Baseball pitchers have to be extremely explosive and create force to produce a good pitch. Some factors that go into a pitch would be velocity, movement, and position. There are many types of pitches that an athlete can do and follows a similar pattern but the factors change. If a pitcher wanted to throw a fastball, they would have to change the velocity of the ball but if the pitcher wanted to throw a curveball they would have to change the type of movement they do. The ultimate goal for any baseball pitcher is to get the ball into the catcher’s mitts without being interfered by the batter at home base. The specific motion used for this analysis is a baseball pitch by Jake Arrieta who plays for the Chicago Cubs (https://giant.gfycat.com/BelatedWeirdKookaburra.gif). His characteristics: male, height is six foot four inches, weighs 225 pounds, pitches and bats with right hand, age is 30 years old, and has been playing for seven years. In order to produce enough force, the pitch has to go through multiple phases in order to generate it. The phases pitchers go through are: wind-up, stride, arm cocking, arm acceleration, arm deceleration, and follow-through. …show more content…
In order to reduce strain on the throwing arm and capitalize on control and velocity the pitcher must perform the stride phase efficiently and effectively. To achieve a proper stride phase, the pitcher must keep a stable back leg at all times to keep a balanced position throughout the phase besides the follow-through phase. Although, the follow-through phase has to be controlled so that the height of the ball when release will not decrease. Another action that can hinder the weight that transfers is how the front leg lands. If the front leg lands stiffly, it will cause an increase of negative force which will reduce the weight transferred while the opposite holds true