The Wrist

[_MIA_]

If so.... this thread will turn very interesting, very fast.

I know what answer I am rooting for

 

[lostcreek1]

It is kinda odd how most everyone on this board is very anti wrist snaps for a drill warming up. Then you go to a tournament and almost every pitcher you see warming up does them. So the vast majority of the people out there instructing pitchers are teaching it. Even the ones that teach IR. The ones I know of around here that teach IR also have there students do wrist snaps. They may call them snaps sometimes and other times call it working on your spins but it is all the same action.

 

[Tatonka]

Then you go to a tournament and almost every pitcher you see warming up does them.

I'm going to disagree with this statement. Yes, it is happening but not quite to the same degree that it once was IMHO. There are still plenty of videos and old school PC's advocating them and of course a certain number of players (all age groups) will do them because they're easy, it looks like they are doing something and they can be chatty with their catcher/teammate. Sometimes the kid doing wrist snaps is actually pretty decent so I've had to learn not to stereotype. ;-)

Now, I'd like to hear more from the gurus about actually snapping or ripping the ball to increase spin rates vs letting the ball roll off the finger tips (with the energy being transferred thru the whip).

 

[lostcreek1]

I'm going to disagree with this statement. Yes, it is happening but not quite to the same degree that it once was IMHO. There are still plenty of videos and old school PC's advocating them and of course a certain number of players (all age groups) will do them because they're easy, it looks like they are doing something and they can be chatty with their catcher/teammate. Sometimes the kid doing wrist snaps is actually pretty decent so I've had to learn not to stereotype. ;-)

Now, I'd like to hear more from the gurus about actually snapping or ripping the ball to increase spin rates vs letting the ball roll off the finger tips (with the energy being transferred thru the whip).

In the 10u-12u ages around here it is over 75%.

 

[Tatonka]

In the 10u-12u ages around here it is over 75%.

Kinda figured you were referring to that age group...

 

[jdint]

Now, I'd like to hear more from the gurus about actually snapping or ripping the ball to increase spin rates vs letting the ball roll off the finger tips (with the energy being transferred thru the whip).

I am also interested in this. As far as I can tell, DD loses way to much speed when focusing on snapping. It does increase spin (talking fast ball/drop ball), and the ball will move a bit more, but the decrease in speed to too great.

Not saying this is universal to pitching in general, just my observation of DD.

 

[Hillhouse]

I still see wrist snaps a lot in the facilities where I do lessons here in the midwest. The funniest part is when I get a new student, I ask what their warm up routine is and when they say wrist flips in the beginning, I always ask why they do them. 99.99% don't come up with a good answer, they look at me like it's a crazy question... but then can't tell me what they're trying to accomplish.

That said, I know of a non-Hello Elbow coach around here who allows his students to do them. I think he lets them do it because they THINK it's helping them. I'll have to ask him why he lets that happen.

When I do my example of how silly it looks for a baseball pitcher to stick his arm straight up, lock his elbow and do "wrist snaps" everyone laughs but, I always ask "If it's silly for them, it's silly for us too, right?" (Everyone is free to use that example for yourselves, just give my humor the credit please!!! lol). Why don't baseball pitchers do this? Answer: becasue that's not how we throw the ball!! The elbow needs to be loose, relaxed, and whip in the pitch. So does a softball pitcher's. Teaching yourself to lock the arm is counterproductive, and it's hard to unlearn after someone has been doing it for a while.

 

[DNeeld]

Teaching yourself to lock the arm is counterproductive, and it's hard to unlearn after someone has been doing it for a while.

But . . . a lot of 12U pitchers do it at tournaments.

 

[Hillhouse]

But . . . a lot of 12U pitchers do it at tournaments.

Yes they do. And it's unfortunate that so many parents think that their kid is great at 12u will automatically be great at 16u, not understanding how wrong they are. 12u success doesn't mean 16u success, far from it.

 

[Tatonka]

Now, I'd like to hear more from the gurus about actually snapping or ripping the ball to increase spin rates vs letting the ball roll off the finger tips (with the energy being transferred thru the whip).

Asking this part of the question again. Some would say the ball is just rolling off the fingertips and all the energy has been transferred through the body/arm/fingers into the ball at release (and that trying to pull the ball (creating additional or directional spin) at that point in time is folly. Others say that you can add spin by ripping on the seams at that precise moment of release.

If you believe in teaching the latter (pulling up or across on the seams...how are you teaching that? What's your preferred drill? It has to be something more than the old "wrist snap" drill that started this thread? I believe in working with the ball and feeling the spins, seeing how much spin can be achieved, etc., and that any pitcher needs to handle the ball a lot. But again, to have a pitcher impart more spin on the ball upon release...what is your cue or preferred drill?