Zito's new throwing motion

[skidiver]

What do you guys think about Barry Zito's new throwing motion?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/16/SPG9LO63A71.DTL

Will it make him more effective? Less injury prone (not that he has been so far)?

[Chris O'Leary]

What do you guys think about Barry Zito's new throwing motion?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/16/SPG9LO63A71.DTL

Will it make him more effective? Less injury prone (not that he has been so far)?

Here's a quote about what he's trying to do...

In Oakland, Zito had a very controlled, upright delivery. When he threw Thursday, he started with a little crouch, as if leaning on the back of a chair. As he turned to begin his windup, he reared backward, the most radical change. Then, he took a longer stride toward the plate.

The idea is to generate more thrust with his legs and less with his arm, which not only should preserve the arm and allow him to throw more innings, but also create later and more powerful movement on his pitches, including the fastball and curveball.

"I just felt constricted, really, the last few years, like I was throwing all arm," Zito said, "so it's about using the core of your body, the center of your mass, instead of your arm."

Zito changed his workout regimen this winter to strengthen his legs and hips, so the new delivery goes hand-in-hand. Actually, he called it an old delivery he used in college.

Trying to throw more with your body is definitely a good idea. His velocity has been dropping of late, and that could be due to throwing too much with his arm.

However, he still hooks his wrist something fierce.

[Baseball gLove]

Sounds like Jaeger has a hand in this.

[nikae]

They say that "he is less upright now". In his new pitching motion, he does look like hes bending his back knee more. I always tought that staying upright more is good, well, it works for him.

[bamajeff]

Lowering as you move out helps you load the middle as well and can help assist rotation. It's difficult to rotate explosively from a very upright position.

[XFactor]

It's from his explosive movement towards the plate (thus his stride is longer than before) that causes the lowering. He's not concentrating on lowering, he's concentrating on moving towards the plate explosively via "pump and drive"