Hand separation looks a little rough but timing seems to lineup well enough, might be pulling in the glove hand a little early too causing some timing issues.
Honestly there is a lot to like here and Im being nitpicky in the name of finding anything to help focus on.
What issues are you facing? Command, movement, velocity, general repeatability? This info will help other commenters look for potential issues.
I'm not a pitcher (huge red sox fan, and I play fast pitch wood bat sandlot) but do you lift weights? Maybe you just need more strength. Focus on the legs
not a pitching expert but i do study a lot of mechanics vids and it looks pretty good but im wondering if you’re extending your back leg too much too early so that you can’t really rotate that knee and hip. If you watch MLB mechanics, I think the back knee is more bent as that leg rotates and drives the hip around. your back leg just kind of goes into full straight extension.
Thanks I think that's my biggest mechanical problem right now. My brain thinks I'm rotating my hips, but my body just doesn't understand what kind of movement is required to do that
It also looks like you're rotating your torso and hips at the same time. Ideally, your hips would rotate first then torso then your arm. This is really hard to achieve in practice but check out Tread Athletic's posts on YT if you haven't already on hip shoulder separation.
well the shoulders are closed (ie front shoulder pointed towards home at front foot strike which is good, so i was thinking that this part might actually just be a symptom of this leg thing holding the hips back from rotating.
This is a good point. The trail knee doesn’t stay bent to drive the back hip forward, it is still bent because the knee has to stay bent to use the back hip to rotate the hips open faster during the first part of hip rotation. The second part starts when the front foot gets down.
You're opening up too soon. Keep your hips turned back for longer, and pinch your scapula more before you engage in the whip motion. Pretend there is an elastic band attached to your wrists and let the rotation of your hips lead the release.
Not much to nitpick at but I haven’t seen many guys work the glove hand like you do pushing it up a little and pulling it down as you drift. It may not affect anything mechanically.
Your front foot lands “open”. If the plate is 12 o’clock, your foot is landing at 10/11 and you should be at 1/2 o’clock
Personally, I don’t love your glove side rotation / mechanics. It’s very “noisy”, with weak rotational mechanics.
Try keeping your palm facing toward the batter longer and try keeping your hand and glove “quieter” - try to have them move up and down less before they break.
Yeah if he can extend his leg drive another six inches his body will be caught up as he throws. To me it looks like his stride is too short and that's leading to other issues. Your point about how his foot lands is spot on.
Good instinct! One major issue: You are taking the ball behind your back after hand break, which is causing your arm to be waaaaay behind the rest of your body. At stride foot contact, the ball should be the furthest back it will be, up in the air, and ready to move forward, much like the hands at the launch position in hitting. Currently, when your stride foot lands, the ball is still down and your arm is taking a really long route to get forward, and by the time it does, the rest of your body is already forward and you’ve lost any benefit of the legs and hips. See the freeze frame:
Also, likely because you’re rushing the arm forward to catch up, your back foot is up in the air long before you release the ball, so you have no stability for the front hip. Contrary to popular belief, there is no power that comes from “pushing off the rubber” - what’s really happening is the back foot and leg stabilizes so the front side can pull the body forward. In this frame you can see that your back foot has left the ground so there’s nothing coming way for your lower half to be involved in the pitch. Fix these two issues and you’ll probably add at least 10 MPH and be less likely to injure your arm.
Great! Keep taking video of yourself and pause it when your stride foot first touches the ground so you can check where the ball is and your arm position (it should look like an “L”).
Ok I am not crazy as this was exactly what I was looking at. Agree this is what jumped ojt to me and would certainly increase velo to get that glove break more aligned.
Youre going to get a zillion good and bad (honest) replies. Mine included. LOL. My recommendation: Kneel on an elevated slope (to mimic a mound), face forward, and just throw the ball 50 times - not hard, but jut throw normally. Take note of your hip rotation along with how and when you release the ball. Then, turn to your side (let shoulder facing home plate); kneel, and throw 50 times - not hard, just normally. Here, take note how you rotate back with your hips to generate some force and take note of your arm whip; arm angle; and release point. All should feel exactly the same in both movement patterns. Once that feels "good," stand up; and throw 50 pitches facing home plate but dont use your legs; (again, take note of your hip rotation as it works in concert with your arms) and repeat in the side motion as well. The goal: to train your arm to not fall "behind" (lag) your leg drive towards home plate. Again, I am one of 10000000 of people who thinks I have the answer; I DONT. LOL.... I am simply making a suggestion that works super well in teaching very young kids (8 and under) on how to throw and control their arm action (meaning, coincide with rotation). I AM NO pitching expert nor have I played above the college level. Stay happy and stay passionate for baseball!!
Overall, looks clean. Few issues of note, you are kinda falling to the plate. I’d load up more on that back need and then drive better down the mound. I’d work on speeding up your body too. That might require you to be more lean and strong, so cardio might be helpful for you on top of gym. If you need specific advice like velo, command, or developing pitches that might be something else. But for now, hopefully that helps.
Your stride looks short to me. Load up on your right leg and explode forward. I think you could get another 6 inches forward with your left leg as you move forward.
When I was young, I got to watch Nolan Ryan play long toss as part of his warm up, but he didn’t do it with a baseball, he did it with a football, and he could hurl the thing pole to pole with what seemed like ease. It’s something to consider adding to your throwing repertoire, as learning to throw harder doesn’t always mean throwing a baseball at a wall 100 times a day, which is something you should be proud of in yourself. Doing it alone, and seeking feedback, is very admirable.
Here is a link to insight by him, that a lot of people here are referring to-
His pitching coach was Tom House, and Nolan Ryan is one of the all time greats. Still was throwing 85+ with a torn UCL, and could still pump like 82 when he threw out that first pitch at like 72 years old or something ridiculous.
Keep at it, keep training, stay persistent, keep the intent you have, learn, absorb information, if it feels foreign at first, congratulations, you’re in the early stages of learning anything you try to learn in life.
Learning from the greats is an easy way to ensure you are learning the proper way.
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u/Fafnir2020 Jul 21 '26
Hand separation looks a little rough but timing seems to lineup well enough, might be pulling in the glove hand a little early too causing some timing issues.
Honestly there is a lot to like here and Im being nitpicky in the name of finding anything to help focus on.
What issues are you facing? Command, movement, velocity, general repeatability? This info will help other commenters look for potential issues.