This is just my opinion but to me they played just like they felt the weight of being 15-0 bearing down on them. If you paid attention they challenged every single call that did not go their way.
I liked what I saw from the Gator pitchers last night. Too much swing and miss at the plate, though. We need a bit better discipline at the plate but loved the result. Barbs throws a lot harder than you would think looking at him. I will need to study his mechanics to find out why. Pitch velocity is the accumulation of speeds from different parts of the delivery and not just arm strength. Maybe he has it all in sync.
Do you think leg drive / balance/ timing is responsible for higher velocity, or is god given arm strength the major element?
I think that it is getting perfect timing on every aspect of the pitching motion. Everything that you do should be adding speed to your delivery and done at just the right time. The last two are wrist snap and finger snap. Arm strength can actually slow you down if it is slow twitch instead of fast twitch muscle. Body builders can't throw like a pitcher can. Pitchers have to loosen up for a reason. To be technical it is all about the kinematics of the throwing motion. Think about throwing a great change up. It is the usual fastball delivery but you don't give it the final snap. And @wingtee us 3/4 arm slot guys were envious of the yellowhammer but you 12-6 guys didn't have the two seamer. And for a great two seamer you need that natural arm motion to impart the backwards spin. Some folks have it and some folks don't.
I made a long post but to your point it is leg drive/balance/timing as the most important points for velocity. Proper mechanics.
This 3 game series will be the first real test of whether or not we're an elite team. But baseball is a game of streaks and peaking at the right time. Last year we were a pretty average team all season, barely got in the NCAA tournament and then turned it on and made it to the semi-finals for the national championship. So I'm just going to try to enjoy the journey and not get caught up in a few games here and there. But I really don;t like UT's coach and would love to see us put a knot on their head.
No doubt. I'm not sold on our lineup, especially after losing Jones for the year and Kurland for extended period. I also think Donay is going to start looking like what we saw last year once he regularly sees fastballs up and in. I hope I'm wrong.
Our guys have got to fight really hard to continue to hit it where it’s pitched and not fall into that pull mode swing regardless of the pitch. And by the same token our pitchers have got to continue to attack the strike zone without pitching to the heart of the plate. I believe if we can change eye levels and change speeds we should be able to compete with anybody.
100% agree if the pitching is on par (right now we have some depth issues with injuries) we have enough offense to get it done.
You mean pitch instead of throw? One minor quibble. If a hitter has a known trouble hitting a particular pitch and location you have to pound it. Not every pitch but throw that one a lot.
