Pitching mechanics: What happens at 'foot plant'?

The stride "foot plant" plays an important role in both the hip action involved with accelerating the baseball toward home plate ... and the slowing down of the the body and throwing arm once the baseball is released.

When I work with pitchers on foot plant, I generally encourage them to stride out and land with their toes pointed toward home plate or slightly closed (turned inward toward third base for righties or toward first base for lefties).

I also generally encourage pitchers to land flatfooted (heel and ball landing at roughly the same time). This keeps the hips from opening up, so you can then brace up over a flexed front leg.

Here are two good examples of what I'm talking about -- one of a right-handed pitcher; the other, a left-handed pitcher. Both of these guys are in the big leagues. Each picture provides a nice visual cue of a long stride and a proper foot plant. (Do you notice that in each, they're front foot is slightly closed?)