Ideal way to throw a baseball or softball?
Speaking in regards to human anatomy and the laws of physics, what is the ideal way to throw and object (e.g. baseball or softball). Obviously different people will have different styles, but this question is asking what is best for most people. Good sources would be great, especially medical journals or something similar.
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Obviously, elbow bent and an arm angle between and ribs and arm greater than 93 degrees.
What ever the forearm does, what ever the trunk does, the angle between the biceps and triceps arm part and your ribs must always be greater than 93degrees.
Why? Simply do it yourself. Let’s split the arm in two section: forearm will be front and the rest back. Place your arm in a 90 degree angle between back part and front part. Now the back part must be about 90 degrees from your rib cage. Let the palm face in front of you. Now you should look like this:
O
l
BBBB—l
BBBB
The b being your trunk. the rest your arm. The O is your hand.
Now rotate you arm ( back and front parts) onto the axle created by your shoulders and arm back part. Rotate back and forth. Do it quickly. Now you are mimicking what happens when you pitch a baseball. Lower your arm back part and continue to swing like you do while your lower it.
If you are used to feel your muscles and aware enough of your body, you must have noticed how much the tension increases in your deltoids as you lower. It’s because you are actually applying a lever effect to your shoulder which pushes it upward as you make a throwing action under the shoulder.
The elbow bent prevents locking and tendons hyper extension.
Now, you know that your elbow must be bent, that your arm back part must be at 90 deg or greater from your rib cage, you can do what ever you want with the trunk and forearm as long as these remains consistent.
Softball motion, is lesser efficient as you can’t create as much kinetic energy from your stride and you can’t compensate with a arm whip. Even though you shouldn’t try to swing only from your arm at any moment, it has to be mentioned that there is no possible way to create as much speed as with the baseball motion which allows a way greater stride.
Lincecum is the best full-body thrower of the whole MLB with by far the best weight/power ratio; the 170pounds and 5′-10′ pitcher pitch a superhuman 2 seams fastball at 96mph. I say superhuman because no MLB pitcher throws a 2 seam this fast; they rather throw 4 seams which breaks the air easier as more seams cuts the air. This kid strides for 123% of his body length in average. Between 85 and 89 inches. Normal pitchers, even being some 3 inches taller at least, get around 77inches.
I rarely see a softball pitcher even getting his/her own length.
This stride is the root of the pitching power as you use it to pivot the shoulder at landing which swings your arm. Pitchers usually make a sudden stop or rather a sudden slow-down which last about 0.2seconds according Dr Mike Marshall. I state 0.2 seconds which is the average power appliance time. After you arm has got into the release, your body can move again.
So, the ideal motion is a fastball thrown in a baseball motion, not submarine, thrown with a great stride, onto the full win-up position. You can use any arm slot, anything as long as you don’t go submarine because it can commit you to place your shoulder in a risky position.
I was going to answer this question but I fell asleep after reading proteach’s …………………..