Pitching Magic

A guide for coaches who know nothing about the windmill delivery
but need to help their players or daughters become pitchers

Teaching kids how to pitch can be a terrifying experience for those without a background in fastpitch pitching. Many such coaches compare the experience to that of watching a magician do card tricks. The magician can obviously do it effortlessly, but how it gets pulled off is a mystery.

A novice coach may watch some experienced pitchers to try to learn how to teach a beginner. The coach will note the many different ways that pitchers begin their motion and the many ways they finish. What is harder to notice is that from roughly the time the ball is at its highest peak until it is released, for that half circle almost all of the top pitchers do things pretty much the same way. Doing things improperly during that half circle will reduce speed and accuracy. What comes before and after is just style that helps the individual pitcher execute the half circle properly.

It’s not magic for a 9 year old to be able to throw hard and accurately, but she needs to know the “tricks” more formally called “technique.”

This guide to teaching beginning pitching is a series of steps designed to promote good fundamental technique and to set the stage for the pitcher to be able to throw hard and accurately. The mechanics needed to throw accurately are presented in the context of what the ultimate pitching motion is, not in isolated exercises that can lead to simplistic habits that may be challenging to break later on. The mechanics related to throwing hard are included in every step from the very beginning.

The pitching mechanics are not rocket science but they must be well understood for an instructor to have a successful teaching experience with a beginning pitcher. There are four key concepts that have been described by many coaches in many ways. Here’s my take on them.

One is the weight shift. Many coaches talk about “leaning back” or similar terms and that indeed is a part of it. The effect of properly transferring the weight during the pitch is basically to generate some forward motion towards the batter with the entire body, then to be able to stop that movement so that much of that energy gets transferred through the arm and into the hand which then moves very fast.

Another concept is the circle plane. There is a line the runs from the pitcher to the target that is called the power line which will be described in more detail later. The circle plane (technically a half-circle plane) is defined by the path of the ball from the top of the circle until the bottom which is where the ball is released. The ball should stay above the power line for that entire time. If it does, there is a good chance that the ball will follow the power line towards the target. Of course poor release mechanics with the grip or the wrist could affect that, but that is the basic idea.

A third concept is creating space. This is often referred to as keeping the hips open. When the ball is on the power line, as it passes the hips there has to be a clear path. Having the hips at about a 45 degree angle will provide ample space for that to happen. If the hips turn to face the batter before the ball passes them, they will extend over the power line. Then in order to get the ball past, it has to move off the power line and the circle plane is interrupted leading to a loss of control. Pitchers use many techniques to create space such as pushing their butt out, leaning over or letting the ball drift from the power line. Any movement to the side is energy that is not directed towards the batter. This manual stresses efficiency in all the mechanics (which leads not only to better pitches, but fewer injuries).

The last main concept is the whip effect. When you snap a towel or crack a whip, the tip goes very fast when you time the pulling back of your wrist just right. The towel or whip itself adds nothing. Pitching is very much like that (one reason why softball pitchers can safely throw many more pitches in a weekend than can baseball pitchers). The energy comes from the legs and is guided by the shoulder. The elbow flexes and straightens out like the towel or whip does. While the muscles controlling the elbow do work to increase speed, the wrist is completely limp throughout the pitching motion and acts just like the tip of the towel or whip, snapping as the result of what the arm is doing, not due to the wrist itself.

The models used in the illustrations range from 2nd to 5th graders who were learning the steps when the pictures were taken. Videos of them doing the steps are available at www.pitchingmagic.info and the images and videos are copyrighted and used with the permission of their parents. Also included on the website are some videos of them doing the steps incorrectly so that you can see some of the common problems kids will run into as they are learning.

This is not a drill book. Pitching drills are designed to help pitchers with specific issues they are having with their motion. While many of these exercises can be used as drills, they are presented here as part of a sequential process for learning how to pitch. A good source for drills is John Tschida’s DVD Mega Pitching Drills, available from Championship Productions. There are some drills included at the end of this manual as well.

The philosophy behind this manual is that kids should be exposed to the concepts of weight transfer and arm whip from the very beginning and that building muscle memory is very important. As such the first 17 steps are done without a ball. The next 2 allow the pitcher to hold a ball, but not release it. The next 6 allow the pitcher to release the ball, but must be done with her eyes closed. Finally the pitcher is allowed to see the result of what she has been doing.

The motion built is one that encompasses a very efficient use of the body parts used in a pitch. The fewer number of things that can go wrong enables a pitcher to be more consistent during the pressure of a game.

There are a couple of definitions that need to be explained before the first step. The first one is the “Power Line”. This is just a line drawn from the tips of the pitcher’s toes when in the “K” position (to be defined later) to the target. Another is “Feet at 45“. Most of the steps start with the pitcher’s feet at a 45 degree angle to the power line, pointing half way between third base and home plate (first and home for a lefty). “Open”, “Closed”, “Fully Open” and “45 Open”are also used. “45 Open” means that the hips and shoulders are at a 45 degree angle to the power line, so that a righty would facing half way between third base and home. “Closed” is when the hips and shoulders are directly facing home, perpendicular to the power line. “Fully Open” would be the hips being parallel to the power line, directly facing third base. “Open”, is the angle of the hips when the pitch is released and lies somewhere between “Fully Open” and “45 Open.” Another term is “Target.” This is the spot where ultimately the pitch will be thrown. For beginners this is generally the middle of home plate, but by referring to a “Target” as opposed to home plate will help the pitcher gain the discipline of aiming for a very small spot.

This method is written in such a way that a parent or a coach with no particular pitching expertise can instruct a child to have sound fundamental technique and do beginning pitching effectively. Having sound fundamental technique will allow a pitcher who later starts lessons with a qualified pitching coach to be able to work on more advanced skills quicker than if some bad habits had to be corrected first.

My experience when coaching a girl who has been allowed to throw for a few years without using the whip effect fully will have great difficulty changing that habit. In the beginning, before the timing and coordination of all the body parts to make the whip effective, pitchers who rely on their upper body strength will usually pitch faster pitches than those who are trying to get the whip to work. Even girls who are starting to have an effective whipping action will often revert back to the upper body approach during a season as they feel they are throwing harder. They are indeed working harder, but the pitches are slower, something they will only believe by showing the readings on a speed gun.

There are many written and video resources on pitching instruction. Unlike hitting and fielding, the technique used by today’s top pitchers is very much the same as it was 20 years ago. What has changed very dramatically has been the understanding of what pitchers are doing in the last half circle before releasing the ball. The advent of high speed, high quality video uncovered that many techniques long thought to be fundamental and taught to virtually every college pitcher (and older) that is pitching today are quite different than what the pitcher actually does while pitching.

Many pitchers used to be taught that a good way to increase speed would be to lock the arm out during the circle so that the ball would be traveling in a bigger arc and therefore moving more rapidly. Most pitchers were taught that in the last half circle the thumb should be down with the ball facing second base. Every pitcher was taught the importance of a powerful wrist snap. Today’s college pitchers are great natural athletes and in spite of what they learned, their instincts took over to have an efficient motion – the elbow is flexed, the ball faces third base and the wrist “snaps” after the ball is released. Virtually every pitcher I have taken video of is shocked to see that their technique is not at all what they learned and practiced so hard to perfect. Some even chalk it up to their technique having slipped since the last pitched competitively years earlier.

The philosophy of this manual is that every step in learning, every warm up exercise and every drill should be as close to real pitching as possible, so the beginners are taught the elbow flex and ball facing 3rd so that they don’t have to figure it out later on their own. Tschida in his DVD mentions that the snap comes after the release, but then he goes on to show a lot of wrist snap drills. However since it adds no value to the pitch, the 10 minutes a day spent doing wrist work could be more efficiently used on other parts of the delivery.

In going through the steps, do not rush through each step. A good rule of thumb would be that the first 17 steps, those without a ball, should take about four to six 60 to 90 minutes sessions. In general the pitcher should work on each step until you as the instructor are satisfied with the execution, then do 20 in a row where you are satisfied with each of them (or at least 18 of them).

The sessions should be scheduled at least several days apart so the kids can practice what they have learned. Ideally you should present several steps at one session, then have her pass a test at the next session by executing those steps to your satisfaction. The benefit of testing at the following sessions is that the girls will be much more motivated to work on their own between sessions.

Now, if you are a 10U coach and it’s 2 weeks before the season and nobody on your team has ever tried pitching before, you need to move through fairly quickly. When you have gone through step 11, you should have a good idea as to who is showing some aptitude and deserves to continue on with a smaller group of more advanced kids.

This manual is written with the references to “left” and “right” being appropriate for a right handed pitcher. A .pdf version of the manual with all the references reversed is available at www.pitchingmagic.info

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