Take a good look at this pic. The ball is below the horizontal plane of his elbow, his elbow is nearly behind his shoulder.
A side view before the forward movement to throw.
http://tinyurl.com/2su65v
Look at Koufax, I can remember watching him on TV and thinking that he took forever to release the ball with that long stride.
http://tinyurl.com/3cckqt
My former Boss strength and power trained athletes and he would invite me to his gyms and I would watch pitcher after pitcher roll in with injuries. Fast pitch and hard ball, males and females. I wondered why that was.
"Because throwing a ball is the fastest human action one can do. The deceleration process is like trying to put the brakes on a bullwhip and the body has to do tricks to do so."
See below.
http://tinyurl.com/2jtfqb
From palm facing to 1B to 3B (RHP).
Leo Mazzone on coaching pitching:
Q. "Leo, what is it that you see to teach in the arm motion in a pitcher?
A: "Not much of anything."