Up and In?

I think my son played with you in the state games this past summer,"Stu" from East Burke. How things going at UNC? great I hope. What have you worked on the most? mechanics,or strength. any improvment? I know you are working hard "Stu" is at Pembroke now.well good luck this spring keep in touch with us on the board. May GOD bless you and yours.

 

NCLightBread,
Since I have been here, I would say that the one thing I have worked the hardest on (individually) would have to be my mechanics. I learned a wealth of information this past summer in San Diego while working with Dr. Tom House. Everyday at the stadium (5-7 days a week) I due what are called "towel drills". I begin my routine (after 15-20 minutes of an isometric warmup and running to get my blood flowing and heart rate up) by emphasizing my shoulders and hips. I have found that by optimizing the amount of seperation between my hips and shoulders, I create more torque and put less stress on my arm (mainly my elbow). By "seperation", I mean that when my hips "open", my shoulders stay squared to third base, until the last instant when the torque is released and I continue with my release. I try and describe it as a "rubberband effect". The tighter the rubberband is pulled (hip/shoulder seperation as opposed to shoulders opening with the hips), the greater amount of power or energy is released.
From there, I will emphasize my front side, or glove hand. Often people are under the impression that the glove is "pulled" or "tucked" to the chest just before release. But in actuallity, the best in the game (Maddux, Prior, Clemens, Pedro, etc) are bringing their chests to their glove. This appears that way because the human eye can only see 25 frames per second, but when broken down in pictures (I have seen the above 4 pitchers in 1000 frames per second in pictures) and have found that this was the case. One of the main reasons why these guys are so tough, are because they get unbelieveable deception and extension. It is impossible to get that kind of extension by pulling or tucking your glove, because as soon as you do, you release the ball. One foot of extension is equivalent to 3 mph to the hitter's eyes. Maddux gets 5+ feet of extension.
Lastly, I will emphasize my head, eyes and hips. In front of a mirror, I will start from the stretch and check to make sure that repeatedly, my my head stays level and on line to the plate, my eyes are level at release, and every part of my body is only moving straight, forward and level.
While incorporating these things, I will take a small towel or t-shirt, twist it up, hold it in a baseball grip, go through my delivery and hit an object (usually a bench in the weight room) about a hundred times a day. You cant throw 100 baseballs everyday at game speed, but you can do as many towels as you want (so long that you concentrate on every single one).
I hope that I described these things in a way that can be understood, I'm sorry for making it so lengthy, but those who know me know that I could talk baseball or pitching all day long.

-Thanks for saying hello NC and I hope that Stu has a great year at Pembroke. He is a great ball player.

 

This brought a smile to your Mom's face as she read this statement from my computer .

 

If anyone reading Up and In's post was unsure before just how he has gotten so good, then I bet they understand now. If there is a harder working, more dedicated player out there, then I'd sure like to meet him. Players, yes it is about talent and yes it is about getiing some breaks along the way, but most of all it is about putting in the time and effort -- good old fashioned hard work. Congrats to Robert and his family and best wishes for continued, well-earned sucess. We can't wait to see you on the mound in Carolina Blue.

 

I really appreciate it everyone. I absolutely cannot wait to make the trip back home to see the Southwestern AAAA race from the otherside. Hopefully, I will have plenty of opportunities. Thanks again everyone for your support.

 

Hey Up, can you use your pull back at your alma mater to get the Mustangs an early game on April 14? It is the final night of the Jack Sink tourney AND the night you guys play UNCC at Charlotte. What a bummer. I know all the Myers Park players and parents are going to want to come see you play.

 

Wow...that would be awesome to see you guys out there. I'll try to talk to Coach Clewis, because I also know that some players want to get back to the beach as early as possible. I doubt that I can get anything changed, but I will see. Also, I know that Bard, White, Griffin, Mangum, Daniel and the team would love to see everyone out there. I am trying to explain to the rest of the guys on the team who havent been exposed to "the real" Charlotte baseball fans why you guys are the best. I hope that it all works out, but if it doesnt, we will be back Wednesday March 31 at 7pm at Knight's Castle versus South Carolina. In my opinion, that game has the potential to have the most intense atmosphere (or maybe NC State) of any regular season game. We want that one real bad and I couldnt think of a better place to compete against those guys than back home. They have a great team back this year and it should be a great battle. Hopefully, it will work out that a majority of the SW4A is off that night, so that I could see/hear you guys and the Pan Clan out there.
Like I said in my previous post, I cannot wait to come back and see everyone play. I am very much pumped that it is almost here.

Thanks Dodger.

 

Up and In,
Would it be possible for you to elaborate a little on the "chest to glove" on the board, or does it require some visual aid? I asked my son's instructor about it when I read your post, and he is aware of it, but I'd like to become more acquainted with it before his Sat. lesson. Thanks!

 

I'll give my unsolicited opinion... however unqualified it may be.

The chest to glove is talking about the extension in the upper body as a pitcher reaches his release point. Most coaches talk about reaching with the glove (however much depends on the coach) and then bringing the glove back to the chest to begin the upper body rotation and extension towards the target. Tom House used his study of kinesiology to show that most pitchers (if not all) actually leave their glove where it is and take their chest to the glove.

The debate that surrounds this is what do pitchers do vs. what do you teach them to do so they do it right. Jack Stallings (legendary former coach at Georgia Southern) and Tom House had a "spirited" debate at a convention once on this fact. Many people that disagree with Tom House don't disagree with what he is saying, they disagree with the fact that you can't teach pitchers to take their chest to their glove. This will get their front side "running" down the hill.

Up and In please correct me if I have misspoken... I am not a big Tom House fan, but the guy knows what he is talking about from a scientific standpoint. I just don't know if a majority of pitchers out there will be able to do everything the way he wants to teach it.

 

If you see a good still shot of Greg Maddox, you'll see that his chest (though pretty much vertical) is pointing straight at his target and out over his front knee going into the release. He's a good example of what image you are describing.

Dr. Mike Marshall was one of the first to pitching instructors to emphasis the extension of the pitchers chest towards home plate to enable the pitcher to "release the ball" closer to the plate. The difference between the two is that Tom House came up with a nice set of drills that you can use to create the mental images.