Hello, Long time lurker here....

So many great people on this board. Just wondering if you would be so kind to rate this 15 year old.

The video is of his first pitching experience at varsity....

Thanks,

caeflash

sorry....

Link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11b5ejBXWEc

He seems to have some nice mechanics overall.Good balance and a nice finish. Maybe a little in a rush. Long lean lefty ...everyone wants one! Good luck to you guys.

Very nice imho. Keep encouraging him to develop his strength via long tossing and lower body work and he appears to have a bright future for both high school and beyond. Good looking athlete. Nice field btw and welcome to the hsbbweb

caeflash,

Welcome to the HS Baseball Web, from a fellow Minnesotan!

First varsity pitching experience, the catcher sets up inside with 2 strikes, and the pitch skims the inside corner of the plate for a K - gotta like that!

I made a shortcut for this thread in the Pitching forum also.

Julie

How does he do against lefties?

He does very well againts lefties. Typically riding inside and then will go inside out with a cutter.

too much of a rush, slow down a bit keep right shoulder on target a bit longer and drive to the plate.

He could get more out of his front side. His glove hand hangs limp on some pitches where he should be using his elbow and glove hand to gain a little more energy.

Thanks everyone for your replies..

Trojan-skipper- could you explain the motion of the glove hand and how it is utilized to gain more energy.

Thanks,

Caeflash...

In this photo Nolan Ryan shows a 'tight tuck' of his glove and the elbow will follow. Most guys will do this; the theory being the same as an ice skater that gains speed of rotation by bringing in her arms.

Nice Lefty....good mechanics...you got some good advie from people more knowedable than me...

Just one question...where the heck are the SS and 2b playing.....you do not even see them in the frame until after the player strikes out....

It hits a subject of many high school games discussions this year...it seems in our area many high school teams squeeze the middle infielders...not just in DP situations but all the time. Saw many hard ground balls that would have been outs if the middle inflieders had been playing more to the holes. Sorry for Hijacking the thread but watching the video brought back this much talked about topic at the fields this year.

I don't mind the knee bend during the motion, but as he stands on the mound he really should stand up straight to at least create the illusion of having a tremendous down angle.

He looks like he is going to fast. His wind up should not so rushed.

I am not a pitching coach or anything but he seemed a little rushed and it seemed like he was leaning or falling to the 3th base side of the mound, which puts him in bad possition to run to first. Remember once he lets that ball go he is now an infeilder!!!

But overall I see grat potential for him!!

Take this for what it is worth (which is not much). It is also difficult to see much in low res internet video from a distance.

1. Get rid of the squat. He is a tall kid so stand tall with and get legs closer together. Looks like he is riding a horse.

2. First step back is too wide and starts to get him un-balanced from the beginning. One small 45 deg angle step to just get things moving should be fine. Stay balanced and centered over his belly button.

3. I would consider starting him from the other side of the mound for better angles to the outside of the plate for righty's and better angle for lefty's.

4. Again hard to tell but he looks like he is leaning backward which causes him to fall off to the left (his right), may also be caused by his big step to the side to start things.

5. He looks a little herky, jerky - be smooth and then explode. Since he it is his first time on the mound as a Varsity pitcher he is probably a little psyched up...

6. Biggest thing I see is a weak glove side as Trojan Skip mentioned as well as his landing on his heal. He must be locked in on the front side, head steady, and landing flat to very slightly on his toes. His glove side is falling off instead of back to his body. I suspect there is a lot of potential extra velocity left in him in with some work in this area. Actually if you get him landing properly the fall off will take care of itself.

I would add that some of this is developmental and takes time as he grows into his body. I suspect if you look at him a year from now much of this will go away. Tall kids have lots of moving parts that take time to develop.

I can't underestimate how important it is to find someone he can relate to and work with one-on-one on some of the nuances. You can post stuff here and get some basic advice, some of which will be wrong so be careful.

Nice looking boy!

quote:

as well as his landing on his heal. He must... and landing flat to very slightly on his toes.

BOF,
Why is that?

cball:

You know what - that is a great question!

I am not sure if I am qualified (actually I am sure I am not, but I digress) to give the complete biomechanical answer and I have to run off to a meeting so I will try to fill in the blanks quickly. I am sure this will kick off a nice discussion.

1. Every pitching coach my son has worked with have said that a pitcher needs to land with a flexed leg to support their landing, which then is the sole support to begin the rotation of the body. Rolling into a landing, heal to toe does not enable this.

2. The highest velocity pitchers are the ones that get from foot strike to external rotation in the shorest period of time. (ASMI) Again rolling a landing heal to toe does not enable this.

3. Common sense would tell you that a firm flat landing would be the best way to stabilize the body quickly as it gets ready for a violent rotation that is coming.

I am sure there are much better descriptions than what I just posted, but I have to run so this will have to suffice for now.

Back to this tomorrow!

BOF
I always thought and taught the same thing but was just reading one of Tom House's books and he considers it one of those "conventional wisdom" things that gets passed on but have no basis in reality. He showed many examples of MLB pitchers with pictures that landed on their heel and though I can't remember all of them but there were a few hall of famers in there.

Got me to thinking.

Landing oh the heal can be a cause/symptom of him spending the hips too early (flying open) As BOF mentioned landing soft will allow for a better hip/shoulder rotation directing more energy to the plate rather than falling off to 3B. Looks like a nice live arm, best of luck.