My son is 12 and throws pretty hard but he consistently releases high the harder he throws. I told him to bend his front knee more a la Tom Seaver. What do you think? What else can I look for?

It's not clear whether the knee bend mentioned is on launch or landing - sometimes the first challenge in helping someone with a question is to make sure you understand the terms of reference.

So rather than answer without enough knowledge, I will open this up for others to seek details.
I will say this - I'm not sure I would look at the knee lift as the root cause or solution to high or early release point - factors such as tightening the grip or over extending the stride length or rushing the body can all come into play when the mind decides to "throw harder".

Just be clear that many times a youngster's "mechanics" is not where we adult coaches would like it to be because there are "growth" issues, as well as lack of core strength. A short stride may cause him to throw high, but trying to get him to throw a-la-Tom-Seaver may be physically impossible due to individual anatomy and lack of core strength....this is quite common in 12 year olds. Why not focus on throwing slower with accuracy...then you begin the process of teaching him how to pitch instead of how to just throw hard. The craft of pitching takes many years...at 12 years of age he has plenty of time to develop and as he gets stronger (core) he will be able to maximize his stride and release the ball near or in front of his landing foot. But without video-taping and actually seeing what is taking place, it's hard to make a meaningful comment. Many times what you see is not what is taking place and what is really taking place you cannot see. As humans we only see 32 frames per second...in making accurate analysis in pitching, you need to see better than this...so video-tape and have someone that knows what they are looking at help you. But don't forget that what is applicable to an older teenager or adult does not always applly to a 12 year old, especially in pitching mechanics.

In the next Pitching Insider newsletter - coming in early Sept, I'm going to talk more about video taping - 32 fps is not fast enough. As for the age concern, Jose is absolutely correct - development rates and growth spurts affect young pitchers in ways not always obvious. Getting our players to mimmic pros is one of the greatest mistakes we can make as coach.

Both Jose & Richard make some great points. I agree it's difficult to make a proper diagnosis of the problem with out seeing the player & terms of reference, on the other hand there are some fundamental problems that are universal to the young player (12 & under). Richard identified the most common, rushing the delivery, young players are like racing horses at the starting gate ready to jump out. I've seen coaches use all kind of methods of holding them back, having them come to leg lift and then handing them the ball to slow down delivery, tubing around the waist or just having them hold leg lift for a second or two and making sure they lead with their hips. The second most common problem I run into is not finishing their pitches. In other words not getting the chest over their knee and ending the path of the arm to side of their stride leg. With out getting into a lot of details on this forum, Webball has a guest author Coach John Bagonzi who has a stride drill program that addresses this problem (should be a part of everyone's program). I not sure this is your pitcher's problem, but over the years these seem to be the most common fundamental flaws in my young pitchers. Coach Moore

Just to be clear on some of Coach Moore's suggestions - I would never advocate the longer post leg hold, or handing the ball to the pitcher in mid-motion, or use of restraint tubing. I think all those are artificial techniques that could destroy athleticism and rhythm. I do agree with the "leading with hips" and in a conversation with another WebBall contributor just now we discussed another factor having to do with extending stride length and back-leg drag ...also something that could help bring the release point forward and down. I'll be asking that instructor to do an article on that in the future.

Richard, i don't advocate those this is what I've seen many little league coaches do, in my clinics we do reverse training starting from the high cock position, somewhat like the drill Bagonzi does with a few add ons. That's why i suggested John's stride drill that's already suggested on WebBall.

Sorry, Coach, I should not have used the word "suggestions". However, the reverse training we advocate starts from release point not from high cock position. This is the Wolforth/Nyman concept that says the throwing focus should certain on the purpose of the kinetic chain - ball release.