Life Lesson #44: Teaching Arm Action

Arm Action - To Teach or Not To Teach

To what degree should an instructor change a specific athlete’s arm-action? If it’s pre-determined, then should arm-action be left alone? Or, should every athlete be taught the same throwing mechanics. I think that each athlete is different, and that there is no clear-cut angle that every athlete should throw from. I do believe, however, that there are a number of throwing absolutes coaches can use to develop positive habits and healthy arms. Athletes should be encouraged to keep their unique and individual arm-slots, but ensure that they follow the throwing absolutes to ensure healthy and effective arm action (especially at young ages). Finally, I believe that there is an appropriate time within the instruction process to address arm action and attempt to teach, modify, or change.

DEFINITIONS
Arm-action is the movement of the throwing arm during the pitching motion – its actions, angles and movements. Arm-action can be short or long, slow or fast, live or dead. These are all baseball terms used to describe the way an athlete throws. However, there are the two key phrases most frequently used to describe arm-action:

Arm-Angle: The easiest way to explain arm-angle is to picture a snapshot of a pitcher immediately before release (taken from home plate). With the pitcher’s body facing home plate and the throwing arm passing the side of the head, the term arm-angle refers to the angle between the head and the upper arm.

Arm-Slot: A pitcher’s arm-slot is the lane through which the arm travels. Looking at a pitcher from home plate again, each degree the arm reaches away from the head represents a different arm-slot through which an athlete may bring his arm and hand through. With young athletes, we call these arm-slots “lanes”… and describe the arm as choosing a lane to drive through. Coaches also compare these arm-slots to the hours on a clock: Throwing from an arm-slot closest to the head, or directly “over the top,” compares to 12 o’clock… while throwing completely “side-arm,” would be 9 o’clock. Most pitchers throw from an arm-slot, and utilize an arm-angle, somewhere in between 10 and 11 o’clock.

NATURAL ARM ACTION
Each athlete has unique arm action. Some athletes are simply more comfortable throwing from a specific arm-slot than others. Whether or not the arm slot is viewed as healthy, certain athletes gravitate to certain slots. Every youth baseball coach has experienced that one athlete that continuously drops his hand lower and lower - closer to a side-arm delivery. Correct it as you may, the athlete will return to that arm slot as soon as you stop reminding him. It’s as if this athlete has been programmed to throw from a specific arm-angle, and without thinking the arm will return to that comfortable angle. We must respect the fact that athletes are not robots and will not all throw with the same arm action.

THROWING ABSOLUTES
Respecting that each athlete is unique, and has his/her own most comfortable arm angle, I do believe that research has proven a number of throwing absolutes:

• Throwing “over the top” or “top to bottom” helps to alleviate stress on the elbow and assists in achieving a downward plane with regard to the path of the baseball
• At release point (snapshot from home plate), the throwing elbow should be at or above the throwing shoulder
• At release point, the throwing hand should located somewhere at or outside the elbow (arm angle)
• Athletes should attempt to lead with the hand, to avoid dropping the arm and leading with the elbow
  
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