[Four Seam]

In his relatively new video on pitching mechanics, Bill Hillhouse advocates beginning the pitch with the pivot foot on the ground in front of the rubber, the back of the heel touching the rubber. The more common stance is to place the pivot foot on top of the rubber with the break of the arch catching the edge of the rubber. As a pitching coach, I am now coaching other elements of the Hillhouse method, but I'm reluctant to teach my students to put their pivot foot in front of the rubber with only the back of the heel touching partly because I'm concerned that there will be too many umpires who will see a gap between the heel and the rubber too early in the pitch and call an IP.

It seems that if you begin with the foot in front of the rubber with back of heel touching, and pivot normally on the ball of the foot, the heel will lose contact with the rubber.

It would be very helpful if the umpires who carry this board along would give us some good discussion of their views on this subject.