How the Hips Compare in Pitching and Hitting

One of our students recently asked us a great question: why is it that in pitching we emphasize the hips moving in a linear fashion and the hand getting through first, but in hitting the hips rotate through and the hands lag behind? Watch today’s video for an explanation.

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1 Comments

  1. Joe Bonyai on January 18, 2013 at 1:49 PM

    I’m going to clarify for fitness professionals and biomechanically-enthusiastic coaches: Coach Phil is NOT saying there is no rotational movement of the lower/upper torso in windmill pitching. If that was the case, a righthanded pitcher would finish with their chest and navel pointed toward the third base dugout. However, emphasizing rotational movement from the hips/lower torso following stride-foot contact IS detrimental to mechanics, causing the front-side to fly open (similar flaw to frontside mechanics in batting, golf and baseball pitching) which causes the throwing arm to veer from it’s optimal runway, which I should mention will put more stress on the elbow and shoulder, specifically the medial (inside) side of the elbow, anterior shoulder (biceps+tendon) and shoulder labrum, DURING the delivery phase.