The Pitching Details Most Parents Don’t See
If you didn’t grow up playing baseball, the small movements that shape a pitcher’s delivery can be hard to spot. Even if you did, one of the most common pitching tendencies happens in about a tenth of a second, and it doesn’t start with the throwing arm.
Pitching Mechanics Often Start With the Front Side
Angel Lugo first looks at what the rest of the body is doing, particularly the pitcher’s front side. Lugo has coached pitchers for more than two decades at Trugo16 Athletics in the Hudson Valley. He is a former pitching coach at Mount Saint Mary College and a USA Baseball NTIS Regional Scouting Director for the Northeast, where he evaluates players for regional and national team tryouts. Drafted by the Minnesota Twins as a shortstop in 1988, he spent five seasons in the minor leagues with the Twins, Marlins and Blue Jays as a position player before converting to pitching. That experience shaped his whole-body approach to evaluating a pitcher’s delivery.
“Nine times out of ten, it’s the front side,” Lugo says. “The kid wants to throw hard, so he opens up early, and now the arm is doing a job the body was supposed to do.”
What the Front Side Does in a Pitching Delivery
Stand up and pretend to throw a ball. The half of your body facing the target before you release is the front side: the front shoulder, front hip and front leg. Its job is to stay closed and pointed toward the target for as long as possible, then land and hold firm while the rest of the body rotates through. When it works, the body generates and transfers force, and the arm comes along with it. The arm is the last link in the chain.
What Happens When a Pitcher Opens the Front Side Too Early
The front shoulder opens toward the plate too early. The chest turns before the arm is ready. The arm gets left behind and has to catch up, creating what coaches often call “arm drag.” Two things can happen. The first is a loss of accuracy. A pitcher whose front side opens early loses the line to the plate, so the ball may run away from the target. The athlete may then try to steer the ball back, which can make the delivery even less efficient. The second is the additional work the arm has to absorb. When the body rotates ahead of the arm, the arm finishes the throw without fully benefiting from the force generated by the rest of the body. That inefficient sequence may place additional stress on a young pitcher’s arm.
Why Developing Pitchers Open Up Too Early
The athlete is often simply trying to throw harder. Opening the front side early feels powerful. It feels like you’re putting everything into the pitch. But it uses the body’s rotation before the arm can benefit from it, so the athlete works harder for less velocity and less control. At full speed, it may simply look like a pitcher throwing hard. The movement becomes much easier to see when the delivery is recorded and slowed down.How to Spot Early Front-Side Opening in a Pitcher
Record a few pitches on your phone from the side, roughly level with the mound. Slow the video down and pause at the moment the front foot lands. At that instant, the chest should not have fully opened toward the plate, and the throwing arm should not be substantially behind the rotation of the body.