Dr. Stockton's Baseball Tip of the Month

15 Common Denominators of ALL Effective Pitchers

• A pitcher should hide the ball from the hitter by placing the entire throwing hand in the glove.

• The first half of the motion should be slow and the second half much quicker.

• The pivot foot should slide diagonally or parallel to the front edge of the pitching rubber before the back foot comes off the ground.

• The glove side should and hip should rotate to form a straight line and home plate.

• As the glove side knee starts down, the throwing hand should separate from the glove.

• Following the break from the glove, the throwing arm should extend completely and quickly and the shove leg should collapse slightly in order to generate power in the motion.

• The pitcher should get a maximum shove off the rubber and a maximum snap of the hips.

• The throwing shoulder shouldn’t drag through the delivery; the pitcher should strive for quickness, getting the upper body “over the top” of the motion by the time the glove side foot lands.

• The pitcher should land on the flat portion of the stride foot, never on his heel.

• The stride foot should land so that it promotes maximum force from hips and shoulders to produce more power and control in the delivery.

• The throwing arm should be extended as the pitcher releases the ball.

• The throwing shoulder should follow through low and hard.

• The pitcher should take a mental picture of the target before making the delivery, and his eyes should concentrate on specific targets throughout the delivery.

• Most of the work load of the delivery should be placed on the legs and back, not on the arm.

• The pitcher’s delivery should be smooth, coordinated, and properly synchronized into a perfectly timed series of body movements. Every movement should be the same on each pitch unless the angle of delivery changes.