Is there someone out there that can tell me why a pitcher should not initiate the windup by going over his head with his arms?

If the pitcher is successful, is this an absolute.

Am asking because Philip Humber, Rice, first rounder is now in MLB and the Mets will not allow him to initiate that way. He did all his life, including through minor league ball. My son in college ball was forbidden to. Just wondering why.

No matter what sport we are discussing, a change in mechanics is a change in timing. Is the change worth it?

Pitchers who do --- Maddox, Shilling, Smoltz (I think), Pettit, etc.

Cant forget Nolan Ryan, as well as the young stud Dice-K. More than anything though intiating by bringing your arms over your head is simply timing. There is no real leverage from it. A lot of coaches feel it is simply wasted movement. Another thing is if you mess up on timing while doing this it can cause everything to fall apart. The Mets might have noticed a trend of rushing? Who knows, I don't see a problem with it, as long as the motion can be repeated, which I'm sure a 1st rounder is is more than athletic enough to do so. The coaches might have just wanted to eliminate wasted motion to make things simple, and to make the difference between the full from the stretch less dramatic.

quote:

Originally posted by baseballpapa:
Is there someone out there that can tell me why a pitcher should not initiate the windup by going over his head with his arms?

The thought is that this simplifies things and improves control. The fewer movements, the fewer things to screw up.

I might try it if a guy was having control or consistency problems, but wouldn't mess with him if he's doing fine.

As an aside, I have my son doing a biggish Juan Marichal style leg kick because it seems to help him get on top of the ball and keep it down in the strike zone. I think there is value in looking at what pitchers used to do way back when.

Personally, unless the arms going over the head was creating a problem, then I think it's stupid that they won't let him. Pitching coaches now just try to clone everybody to be exactly the same but that can't work for everybody. Instead of trying to incorporate their advice into a pitcher's motion, they say this is how you do it or else you don't do it at all. LAME.

It's timing, everyone's different

Whatever they are comfortable with

baseballpapa,

XFactor is completely right. Every pitcher has his own timing device and I wouldn't change anything if it works for him. Nobody has the same motion, not even genetically.

TSP4