Much of the technique I use was based on watching what the great pitchers do. Some of it I came up with on my own and found great pitchers that has already used it. Here are some examples of technique that are not used by the majority of pitching coaches.
No Wrist Snap. The wrist does snap forward but not until the ball is out of the hand. The snap is caused by the arm slowing down as the follow through starts. As obvious as this is the wrist snap is still routinely taught. People ask my why I teach not snapping since almost all of the pitchers learned the wrist snap and without knowing it migrated to not snapping the wrist. The problem is that some 10U pitchers actually do snap as their coaches have been very insistent. But these pitchers often give up pitching as they can't throw fast or accurately. This video of Amanda Scarborough shows it very plainly, but video of any good pitcher would make the same point. Slow motion no wrist snap
Ball Path is not on the Power Line. Many coaches teach that the ball should be on the power line at Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4, and everywhere in between for that matter. I teach that ball comes up in front of the face, crosses over to outside the power line in back and snaps into place just before release. This motion puts less strain on the shoulder and elbow and seems to produce more velocity. Karlyn Pickens agrees.
12/6 spin of the fastball is worth working on. Mike Roberts of the University of Wisconsin emphasizes this in clinics. This can then be used as a drop ball (peel drop) which frees you up to work on other pitches.
The rollover curve is also a good pitch. Most coaches seem to prefer the palm up curve but at a pitching clinic in 2026 Sam Landry and Montana Fouts taught the rollover. I teach it because the injury rate is much lower especially if the forearm is parallel to the ground on the palm up like many beginners do. It's also a good pitch to reinforce the elbow lead as the hand tracks behind the elbow like on a fastball.
The 1 seam fastball is a great pitch. Grace Folkema throws one. I know I get criticized when I hold up one of my students as proving something. But rather than thinking of her as Jim's student think of her as the single season strikeout record holder in JUCO (while pitching just under half of her team's innings), and national pitcher of the year who took North Dakota State School of Science to a 1st and 2nd place finish in the World Series in her 2 year career.
