Glove Side Connection

Recently I purchased a product for our pitching staff that I had gone back and forth about, and know many other coaches who have said and done the same. The Connection Ball, coined by Ron Wolforth and the Texas Baseball Ranch made it's way into our pitchers' bag this spring. I know a few pitching coaches off the top of my head who use this faithfully and others who won't touch it. For a while I'd been on the fence, but I had been look for a physical way that our pitchers could emulate strong glove sides. I'm not going to get into the "glove pull" or "glove blocking" debate, cause I don't necessarily teach either. What we talk about in our program, are strong glove sides and good spinal stability.

FYI, spinal stability doesn't have to mean a vertical torso at ball release. Two different cases of stability, one vertical and one not so vertical:

I'd say both of these guys are pretty good...

Watching video on Lee and Kluber show that although Lee [at ball release] is in the "pinky to armpit" position that some coaches teach, he doesn't get there using a pulling action. His glove side remains strong and firm:

Okay fine here's my [brief] take on "glove pull"...most of the time I think it's mistaken for a rotating glove side, that is actively brought towards the body during the stride phase of the pitching delivery [just before torso rotation]:

Because the stride phase overlaps so closely with torso rotation, some think it's that glove side "pull" that rotates the torso. When in fact, torso rotation and its timing is determined by factors such as a loaded/closed torso, disconnection of the hips [opening slightly sooner than the torso - shown above] and a flexed/stable leg at stride foot contact.

A glove side that strays away from the body during the delivery [specifically during torso rotation], will certainly effect the spinal stability of that pitcher, and vice versa:

Now how does all this relate to my original topic? If you've got a pitcher on your staff who struggles with his glove side...

Give him a physical modality or training tool to help correct this, verbal cues just don't cut it sometimes.

We plan to continue using this training tool in our program for the purpose of developing strong glove sides (see other uses here). If three different Cy Young Award winners all exhibit the same characteristic when it comes to their glove side, I'd say it's pretty vital to the successful development of a pitcher.

Until Next Time...

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