The crow-hop

[greymule]

While a crow hop is defined as a replant of the pivot foot, watch carefully and you'll see that the good pitchers do replant to some degree, with at least the ball of the foot but not the entire length.

They all release several inches in front of the rubber, and they are certainly gaining at least some stability from the pivot foot. It seems that as long as the push, the drag, and the release are immediate parts of one quick motion, she's OK, even though the actual release is unquestionably in front of the rubber with the foot as anchor.

The true crow hop is usually obvious. It's the hop and then the arm motion, rather that everything at once. The pivot foot usually gets a little airborne, too, and doesn't drag away from the rubber (thus the "hop").

Watch a crow sometime. They hop extremely quickly, so that they're in one place and then another, but it's very hard to see the motion in between.