Still not convinced about forearm fire?

By Carly | February 17, 2014 |

Last week I accepted a university assistant coach position! The entire coaching staff has been changed over the last few weeks, so I had the opportunity to review a lot of prospective players’ videos. I definitely noticed a trend…

As with any large diverse group there was a lot of variation in level and style, but every pitcher I looked at appeared to have been taught the elbow to the catcher/”hello elbow” release style. Among them, a few things were consistent:

  • The ones who were truly obeying the taught principles of this release to a tee (wrist cocked entering the release zone with palm to the catcher, forced wrist snap, elbow to the catcher) were, at age 17 and 18, throwing slower than serious 12U students of forearm fire.
  • The ones who were delivering faster figured out how to whip their arms naturally and merely follow through into the elbow-to-catcher position out of habit after the ball is released. In many cases it’s likely they don’t even realize they’re whipping their arms, but they fell into it by relaxing and letting their bodies do what comes naturally.

I believe that elbow-to-the-catcher is still taught because it’s easier to learn and thus gets very young pitchers game-ready faster. But extensive evidence from my 12 years of coaching and more recent in-depth study of the physics of pitching truly supports that diligent students of this style who do not naturally figure out the arm whip will have their speed stunted somewhere around middle school.

If you’re just starting out, or are still waffling about making the switch to forearm fire, here are a few of our forearm fire resources:

Transitioning to forearm fire

More on forearm fire

Learning to whip when it doesn’t come naturally

A breakdown of arm and hand position

Posted in Advice and Strategy, Forearm Fire, Pitching Basics, Windmill Pitching and tagged

2 Comments

  1. jordan on March 17, 2014 at 1:00 PM

    congrats on the AC position. excellent observation on the “hello elbow” style. unfortunately, it is also very prevalent in my neck of the woods.

    what would the average speed of a middle school pitcher be throwing?



    • Carly on March 17, 2014 at 1:21 PM

      Thank you! Unfortunately there really is no average; softball competition across the country is so inconsistent. I’ve seen exceptional middle schoolers in certain areas nearing 60 already, and plenty getting away with low 40s and having reasonable success because of their competition.

      I would say it’s a good goal to be anywhere in the 50s by the end of middle school. Most high schools can make great use of that provided command of a few pitches is also there. That’s average; girls who want to pitch at a high ranked D1 school in college will likely be throwing in the 60s in high school.