Step 2

Closing

Start in the same stance as step 1.. Push the ball of the right foot into the ground to provide the energy to move the body forward. Let the right foot come forward, dragging the toe (the actual toe, not the ball of the foot) along the power line so that you end up on the actual toe, the right knee is slightly flexed and is pointing to the batter and the hips and shoulders have turned from the 45 degree angle to face the batter. As the hips and shoulders begin to rotate into the closed position, plant the left heel on the ground and straighten the left leg.

The difficult part of this step is making sure that the energy to move the body comes from pushing the right foot into the ground, not from pulling the shoulders forward with the left leg. It is very hard to observe whether this is happening or not. One thing to look for is if the right shoe gets a crease in it or not. If there is no crease, the chances are that the left leg is doing most of the work. We want the right leg to do all the work.

The hips and shoulders must remain on top of each other, so that they turn to face the batter together.

Note that the right toe is dragged along the ground. Some shoe companies make pitchers shoes that are reinforced in the right big toe area so they don’t wear out so quickly.

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