people say sometimes my arm drags...what exactly does that mean and how do you fix it? Does it have anything to do with flying open?

Yes, usually it does have to do with your front shoulder flying open. Dragging the arm means that your arm is behind the body while you are throwing. You should have a straight line from your left shoulder across to your right elbow during your release. (assuming a righty pitcher) Your upper body should work in unison to get the most out of your delivery. If you are dragging, you are putting more stress on your shoulder as well as sacrificing accuracy and velocity.

You should go to a qualified pitching instructor. It could be just a timing issue. Perhaps you are not engaging in hand separation at the balance point.. late separation.. which is resulting in your arm dragging behind. This usually results in being up in the zone. Is this happening?

Practice lifting your plant foot and holding it in the balance point. (This also reinforces proper balance.) From this position, after holding the balance point a few seconds, focus on separating the hands and moving forward to foot plant simultaneously.

i usually pitch down in the zone well. My pitching coach says not to go to him anymore because my mechanics are funky and its what helps me be effective. My catcher in the bullpen just said my curve wasn't breaking cuz my arm was dragging but it was fine in the game just sometimes people say my arm drags and its usually when my curve doesn't break.

If your front side is opening up early, that will usually cause the "arm drag" you describe. It will also pull your release point back and raise it up and that will make it much more difficult to get over the top of the ball to put the spin on it that you need for a curve.

I can't really say if or why you're opening up early without seeing you but, if this is what's happening, a lack of glove-side stability is a likely cause.

yeah i think my glove is good but once i release it i think it falls down and away alot i am going to try and fix that.

We often see this flaw created by poor conditioning of the lower half. Take a look at some insight into Mariano Rivera's training approach... click here and watch https://3psports.com/videos/mangold-on-rivera/

NCUlEFT,

quote:

“people say sometimes my arm drags...what exactly does that mean and how do you fix it? Does it have anything to do with flying open?”

This poor mechanic is a shoulder injury at many points waiting to happen, first Humeral miss alignment at initial forward force causes posterior labrum fraying, anterior deltoid, 2 types of cuff muscle tears and capsule ligament loosenings.
It is caused solely by not physically locking in alignment at the right time from not being aware of this static contraction mechanic.

The fix,

When you pendulum swing your ball arm straight back with the thumb up, it will allow you to then transition early correctly by outwardly turning your (inside of Elbow up) humerus. Right at this point is where you lock your humerus (upper arm) in line with your acromial line (shoulders), right when you start initial forward force application and all the way through to release and after during deceleration your humerus should not angle itself as much across the front of your body because now you have attained more shoulder rotation also that looks like “flying open” to traditional pitching coaches and knowledgeable observers. This more fuller rotation is a good thing if the humerus and shoulders line up during drive.

When I tell one of my players that his arm is dragging I am seeing his body get ahead of his arm in his delivery. Some coaches may call it "throwing with all arm" some may call it "dragging", and some "you're out in front".

For example you may be opening your hips too early. If you open up your hips too early, your shoulders will be next to follow (leaving your arm behind or dragging). If you are in sequence you core will expload and just an instant later your shoulder will follow either

1) bringin your chest to your glove or
2) pulling down with the glove side arm

Those are two philosophies in pitching. Good Luck.

Some clips I've been looking are examples of arm drag occuring because the arm is early and are more the result of early hand separation and early rotation. Because of the early rotation and early hand separation the arm gets fully laid back too soon and then the arm has to be "dragged" around to square or forward before the arm unloads. This results in an inconsistent release point and possibly a loss in velocity.

That doesn't mean it can't be caused by late separation. Everyone is different and there are a lot of factors involved. Chris Carpenter looks like he gets his velocity from very late separation and leaving his arm back and I wouldn't say he's dragging his arm. On the other hand, he's got to be putting a lot of stress on his arm doing that.