throw with the eyes closed then with the eyes open. | This is almost a full pitch |
Problems Resulting from Not Having Great Technique
Throwing from the Circle Position (Q1)
| Item | How This Causes Problems | What it Affects |
| Upper Arm Does Not Brush Ear (tilted away from body) | If the upper arm does not get vertical the elbow will be outside of the power line. When it returns to the power line by toe touch it likely will be too far around the circle. | Loss of speed |
| Upper Arm Does Not Brush Ear (tilted away from body) | With the upper arm away from the head at circle peak, the ball will be off of the power line as it starts down the back side. | Lack of accuracy |
| Upper Arm Does Not Brush Ear (tilted away from body) | A "short arm pitch", one where the elbow does not make the largest circle possible, will leave the rotation of the shoulder joint not operating efficiently. | Injury to shoulder or biceps |
| Weight Transfer is From Upper Body Movement | During the stride the hip needs to be thrust forward in order to get from a forward lean to a backwards lean. If this is accomplished by moving the shoulders the energy from the legs will not get into the pitch. | Loss of power, key principle of posture |
| Ball not above power line on back side of circle | If the ball is off the power line in back and returns to the power line at release, the resulting path of the ball will tend to make the throw inaccurate - to the throwing hand side if the ball is behind the head and to the glove side if the ball is too far away from the body in back. | Accuracy, key principle of alignment |
| Arm/elbow gets locked out | Not carrying hand lag all the way to elbow connection will limit the impact of sequencing | Loss of speed. This will also make it harder to learn breaking pitches - drop, rise, curve, etc. - later on. |
| Hand not facing sideways | This position of the hand makes it difficult to the elbow to retain its flex. The hand should turn to face the target just at release, just when the elbow flex (hand lag) become zero degrees. | Speed - sequencing |
| Palm Faces Up on Follow Through | This generally is a symptom of the arm getting locked out in the back then the follow through continue like a slow pitch delivery. | Speed and sequencing |
| Body Not Sideways at Toe Touch | Since the natural throwing motion contains some rotation of the upper body, not being sideways at toe touch generally leads to the body getting to a closed, or almost closed position by release. That generally leads to a loss of hand lag before release. | Speed and upper arm injuries |
| Throwing Hand does not brush leg at release | This can be one of two things. Generally it is symptomatic of the flipper, or sidearm, release. The other could be that the body tilt towards the power line is too much. The flipper release is a much more serious problem | Loss of speed and sequencing |
| Elbow does not pass freely past the hip | If the elbow runs into the student's side, in addition to hurting, the resulting motion is flipper like. | Loss of speed and potential upper arm injury |