From what I have been hearing it causes kids to try and reach out really far and release the ball way out which is not exactly what you do when you pitch.
1. Because the towel is so light you would not achieve any type of physiological response. So from a training perspective it's pretty much useless
2. Some people say it teaches a pitcher to have the proper mechanics. It does not. In baseball pitching you want the continuous acceleration of the baseball and the Center of Mass of the body in straight lines (at least as straight as possible) The stride of the towel drill cause the COM to stop or if one does not believe that it causes you to bend at the waist to continue the forward movement of the COM. Bending at the waist causes you to lower your COM and you appply force in an arc rather than a straight line. You want to stay as tall as possible and rotate if you want to achieve maximum release velocity. Figure skaters stay tall and rotate at the end of their routines for maximum rotation
2. You are able to apply force toward home plate to the extent that you can apply force toward second base (Newton's Law of Reaction). The stride of the towel drill does not allow you to apply force toward second base with the glove side foot.
3. When you do the towel drill the pitching arm goes across and down in front of the body. A good way to see Labrum surgery in a pitcher that does this drill. Among other things.
There is a clip of the towel drill on a thread from a cpl of weeks ago.
1. Because the towel is so light you would not achieve any type of physiological response. So from a training perspective it's pretty much useless
2. Some people say it teaches a pitcher to have the proper mechanics. It does not. In baseball pitching you want the continuous acceleration of the baseball and the Center of Mass of the body in straight lines (at least as straight as possible) The stride of the towel drill cause the COM to stop or if one does not believe that it causes you to bend at the waist to continue the forward movement of the COM. Bending at the waist causes you to lower your COM and you appply force in an arc rather than a straight line. You want to stay as tall as possible and rotate if you want to achieve maximum release velocity. Figure skaters stay tall and rotate at the end of their routines for maximum rotation
2. You are able to apply force toward home plate to the extent that you can apply force toward second base (Newton's Law of Reaction). The stride of the towel drill does not allow you to apply force toward second base with the glove side foot.
3. When you do the towel drill the pitching arm goes across and down in front of the body. A good way to see Labrum surgery in a pitcher that does this drill. Among other things.
There is a clip of the towel drill on a thread from a cpl of weeks ago.
I think you should let the kids pitch naturally, think about guys like Satchel Paige and some of the older guys, they didnt have any of this new stuff and they did fine. Everyone is trying to get an edge, the body probably knows more about what is right for it than most instructors do. Maybe every kid is different like in hitting, don't try to cookie cut them all the same. Maybe a guys arm is going to blow out regardless of what he does or how he throws if he had a genetic rubber arm maybe he wont have injuries. I am probably wrong but who knows.
TOWEL DRILL GOOD OR BAD?
Posted - 08/20/2008 : 15:23:24
