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Pitching Biomechanics: Front Foot Landing Can Make Difference!

A pitcher’s foot position at foot strike can provide a solid foundation to facilitate both knee extension and efficient transfer of energy. Foot strike is the moment a pitcher’s front foot makes contact with the ground and is the starting point of energy transfer up the kinetic chain. This energy is ultimately transferred to the ball at release, with efficient energy transfer being aided by the pitcher releasing over a firm front side. A firm front side provides lower body stability for proper upper body positioning through release. This stability is achieved by extending the front knee from foot strike to release and is why knee extension angular velocity at release is correlated with pitching velocity and an important metric to examine in pitchers.

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Putting on the Brakes to Throw Gas… What is Lead Leg Block?

lead leg block

The lead leg block is the act of slowing down your body’s momentum with your lead leg at landing. In biomechanics, deceleration and the lead leg block can be represented by peak changes in angular velocity. Think about your car. The gas pedal represents your drive leg at the start of the pitching delivery (power output) and the brakes represent your lead leg’s role at foot contact (power absorption and transfer of force).  Let’s cover this in three parts:

    • Why is it Important to be Good at Decelerating?
    • What We Look For?
    • How We Address Lead Leg Block Issues?

Continue reading “Putting on the Brakes to Throw Gas… What is Lead Leg Block?”

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How to Increase Athleticism… Develop Efficient Movement

On any given day you can log into your daily feed on Twitter and scroll through a plethora of verbal grudge matches between strength coaches, pitching/hitting coaches and movement gurus arguing.  Yes, arguing and criticizing each other’s ideology about athletic performance and how to improve it. These verbal assaults are usually fueled by the fact that one individual’s concept, theory, protocol or whatever you choose to call it may not line up with another’s. In other words, “it’s different”.  For those of you that have the insight to be able to “discuss” and not argue, this blog is not targeting you, however you may want to come along for the ride. Continue reading “How to Increase Athleticism… Develop Efficient Movement”

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Pitching Biomechanics: 3 Factors in Kinematic Sequence

Pitching biomechanics

In conducting a pitching biomechanics evaluation and assessing a motion capture session, one of the most important things to examine is the kinematic sequence. This consists of the angular velocities and corresponding timing of the pelvis, torso, shoulder, and hand. These angular velocities can reach speeds upwards of 5000 º/s, and as such cannot be measured through standard 2-D video analysis thus requiring a 3-D motion capture system. This simple graph below off our Qualisys Motion Capture system is key to determining how efficiently an athlete is transferring energy from the ground up, through their body, and into the ball.

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Why the Baseball Spin Axis Is Important for Pitchers

baseball spin axis

The Rapsodo Pitching camera provides an incredible amount of information by pitch type.  Just as relevant, however, is how each individual pitch behaves versus the others.  In evaluating our pitcher’s ball movement charts, we generally work with them to develop what we refer to as “clusters”. They form when a pitcher can consistently repeat the baseball spin axis and direction by pitch type. Continue reading “Why the Baseball Spin Axis Is Important for Pitchers”

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A Pitching Biomechanical Evaluation to Create Better Fixes

By Nunzio Signore (Owner/Operator RPP)

pitching biomechanics

Pitching is a MOVEMENT and should be analyzed as such. In a pitching biomechanical evaluation such as a mocap assessment that we use here at RPP, there are many important metrics.  Specifically there are timing and angular velocity issues that you can’t see with the same amount of accuracy when using a static assessment or 2D video analysis.  Knowing WHEN these movements are happening at various points in the delivery, and for certain metrics the SPEEDS at which they are happening, can be more telling than simply looking at static positions.

But, the value of the information, like every other piece of tech we utilize, is not in the numbers, but what we do with the information, in other words… the FIXES. This is where blending tech with great coaching can be a game changer. Continue reading “A Pitching Biomechanical Evaluation to Create Better Fixes”

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What to Ask When Selecting a Pitching Program

A few years ago, all you could expect from your pitching program was to help you with your mechanics. That’s just about what most people expected and looked for in a pitching program. Fortunately, times have changed. Today, pitching mechanics are only a piece of the overall puzzle.  There is much more to training pitchers than simply teaching them proper mechanics.  Whether you’re looking for an off-season pitching or throwing program, here are six questions you can ask pitching coaches and some guidance on what to look for… Continue reading “What to Ask When Selecting a Pitching Program”