Improve Your Mechanics and Last Longer

By Dan Gazaway
If you have plans to play at a more competitive level as a pitcher, it is time to step it up and learn better mechanics. Proper mechanics will help you during the course of your pitching career because they will help you avoid injury. Proper mechanics have also helped pitchers experience less fatigue in a game because they are using more of their body to get the explosive power it takes to generate a good fastball. Here are just a few mechanical tips that will help point you in the right direction.

Explode to foot strike! This means that you don't move down the hill like a tortoise. Many pitchers will go so slow to foot strike that they gather very little momentum. Momentum is what creates an explosive fastball and good movement on all of your pitches. As you continue reading this article you will find additional tips that will help you get to foot strike faster without putting undue stress on your throwing arm.

If you want to throw faster you must take a stride not a step! In order to establish that explosiveness you want in your delivery, it is imperative that you lead with your hips. This means if you were to lift your leg, your hips lead the way, not your knee. If your knee leads the way you are taking more of a step than a stride. This will slow things down for you.

In order to keep optimal balance toward home plate, it is also imperative to keep your head over your center line until your front foot hits the ground. Balance is what creates control and velocity. Okay, you need to have explosive movements as well. But, you also want to make sure that all of your momentum is going in the right direction and that is straight forward. What you don't want to do is lean back or lean too far forward creating lack of balance.

The last tip of the day is to make sure you keep balance on the balls of your feet. Many pitchers try and create momentum when they lift their leg up, pushing them back toward first base if they are a righty. If they are a lefty their head will go toward third. When this happens the weight of their body goes back and they lose their balance instantly. It is important that your weight (momentum) go toward home plate throughout your delivery.

If you want to learn how to pitch like a professional athlete you need to adopt the right pitching mechanics. Your career will last longer if you do.

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