Weird pitching motion

[amarillo]

Okay guys there is a pitcher in our area that has a strange pitching motion I will see if I can descibe it and I was wondering if anybody had seen something like this before.... Left handed pitcher from the windup steps backward with his right foot and while it is back he turns his left foot but here is where it gets funky instead of any kind of hip turn or leg kick he just steps straight forward with his right foot he is the first pitcher seen in this linked video.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=2VMIVxTkKn0

[sdix00]

Okay guys there is a pitcher in our area that has a strange pitching motion I will see if I can descibe it and I was wondering if anybody had seen something like this before.... Left handed pitcher from the windup steps backward with his right foot and while it is back he turns his left foot but here is where it gets funky instead of any kind of hip turn or leg kick he just steps straight forward with his right foot he is the first pitcher seen in this linked video.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=2VMIVxTkKn0

Weird, but not illegal.

[Pops]

Okay guys there is a pitcher in our area that has a strange pitching motion I will see if I can descibe it and I was wondering if anybody had seen something like this before.... Left handed pitcher from the windup steps backward with his right foot and while it is back he turns his left foot but here is where it gets funky instead of any kind of hip turn or leg kick he just steps straight forward with his right foot he is the first pitcher seen in this linked video.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=2VMIVxTkKn0

Looks okay to me.

[Dragon29]

Concur - odd, but not illegal. Does he pitch funky from the stretch, too?

[mstaylor]

As Ripley says," Believe it or not." It is odd but legal.

[Rich Ives]

He's goinng to hurt himself - you need the torque from the hip turn.

[NovaScotiaBlue]

So correct me if I am wrong. Is he not disengaging with this motion and he now throwing to HP not pitching?

He steps back with his right foot and steps forward with his left that step with his left causes him to disengage from the pitching rubber does it not?

Like I said, correct me if I am wrong but I don't call that a pitch as per OBR.

[JamesC]

I don't think he's stepping with his left foot. He's using it just like any normal LHP would, just pushing off the pitching rubber! Very unorthodox though. Surely this guy knows he can't be getting his maximum velocity out of pitches without the torque behind it??

[Mr Umpire]

So correct me if I am wrong. Is he not disengaging with this motion and he now throwing to HP not pitching?

He steps back with his right foot and steps forward with his left that step with his left causes him to disengage from the pitching rubber does it not?

Like I said, correct me if I am wrong but I don't call that a pitch as per OBR.

I think the camera angle and distance makes it look worse.

[Mr Umpire]

Okay guys there is a pitcher in our area that has a strange pitching motion I will see if I can descibe it and I was wondering if anybody had seen something like this before.... Left handed pitcher from the windup steps backward with his right foot and while it is back he turns his left foot but here is where it gets funky instead of any kind of hip turn or leg kick he just steps straight forward with his right foot he is the first pitcher seen in this linked video.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=2VMIVxTkKn0

Perfectly legal. He takes his 1 step backward and 1 step forward per rule 8.01(a). Though he does do a little leg kick or turn his hips, he is not required to. Just a bad idea.

[Lefty]

I may be mistaken but I think a left hander by the name of Jim Kaat pitched like that. He pitched back in the 60's. He pitched in the World series for the Twins in 1965.

Lefty

[BigZigBlue]

I have had some discussions with some fellow umpires about two players that pitch like that but they have their pivot feet on top on the rubber and the kid just steps towards home plate. There is no side step or backward step it is just a straight throw. A few will call this a balk or illegal pitch because of the weirdness of it but we broke the pitch down and nothing can be determined for it to be illegal or a balk..

[dumbdumb]

Looks like he is taking a step towards the plate with his pivot foot to me, like he has just seen a guy break for home in his windup and starts taking off for home with his pivot foot but of course he does pitch. Also looks like that crow hop from fastpitch softball where you illegally jump in front of the rubber with the pivot foot and throw and the ump must be careful to catch this. This may be perfectly legal, but would love to see what some of the pro guys and Evans and Wendlestedt have in OBR if we could see this on the field in slow mo versus what it might be in National Federation.

As a second thought, where are the recent school guys to tell everyone what the plate umpire and base umpire are doing wrong to help the new guys. You do not take off your mask with both hands. You do not go up the line with it on. With a right hand batter it seems like you do not go behind the catcher to the right to go up the first base line, you go in front of him and follow the right handed batter-runner up the line. You do not take your mask off with your right hand. The base umpire does not turn his back on the batted ball. The base umpire does not turn his back on the thrown ball. You drift to first more for the back end of the double play. Even without the double play you move more towards first. Just some things from reading on this board that just don't look right to me. Maybe I have been reading wrong or just imaging things.

Where's MST and our recent school graduates (oops, that's right, I told them I thought it best to not post if they were going for a job). OK MST, I know you keep up with this stuff from pretty much all levels which includes keeping up with the way the schools teach it from the guys you know who go to the school.

[yawetag]

With a right hand batter it seems like you do not go behind the catcher to the right to go up the first base line, you go in front of him and follow the right handed batter-runner up the line.

I wasn't aware you did it differently for a left-handed batter.

[dumbdumb]

With a right hand batter it seems like you do not go behind the catcher to the right to go up the first base line, you go in front of him and follow the right handed batter-runner up the line.

I wasn't aware you did it differently for a left-handed batter.

The example I saw by running the whole video (which I am not re-running right now) showed that happening on a right handed batter so I quickly commented. Yes, I would assume if it is a left-handed batter you would also clear by passing around the front of the catcher also. If the plate umpire went behind with a left handed batter in the video and it got by me (which is easy to do) that was probably why I just made the comment about the right hander rather than mentioning left hander also. My bad, if that is still the mechanic taught at the schools that I have read about.

How about the other stuff from the base umpire that looked funny to me. Just asking. I just thought I would give the guys who have been to many many clinics, weekend training, 5 day training, and the schools themselves a chance to tell us what is taught. Just thought the brand new guys starting out could learn something if there were anything to my comments. Just wanted to try and help them get some training from you guys off the video examples. Now they should know to come out in front of the catcher on both a right handed batter and a left handed batter since you caught that I missed that. Thanks.

[NovaScotiaBlue]

Looks like he is taking a step towards the plate with his pivot foot to me, like he has just seen a guy break for home in his windup and starts taking off for home with his pivot foot but of course he does pitch. Also looks like that crow hop from fastpitch softball where you illegally jump in front of the rubber with the pivot foot and throw and the ump must be careful to catch this. This may be perfectly legal, but would love to see what some of the pro guys and Evans and Wendlestedt have in OBR if we could see this on the field in slow mo versus what it might be in National Federation.

Dumdumb, This is what I was getting at in my post as well See below...

NovaScotiaBlue, on 22 March 2011 - 09:13 AM, said:

So correct me if I am wrong. Is he not disengaging with this motion and he now throwing to HP not pitching?

He steps back with his right foot and steps forward with his left that step with his left causes him to disengage from the pitching rubber does it not?

Like I said, correct me if I am wrong but I don't call that a pitch as per OBR.