Different Pitching Arm Slots

Grab your phone and sign in Different Pitching Arm Slots to a great online casino today. More than generous new player bonuses get you going with up to $7000 in cash bonuses. And so much more: free spins, tournaments, unbelievably sophisticated slots or a simple hand of 5-card draw poker. The point being, that there are many different slots for different kinds of pitchers. In most cases, arm angle at delivery is a 'non-teach' unless the pitcher has been put in an unnatural position. When the issue is addressed, the first step must be to help the pitcher find his natural position.

In my last article on pitching drills I talked about how most pitching drills are not only a waste of time, but in some cases can actually be counterproductive. In fact, there are a lot of drills out there that will do nothing but ingrain mechanical habits that work against you in your efforts to increase velocity and consistency.

An effective pitching drill should address at least two of the Big Three Components of a good pitching delivery: Balance, Timing and Power

The pitching delivery is a complex chain of movements, with a lot of moving parts. And it's important that each movement, each segment in this chain, is tightly linked, with one movement leading to the next in a well synchronized and fluid fashion. Good drills can help train these movements, but unfortunately most fall well short of training movement patterns that actually translate well to the pitching delivery. So as follow-up to my last article, I've decided to highlight some of my least favorite pitching drills…

Too many drills teach specific 'points' in the pitching motion instead of focusing on movements

Pitching Arm Bands

The 1 Knee Drill: Here the pitcher works on throwing from one knee with his stride leg out in front of him. I think the purpose is to isolate the upper half and work on finishing across the front leg. But in reality it teaches collapsing the front knee, which is exactly what you DON'T want to do when you pitch. See an article I wrote on the importance of bracing up with your front knee.

The Balance Drill: This is where the pitcher lifts his leg and pauses at the top before making a pitch. There are many variations, but the most common one has the pitcher hold the leg lift for a count of three before making his pitch. Early momentum is critical for maximizing power in your delivery. If you look at major league pitchers, especially the hardest throwers and guys with long successful track records, they begin moving towards home plate early their leg lift. Pausing at the top kills momentum, disrupts timing, and reduces velocity.

The Even Worse Variation of the Balance Drill: I don't know what you call this one, but I saw it the other day and my jaw just about hit the floor. Here the pitcher not only holds the leg lift, but he actually is supposed to start with his arm up ready to throw. This is not at all where you want your arm to be at this stage in your delivery! This drill not only kills momentum, but actually seems to purposely get your arms and legs out of sync… baffling. More than any other drill I've seen, this one goes completely against developing good arm action and timing in your pitching delivery.

The 2 Step Drill: This is where the pitcher begins motion, strides out towards home plate and then pauses at front foot plant (again the emphasis is on getting the arms up). He then restarts his motion to throw from the power position. This looked like an innocent enough drill when I first saw it. But after watching young pitchers who performed this drill for years, I noticed their deliveries looked completely robotic and mechanical. This drill effectively trains a hitch into your motion that interferes with the efficient transfer of momentum you get from a fluid, explosive pitching delivery.

The Bucket Drill: here the pitcher starts with his lead foot propped up on a bucket in his leg lift (again starting from a position with no momentum). Then the pitcher has to make his pitch and focus on not kicking the bucket over with his back foot. Theoretically this teaches good follow through and not dragging the back leg. Two more big problems with this: 1) the follow through should be more a byproduct of a good delivery, not the focus, and 2) pitchers don't all need to stride exactly the same way. This one falls into the category of drills that teach cookie cutter mechanics, which brings me to my next point…
[h5]Avoid drills that teach Cookie Cutter Mechanics![/h5]

Take a look at any large sample of big league pitchers and it's pretty easy to see there a lot of different ways to get it done. You'll see all sorts of different pitching styles, different deliveries, different arm slots, etc.

So again, only use drills that are designed to address the Big Three Components of good pitching delivery: Balance, Timing and Power. Dump any drills that have you pause in your delivery or focus on getting to specific points in your motion. Remember, the pitching delivery is a complex chain of movements, so only use drills that train those movements!
[hr]

In a tip of the hat to this year's Cy Young winners, I thought it would be fun to look at some things we can learn from how each of these pitchers throw their curveball…

NL winner Clayton Kershaw is widely considered to have the nastiest curveball in the game (hard to argue against that). On the other hand, AL winner Max Scherzer is known more for his blazing fastball (along with a great changeup and slider), but credits much of his recent success to having added a curveball to his arsenal… mainly as something that gives him another weapon for keeping lefties off balance.

[h5]High Arm Slot or Low Arm Slot – Which is Best?[/h5]

Rather than going into a lot of detail, examining all the statistics, my goal here is just to take a look at some of the similarities and key differences between how these two pitchers throw their curveballs. And when you look at them, the first thing that jumps out at you is the big difference in their arm slots.

Kershaw is much more that over-the-top, high arm slot guy that most people associate with throwing a nasty 12-6 curveball. Scherzer, on the other hand, has a very low 3/4 arm slot. And this is probably a big reason he's been more of a fastball, slider, changeup guy for most his career. But what you see with pitchers like him is that, while you probably won't get true 12-6 break, you can still throw a good curveball without a high arm slot (see Doug Fister).

One mistake a lot of young pitchers make is thinking they need to throw over the top in order to throw a good curveball. And this can lead to all sorts of issues…

Let's say your natural fastball arm slot is a 3/4 or low 3/4 arm slot. And this is the way your body is used to pitching – it's been programmed to move, balance and stabilize through your pitching delivery with the exact demands placed on it by that arm slot… What do you think happens if you then change your slot to get on top of your curveball?

You end up with a loss of balance in your delivery, instability and timing issues.

Not to mention that hitters can pick up on it because the pitch is coming out of a completely different window than your fastball. The thing to remember when it comes to throwing a good curveball is that it's all about hand position and wrist position. That and getting over the ball with a strong middle finger will get you that good downward break on the ball.

Bottom line: There's no one right arm slot that's best for every pitcher. Go with what comes naturally and works best for YOU!

An effective pitching drill should address at least two of the Big Three Components of a good pitching delivery: Balance, Timing and Power

The pitching delivery is a complex chain of movements, with a lot of moving parts. And it's important that each movement, each segment in this chain, is tightly linked, with one movement leading to the next in a well synchronized and fluid fashion. Good drills can help train these movements, but unfortunately most fall well short of training movement patterns that actually translate well to the pitching delivery. So as follow-up to my last article, I've decided to highlight some of my least favorite pitching drills…

Too many drills teach specific 'points' in the pitching motion instead of focusing on movements

Pitching Arm Bands

The 1 Knee Drill: Here the pitcher works on throwing from one knee with his stride leg out in front of him. I think the purpose is to isolate the upper half and work on finishing across the front leg. But in reality it teaches collapsing the front knee, which is exactly what you DON'T want to do when you pitch. See an article I wrote on the importance of bracing up with your front knee.

The Balance Drill: This is where the pitcher lifts his leg and pauses at the top before making a pitch. There are many variations, but the most common one has the pitcher hold the leg lift for a count of three before making his pitch. Early momentum is critical for maximizing power in your delivery. If you look at major league pitchers, especially the hardest throwers and guys with long successful track records, they begin moving towards home plate early their leg lift. Pausing at the top kills momentum, disrupts timing, and reduces velocity.

The Even Worse Variation of the Balance Drill: I don't know what you call this one, but I saw it the other day and my jaw just about hit the floor. Here the pitcher not only holds the leg lift, but he actually is supposed to start with his arm up ready to throw. This is not at all where you want your arm to be at this stage in your delivery! This drill not only kills momentum, but actually seems to purposely get your arms and legs out of sync… baffling. More than any other drill I've seen, this one goes completely against developing good arm action and timing in your pitching delivery.

The 2 Step Drill: This is where the pitcher begins motion, strides out towards home plate and then pauses at front foot plant (again the emphasis is on getting the arms up). He then restarts his motion to throw from the power position. This looked like an innocent enough drill when I first saw it. But after watching young pitchers who performed this drill for years, I noticed their deliveries looked completely robotic and mechanical. This drill effectively trains a hitch into your motion that interferes with the efficient transfer of momentum you get from a fluid, explosive pitching delivery.

The Bucket Drill: here the pitcher starts with his lead foot propped up on a bucket in his leg lift (again starting from a position with no momentum). Then the pitcher has to make his pitch and focus on not kicking the bucket over with his back foot. Theoretically this teaches good follow through and not dragging the back leg. Two more big problems with this: 1) the follow through should be more a byproduct of a good delivery, not the focus, and 2) pitchers don't all need to stride exactly the same way. This one falls into the category of drills that teach cookie cutter mechanics, which brings me to my next point…
[h5]Avoid drills that teach Cookie Cutter Mechanics![/h5]

Take a look at any large sample of big league pitchers and it's pretty easy to see there a lot of different ways to get it done. You'll see all sorts of different pitching styles, different deliveries, different arm slots, etc.

So again, only use drills that are designed to address the Big Three Components of good pitching delivery: Balance, Timing and Power. Dump any drills that have you pause in your delivery or focus on getting to specific points in your motion. Remember, the pitching delivery is a complex chain of movements, so only use drills that train those movements!
[hr]

In a tip of the hat to this year's Cy Young winners, I thought it would be fun to look at some things we can learn from how each of these pitchers throw their curveball…

NL winner Clayton Kershaw is widely considered to have the nastiest curveball in the game (hard to argue against that). On the other hand, AL winner Max Scherzer is known more for his blazing fastball (along with a great changeup and slider), but credits much of his recent success to having added a curveball to his arsenal… mainly as something that gives him another weapon for keeping lefties off balance.

[h5]High Arm Slot or Low Arm Slot – Which is Best?[/h5]

Rather than going into a lot of detail, examining all the statistics, my goal here is just to take a look at some of the similarities and key differences between how these two pitchers throw their curveballs. And when you look at them, the first thing that jumps out at you is the big difference in their arm slots.

Kershaw is much more that over-the-top, high arm slot guy that most people associate with throwing a nasty 12-6 curveball. Scherzer, on the other hand, has a very low 3/4 arm slot. And this is probably a big reason he's been more of a fastball, slider, changeup guy for most his career. But what you see with pitchers like him is that, while you probably won't get true 12-6 break, you can still throw a good curveball without a high arm slot (see Doug Fister).

One mistake a lot of young pitchers make is thinking they need to throw over the top in order to throw a good curveball. And this can lead to all sorts of issues…

Let's say your natural fastball arm slot is a 3/4 or low 3/4 arm slot. And this is the way your body is used to pitching – it's been programmed to move, balance and stabilize through your pitching delivery with the exact demands placed on it by that arm slot… What do you think happens if you then change your slot to get on top of your curveball?

You end up with a loss of balance in your delivery, instability and timing issues.

Not to mention that hitters can pick up on it because the pitch is coming out of a completely different window than your fastball. The thing to remember when it comes to throwing a good curveball is that it's all about hand position and wrist position. That and getting over the ball with a strong middle finger will get you that good downward break on the ball.

Bottom line: There's no one right arm slot that's best for every pitcher. Go with what comes naturally and works best for YOU!

Okay, enough talk… Let's take a look at those curveballs!

[h4] Clayton Kershaw's High Arm Slot Curveball[/h4]

Not much to say about this one – the hitter's reaction says it all…

Different Pitching Arm Slots Videos

One of the things that makes Kershaw's curve so effective, again, is that he throws it from the same slot as his fastball. He's not trying to manipulate the ball by doing something totally different with his hand and arm action. He gets on the side of the ball and finishes it off by getting over it with a strong middle finger.

One special note: Despite how devastating his curveball is (hitters have batted less than .100 against his curve it the last 2 seasons), Kershaw only throws it 12.5% of the time. It's a put-away pitch, something he uses to finish guys off and get out of jams. And having that good curveball in his back pocket makes his fastball that much more effective – hitters have to respect it.

Rule #1 for throwing a good curveball: Always develop a good fastball!

[h4] Max Scherzer's Low Arm Slot Curveball[/h4]

With the curveball shown from behind the mound, notice how Scherzer was able to get that good downward action on the ball. The view seen on the next pitch, from behind the plate, isn't really his best curveball (he's actually a little late getting on the side of the ball), but you can see how he manages to get over the ball with his middle finger to get enough forward rotation and downward break.

Bottom line: it's not as nasty as Kershaw's 12-6, but having a good curveball has helped Scherzer go from being a very good pitcher to being one of the best in game. Here's an excerpt from an interview he did this summer with MLB Network:

Kenny: If you could pinpoint one thing that made you go from above-average to great, what would it be?

Scherzer: It's for me to be relying on the curveball this year. Left-handed hitters have always had a lot of success off me in the past, and it's because I've always been fastball/change-up to 'em, which allows them to sit on just two pitches. Something I tinkered with last year, of developing a curveball to disrupt the timing, I've gotten better at this year, so that I can be more consistent with it. And I really feel like I have a good three-pitch mix, to face left-handed hitters, and I feel like that's why I'm having so much more success.

Note: avoiding the problem of being 'late' with the curveball is one benefit of learning the right way to throw it early on – the older you get, the tougher it is to get used to throwing it with good hand and wrist position.

Pitching Arm Pain

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