Top Causes of Crow Hopping in Windmill Pitching

Ah, crow hopping. This topic has been causing frustration and controversy among windmill pitchers, softball coaches, parents, and probably umpires for years. MANY pitchers—even many elite pitchers, some of whom you may have seen on television—do it, yet it’s illegal according to the rules of fastpitch softball. Over the next two posts, I’m going to talk a bit about what crow hopping is, what causes it, and how to fix it.

What is Crow Hopping?

I’ve heard the term “crow hopping” refer to two different things in softball. The first one is the exaggerated hopping motion an outfielder uses to set her feet and start her momentum before a long throw. It’s perfectly legal and not what we’re talking about.

The other type of crow hopping, also called “replanting,” refers to a windmill pitcher’s drive-through foot breaking contact with the ground and replanting in a new spot. This is the term used among pitchers and pitching coaches in my region. If you know it by another name, you’re always welcome to leave a comment. We want to be able to explain things as easily as possible.

Since video is a language we can all understand, here’s an example of crow hopping:

The Crow Hopping Controversy

There’s no question that crow hopping in windmill pitching is illegal, yet there isn’t much incentive for an offending pitcher to correct herself. Why? Because from local rec ball all the way up to the best NCAA tournaments, umpires either ignore the rule or call it very inconsistently. If you’ve been watching the college world series over the past few years, you may have noticed that this issue has arisen occasionally.

Some people will argue that the reason it’s illegal is because it gives pitchers an unfair advantage if they can plant their feet closer to the batter. I disagree; I think pitchers who DO crow hop are at a disadvantage. If any of you are crow hoppers who are letting it slide because you’re not getting called out on it, here are some reasons why you should address the issue anyway:

  • Not crow hopping is better for the command and speed of your pitch. If you maintain a solid foundation with a powerful drive-through instead of hopping, you will throw harder. Also, NOT jumping closer to the batter puts you in a better (and safer) position to field the ball if it’s hit to you.
  • It’s also better for your body. Keeping a firm foundation reduces the chance of injury.
  • The umpire may not notice or care, but the opposing coach might, and if the opposing coach brings it to the umpire’s attention, the umpire has a responsibility to look for it and call it from that point forward. And you know the opposing coach is most likely to care when you’re neck and neck in a tough game!
  • If you’re thinking of playing in college, prospective coaches may not be as interested if they notice that you pitch illegally, especially if they are trying to decide between recruiting you versus someone else, or starting you versus benching you.

Top Reasons for Crow Hopping

Take a look at this image, which shows optimal all around body mechanics approaching 12 o’clock in the arm circle:

Pitcher in tracked "K" position

A crow hop would typically happen somewhere around this stage of the pitch. This pitcher is NOT crow hopping; she’s kept her solid foundation, and while her drive-through foot has come away from the rubber, it has done so by gliding across the ground. This pitcher has excellent posture and she will land with a solid front leg, keeping her upper body behind that leg and creating strong front side resistance.

In my experience, the number one reason for crow hopping is a core weakness that prevents the pitcher from achieving this posture, creating that front side resistance, or both. To put it simply, if that back foot has pressure on it, it won’t leave the ground. That pressure comes from the pitcher’s trunk staying back through delivery. If that pressure is alleviated and too much weight/energy is instead shifted forward onto the front leg, the back foot can easily drift up off the ground. This frequently begins to develop in young pitchers who have become advanced in their pitching skills and want to be more explosive, but their bodies aren’t strong enough to handle the more aggressive motion.

This issue can take a number of forms:

  • A forward lean throughout the duration of the pitch
  • A forward lean or bend in the waist during the delivery
  • A lunging posture upon landing

…and others. Some are obvious; if the pitcher is leaning right from the start, you can clearly see that the center of her weight is shifted away from the back leg, allowing it to come up. Sometimes the cause will be less obvious; video or pictures of the pitcher might indicate good upper body posture during the hop, but if there is any breakdown of the posture or the front leg after landing, it’s still possible that her energy/weight could have been in the process of transitioning forward at the time of the hop. It takes tremendous core strength to create solid front side resistance, and it’s likely that a pitcher with this issue may need to supplement her pitching practice with strength training in order to overcome her crow hopping.

I personally feel that this posture/balance/resistance issue accounts for most crow hopping, but there can be other causes. They could be present together with the aforementioned core strength problem, or they could be the sole cause. Here are a few:

Turning the push foot during the load. I discussed this at length in a previous post. This can cause a number of problems, and crow hopping can be one of them. The most common result is the pitcher will drag way too much of her foot, often the whole side, along the ground. However, sometimes the pitcher’s body will anticipate this and try to avoid it by hopping, readjusting the position, and replanting. Foot turn is also the result of weakness, particularly in the hips and legs as well as the core; if the pitcher isn’t strong enough and/or well aligned enough in her legs to support a proper load and push off, the foot will begin to turn in an attempt to support the weaknesses. See this post for a more in-depth explanation.

Jumping up off the rubber instead of pushing out. This is an issue that is more common in younger pitchers (or slightly older beginners) who don’t really understand what the explosive push forward off the rubber feels like. After they get the hang of pitching a little, they will be tempted to become more aggressive, and some might jump off the rubber—sometimes straight upward— because jumping is a familiar feeling.

Having a “hitch” in your overall motion or your arm circle. This is a bit of a “which came first?” situation, because the hop itself is likely what causes the hitch in the motion. However, it’s possible for the hitch to become an ingrained habit, and the pitcher may need to work specifically on smoothing out the motion after she has addressed any possible core strength issues.

What I mean by “hitch” is this: I tell my young pitchers to count to 3 in their heads when they pitch, and match their motions up to that rhythm. One is the rock back, two is the load forward, and three is the whole rest of the pitch, smooth and fast. When a pitcher has a hitch in her motion, it’s like she’s pitching on a 3.5 or 4-count, where one and two are the same, but three is the front side of the circle to about the top (including the crow hop), and four is the rest of the delivery.

So, the moral of the story is work on your core strength!! Next week, we’ll take a look at some pitching drills you can do to address the ingrained habits the stem from crow hopping and hopefully eliminate that hop for good.

 

17 Comments

  1. Pat on June 12, 2013 at 8:10 PM

    I’m confused. What I’m seeing is what we describe as “leaping”. The pivot foot must remain in contact with the ground at all times.

    To me, “crow hopping” is the bending of the knees, jumping up, replanting the feet with the pivot on the rubber and the lead foot behind, then windmilling. This is illegal as both feet leave the rubber then come back to the rubber.

    Please explain. Thank you.



    • Carly on June 12, 2013 at 8:18 PM

      Hi Pat,

      I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard of or seen the “crow hopping” you described… or I’m just not understanding what you’re saying. Do you mean this is happening during the wind up, before the pitch even takes place? Like the pitcher is jumping in place and then pitching?

      As for the first thing you said, you’re right, the push foot must remain on contact with the ground as it drags. It doesn’t matter whether you call it leaping, hopping, or whatever; if that foot breaks contact with the ground and then replants, it’s illegal.



  2. Julia on June 17, 2013 at 5:57 PM

    Hey I have a question. My daughter takes a
    Step forward before her drag while pitching. What drill can I practice with her to teach her to stop doing that ?
    Thank you



    • Carly on June 17, 2013 at 6:50 PM

      Do you mean she’s doing something different than what is illustrated in the article above? If so, I need you to be more specific because I’m not picturing what she’s doing.



  3. kirk on June 17, 2013 at 9:32 PM

    is it illegal to take a photo of a picther crow hopping.



    • Carly on June 17, 2013 at 9:34 PM

      Illegal? Well, it’s not very nice to take pictures of other people’s kids secretly, if that’s what you mean.



      • kirk on June 17, 2013 at 9:38 PM

        it would show the pitcher is 5 feet off rubber before pitch was thrown



        • Carly on June 17, 2013 at 9:56 PM

          You can usually see a crow hop that bad by the line the pitcher makes with her feet in the dirt. There will be a huge gap between the rubber and where the drag mark starts. Try looking for that.



  4. kirk on June 17, 2013 at 9:36 PM

    is it legal for a umpire to comment or coach girls during a game he is umpiring he coaches the girls in school, this is now summer ball



    • Carly on June 17, 2013 at 9:55 PM

      It’s not illegal for the umpire to comment, ESPECIALLY if he is trying to help a pitcher NOT pitch illegally. I wish more umpires would do that; then we wouldn’t have so many college and high school pitchers who crow hop and otherwise pitch illegally.

      If the umpire is trying to coach the girls on things unrelated to legal pitching, and you disagree with what he is saying, I would quietly talk to him about it before or after the game.



  5. George on March 17, 2014 at 12:48 PM

    Hi Carly,

    My Daughter has a slight leap, do you have any drills that can help get rid of it. please email me.

    Thanks,



  6. Neal on May 8, 2014 at 9:49 PM

    Does the push foot have to break contact with the ground and replant to be considered an illegal pitch? I was watching a pitcher that would stay in contact with the ground with her push foot which would turn sideways and it appeared to replant as her knee was still slightly bent then she would straighten (looked like a second push) with delivery of the ball.



    • Carly on May 8, 2014 at 10:05 PM

      This is very common, and while we consider it bad mechanics it’s not technically illegal. The foot does have to leave the ground for it to be illegal.



  7. michelle on July 13, 2014 at 2:24 PM

    I am watching the USA play in the World Cup today. When watching the Canadian and US pitchers, I noticed that their drag foot is not touching the ground. It is really noticeable in the slow-mo replays. Why is no one commenting on this? The pitcher even goes back and covers her track each time…which is funny to me. Do they stop worrying past HS, College, or does it really matter?



  8. John on August 1, 2014 at 3:24 AM

    Aren’t pitcher’s getting a greater advantage by replanting versus leaping? Thank you Carly.



    • Carly on August 1, 2014 at 8:50 AM

      Hi John,

      It is my understanding that that was the original reasoning behind the rule. However, we firmly believe that replanting is actually a disadvantage. Yes, you might end up a couple of inches closer to the batter, but in 95% of cases the pitcher’s landing posture is compromised from having both feet off the ground prior to landing, and then the energy is not redirected into the pitching arm as efficiently as it should be. This negates any small advantage you might gain from being a couple of inches closer.