Metal Cleats

I'm already convinced that metal cleats do offer more advantage than disadvantage so I'm not going to offer another opinion here. But I am interested in the following comment by hittingcoach:

"I have however been blessed to always have a pitcher as a roommate and they dont seem to like them not because of the injury factor but because it messes up some sort of slide they feel when they plant and being the princesses that all of them are they are uncomfortable. SOOOOOOOOOO drum roll please.... they wear rubber and the ones that also play another position have both types."

Does anyone have an opinion on that effect of the cleats (metal or rubber)? And therefore the material makeup of the pitcher's circle? wndmillr?

 

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I have no idea what the poster means by having the stride foot slide as they plant....pitching is about balance, power and direction. The stride is simply the start of the pitch......I want my stride foot to assist the athlete with balance and power.. don't understand how it sliding at contact would a good thing.. Maybe I am missing something. As far as metal vs rubber cleats.... see my post on page 2, post number 20.....dated 2-21-2008..
Wow... that was along time ago....

Some thoughts on the stride....

The stride has 3 purposes..

1. Balance – Body is always gonna seek balance. We walk around with our upper bodies generally over our lower bodies. Whenever this gets out of whack – either the upper body going too far past our lower or lower too far beyond our upper – we fall. You can’t throw or pitch if you’re busy falling, so our stride helps keep our balance and allows us to complete our pitch or throw.
2. Power – as a result of balance, we can use our feet based on how we plan to use our upper body. Short throws don't need much upper body so we won’t involve as much lower body in the way of a stride. Throwing out a runner at home, or firing a pitch past a hitter holding a bat will requires our upper body to be flying forward with allot of power and force, which then will require our lower body to end up underneath our upper body at release time…or we will lose our balance, and the throw will fail. The stride determines where our lower body goes.
3. Direction – You can make a throw to any location without even taking a step, you just can’t make it very fast or very far. This is why I believe that the stride is really needed for Balance and Power, and that Direction is a result of Balance.

A pitcher needs an explosive upper body, which also means she needs an explosive lower body. All pitchers should have the following in common when it comes to their stride:

1. Good balance and direction
2. Stride as far as they can while maintaining good mechanics and balance
3. They all glide prior to the stride foot planting

Pay attention to the following when assessing a pitcher’s stride:

1. Don’t jump out of control just to add a foot to your stride.
2. Push off the ball of your pivot foot to help get maximum power.
3. Don’t jeopardize your pitching mechanics at the expense of gaining distance.
4. Let your feet help your hand – it isn’t the pitching long jump.
5. Use the stride when pitching underhand the same way you do when throwing overhand – the more powerful the throw the more explosive the stride.
6. The stride only starts the pitch, the hand finishes it!
7. The pitcher must end up balanced and over her stride foot in the follow-through.

Both softball and baseball pitchers use their strides as means to create power, explosion and balance.

Baseball pitchers get an advantage, they are pitching off a mound that allows them to "fall" off the mound and toward the plate.

Softball pitchers obviously have flat mounds..where they have to push every pitch to generate power....

Ever wonder why most baseball coaches make their pitchers do "flat work"
every day in practice... teaches them power and balance.....

 

My daughter is a senior this year and has worn metal cleats (Ringor) for 3 years now. She loves them until 2 weeks ago when she slid into 3rd and one cleat got caught awkward in the bag and and turned her ankle very badly (been better if it was broke per the Dr.). Senior Season is over due to that. will she still wear them? Her answer "YES!"