Baseball - Throwing Mechanics

Biomechanical Comparison of Baseball Pitching Among Various Levels of Development

Fleisig GS, Barrentine SW, Zheng N, Excamilla RF, Andrews JR. Kinematic and kinetic comparison of baseball pitching among various levels of development. Journal of Biomechanics 32(12):1371-1375, 1999.

Fleisig G, Chu Y, Weber A, Andrews J. Variability in baseball pitching biomechanics among various levels of competition. Sports Biomech 8(1):10-21, 2009.

Stodden DF, Fleisig GS, Langendorfer SJ, Andrews JR. Kinematic constraints in overarm throwing: part I: step and trunk actions. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 77(4):417-427, 2006.

Stodden DF, Fleisig GS, Langendorfer SJ, Andrews JR. Kinematic constraints in overarm throwing: part II: upper extremity actions. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 77(4):428-436, 2006.

Dun S, Fleisig GS, Loftice J, Kingsley D, Andrews JR. The relationship between age and baseball pitching kinematics in professional baseball pitchers. Journal of Biomechanics 40:265-270, 2007.

Methods

A number of studies were conducted, comparing pitching and throwing mechanics among all levels from three-year-old children up to 34-year-old professionals.

Results

There were significant changes in body and arm mechanics from the young children learning (3 yrs old and up) to throw up to young youth baseball players (up to 15 yrs). There was a progression from pushing the ball while facing flat-foot throwing to stride and body rotation.

Among youth, high school, college, and professional pitchers, the general motion patterns were similar but joint force and torque increased significantly with level. Joint velocities were faster for the college and pro pitchers than for the youth and high school athletes. Within-pitcher variability from pitch-to-pitch was greatest in youth pitchers. Data from these studies suggest that a pitcher should learn proper mechanics early, and gain strength and fitness as he matures physically.

In a comparison of young pro pitchers (18-20 years old) were compared to veteran pro pitchers (27-34 years old). At foot contact, the younger group had a longer stride, more open pelvic orientation, and more open trunk orientation. In addition, the younger group displayed greater flexibility at the joints by having greater shoulder external rotation and tilt at ball release. Despite significant differences in 6 position variables, body segment velocities and ball velocity showed no significant differences. The results of this study propose that pitchers undergo biological changes and alter pitching mechanics to maintain similar ball velocity throughout one's career. It is possible that these changes help reduce injury risk for aging pitchers.