i was told that i have not been leading with my elbow and i should lead with my elbow when i throw. I have been leading with my elbow more but when I do some tendon or something near my elbow area moves the area feels fine im not sore or hurting or anything but an wondering if i am doing this right? am i leading with the elbow to much? maybe thinking about it to much? i think i should just let my arm fly do my footwork and not be so tense and just throw and lead the elbow but not try to lead it so much or something. any thoughts, ideas??? thanks.

Find a good instructor in your area to help you with your mechanics. Let him do the thinking for you for a while.

It would be my guess that if you are feeling something moving around in your elbow area you are doing something wrong.

I just bought a DVD called, "Ultimate Infield." The instructor in the video is Perry Hill who is the infield coach for the FLorida Marlins. His techniques are simple and make so much sense. I have seen my son's mechanics and footwork improve 100%. They no longer have a website, but a company called "Baseball Pros" carries the DVD. I hope this helps.

baseball pros website

The best way to correct what you think is wrong with your mechanics is "one on one" with a trusted instructor--words cannot solve it--without seeing you in action it is nearly impossible to give you direction

The key word is trusted instructor. There are a ton of baseball instructors out there but there are very few who acutally know what they are talking about.

TR is right.

The best way to get the best instruction is ONE ON ONE with a trusted instructor that has been there and done that.

Stay away from any websites saying they have all the answers to throwing mechanics and throwing hard. There is no way you will ever get anywhere near the best trainer over a keyboard and monitor!

Matter of fact, it's a prescrition to a waste time and money when you could of spent it on a reputable pitching instructor who also was a baseball pitcher himself, not some electrical engineer nut job like one site out there that profeses to have all the answers yet has no track record of helping and of it's customers to any level of major leaque success!!

Baseball is a high elbow sport.
One of the best books I have read is "Everything You Need to Know About Pitching" by Louisville Slugger. My sons Chiropractor has a small part of a chapter in "The Pitchers Edge" by Tom House & Nolan Ryan. He advocates keeping the elbows high but there is more to it than that. My son was getting some shoulder tension because he was dropping his front elbow during long toss.
One thing you can do is pwt a broom stick across the top of your shoulders and alighn both elbows with the broom stick with your hands straight up in the air like goal posts. Keep them up and go through your pitching motion. This will be awkward but it will give you an idea of how you should keep the elbows up.

Look, throwing is like hitting in many aspects. There are certain things that are definites ie Keep your eyes on the ball or get in the power posistion when throwing. But some kids have a natural arm slot that may be different than what is the general idea of how a kid should throw. If you change your arm slot and you feel pain (stop). Everyone is not meant to throw with the same mechanics. Some kids are comfortable throwing straight over the top. Some are comfortable throwing 3/4 etc. Some can throw from multiple arm slots. If you work on a different arm slot and it just feels uncomfortable thats one thing. But if you are feeling pain (stop). Forget that arm slot it is not meant for your body.

thanks guys. i did find a trusted instructor from my school and i indeed was doing it fine. i have started leading with my elbow more but my ULNAR nerve was a bit sore and he said thats normal he use to pitch minor league ball. i feel great having a good off seaosn throwing and hitting very frequently. cant wait till try outs!

Dan,

Ulnar nerve pain is most certainly NOT normal.

It means that you have a mechanical problem that is placing extra strain on your elbow.

One thing to check is the angle of your pitching arm side elbow, and the position of your pitching arm side forearm, at the moment that your shoulders start to turn. I'd be willing to bet that you are turning your shoulders before your pitching arm side forearm is vertical. Your elbow might also be bent more than 90 degrees at the moment that your shoulders start to turn (so that the ball passes closer to your head). Mark Prior does this and it is one of the causes of his elbow problems.

One thing that you might want to work on is pronating your wrist as you release the ball (turning your wrist counter-clockwise so that your palm faces the ground). This will take some of the load off of your elbow.

wow thank you chris. i havent checked the board in days. funny thing is i think im doing something right but i get a different opinion from some one else....

heres what iv e made out of it, yes ulnar pain is not normal. and that i THOUGHT i was throwing right but im having a hard time breaking old habits. when im in power position and load back i move my head to much when i begin my throw and i pull to far down with my left arm (im a righty) thus causing my arm to go up and basically create a windmill throw..... so i have some drills on keeping my head much more still and throwing while leading the elbow and not pulling to hard down on my left arm


and your right my shoulder was opening up too.

You say you get to the power position. Do you follow the common advice to show the ball to Center Field? If so, that may be the cause of your problem. You might want to try just showing the ball to 3B (palm facing away from your body).

At the power position, you might also want to have your elbow bent just 45 degrees (leaning back toward CF) rather than 90 degrees (vertical).

There's nothing necessarily wrong with a windmill throw (aka throwing over the top) as long as your arm goes up because your shoulders are tilted. In fact, that's how you throw a 12-6 curveball. However, if your elbow goes above the level of your shoulders, then that's a bad thing.

Hi,

Are you also making sure that your elbows stay in line and that DO NOT go behind the back, in that that very harmful pinching of the shoulder blade action?

Get a clue rufus.

Linear--- get real pal--there others out there who may know something and have something to offer--- at least they come without attitude--

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
Linear--- get real pal--there others out there who may know something and have something to offer--- at least they come without attitude--

I don't care that you don't like me TR. But quit giving bad advice.

If you don't think the elbows go behind the back then your confirming how much of an idiot you are.

While I agree that you don't want your elbows to go too far behind your shoulders (basically your back) or above your shoulders, I don't think that's the problem here.

If he was doing this to too large of a degree, it would manifest itself as shoulder pain, not Ulnar nerve pain.

Ulnar nerve pain means you are putting too much load on the elbow.

Linear

read what I said-- I am telling you there are others out there who know things-- just because your have a guru to follow does not make you correct all the time--is it bad advice because it doesnt agree with your "dogma"?

Like you or not like you has nothing to do with anything--If I get upset about cyperspace people then I am worse than you-- you area cyberspace sham and I will repeat--join the real world pal--you are missing a lot--- nobody has an inkling as to what or what you do not know about anything.

Bottom line for me --I will stay with the real world people who can teach and people see the results on a field

You say the opposite of me no matter what I say.

I could care less. Your an old, over the hill, know nothing groupie.

Everyone knows it........except you.

I'm asking for you to shut up and quit giving bad advice to people.

99% of all mlb pitchers will have their elbows go behind their back. And, not just behind their back, but almost as far behind their back as they will go.

It's a fact.

Then again, facts have never stood in the way of an old, over the hill, know nothing opinion.

Fellas - please retract the fangs - and enjoy the Panther - Bears game.