Confused - Need Opinions/Help

Here is a pitch from a recent workout. Prior to any adjustment recommended by her new PC.... Remember, she's only been doing this for 6 months, so there are other flaw's in her motion.... no doubt. PC is concentrating on the release.

[video=youtube_share;U70iKHHag44]http://youtu.be/U70iKHHag44[/video]

Rotation looks pretty good! If the ball rotation is good, should be fine. Got a side view?

This is our basement. I'm fortunate enought to have 40' to throw, but not the angle to get a side view. We do some drills throwing into a carpet remnant hung from the ceiling where I may be able to get a side view. Her lesson was tonight, so we'll be throwing tomorrow. I'll try to capture a side view of her existing way... and the way her PC is teaching.

The ball rotation is a erratic. Sometimes a 7:00 - 1:00 spin, and sometimes a bullet spin. The more common is the bullet spin, amd I think that's what the PC really doesn't like. When she throws it well, and gets the 7-1 spin, her FB has a natural down and in fade to a right handed hitter. I clock her anywhere from 35 to 39 with the glove radar, which according to rule, should be about 40 to 44 top speed due to the glove radar registering at the glove instead of max speed at release.

When learning a good whip, bullet spin is ok. With kids who've struggled with IR, I put nickel sized dots on the ball between the narrows of the seams. With a four seam grip, I have them throw the dot (on the pinky side) toward the target. I think Coach Hal and others use a small football to do the same.

Once they have good whip, I add a stripe to the ball and ask them to try for 12/6 spin. Most kids get it on their own. Sometimes thinking about pushing a little more with the pointer finger, or thinking about the ball coming off the pointer last, helps. My thinking is the kids get a basic peel out of the deal and learn a little about manipulating spin when they have reference for instant feedback.

Going back to the video, see if you can add a little more light and make sure the background has appropriate contrast. Because your subject is poorly lit, it would help to use a white background. With improved lighting, you may need to darken the background for contrast.

Based on what I can see, she might want to focus a little on her elbow leading to the hip, but without a better video from the side, I'd hate to confirm that. You'll notice that the Jennie Finch video does not seem to model that well, where the BM video emphasizes elbow leading.

Other than that, I'm hoping the PC has addressed the pivot of the pivot foot at the beginning of the drive and the slight leap. I'd also like to see her think, "stay tall" at plant. Some discourage this and I think and you may hear at least one preference of a forward bend at the waist, but most will suggest staying tall to maximize efficiency and minimize body wear.

I'm not certain from your description what she WAS doing, but this looks pretty good. If she was rotating more, more IR isn't necessarily itself a bad thing, but young pitchers often exaggerate the movement—turning the whole arm from the shoulder instead of just the forearm, letting the elbow fly out, etc.—which can make the IR release erratic at first. Just make sure the instructor is teaching your daughter to CONTROL the IR, not MOVE AWAY from IR altogether in an effort to eliminate over-rotation.

Here's another tip: at this stage in your daughter's development, stop worrying about spins, the exact position of her hand at various clock points, and other minutia. Don't get me wrong; these things are very important, they're just not the most important things yet. She should work on getting comfortable whipping the ball ("playing catch") underhand with as much velocity as she can muster.

My dad, who taught me nearly everything I know about teaching pitching, has a favorite story he tells his beginners' parents who are frustrated with lack of accuracy from the get go: when Andre Agassi was a little kid learning tennis for the first time, his instructor encouraged him to hit the ball wildly as hard as he could, even if it meant over the fences. LATER he helped him bring the ball into the court. Agassi is one of the best tennis players ever. Work on power from day 1, and NEVER sacrifice power and comfort for accuracy at this stage. If the pitching coach is good, accuracy is easy to teach a little way down the road.

Great point! I follow a similar path and to minimize the distraction of accuracy, I like to have beginning kids and kids working on form changes practice into a net. As they dial in, we step back until they develop enough consistency to throw to a glove. Even up close, the kids get frustrated and I like to encourage them by saying I don't care if the ball goes straight down or straight up and over the net, as long as they look good doing it.

FrozenRope said:

Here is a pitch from a recent workout. Prior to any adjustment recommended by her new PC.... Remember, she's only been doing this for 6 months, so there are other flaw's in her motion.... no doubt. PC is concentrating on the release.

[video=youtube_share;U70iKHHag44]http://youtu.be/U70iKHHag44[/video]

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Hey FrozenRope... like the avatar. Is this video off the High speed camera ?
I'll just say one thing I see... I would be working on keeping the foot straight while pushing off the rubber. IMHO

Watch her front foot rotate completely when it should be driving straight ahead. (I know we are talking release, but it is hard to reteach, if your foot work isn't right.)


oops, I guess we were typing at the same time.

KenB said:

Keep watching her hand. The hand follows through loosely to 1B. It is not forced to stop rotating and point the fingers upward (as I see it...)

Click to expand...

Whatever she does after her fingers are no longer in contact with the ball is meaningless.

-W

FrozenRope said:

I agree, that the hand may turn over slightlty more than fingers pointed straight up. But it's not anywhere near the roll over demonstrated here.

Click to expand...

LOL.....Exactly Snuffer...........

Rope, the (in your own words) "demonstration" posted here is purposely emphasizing how the bicep/forearm/wrist internally rotate to propel the ball. My hand turns over because I'm not throwing any particular pitch to any particular location. It's simply a visual demo of how internal rotation works. I'm simply "allowing" the mechanics to fully progress through the I/R chain for a purpose......Keeping my shoulder and arm loose and relaxed.........And my hand turns over as a result of NOT trying to influence spin/direction.........

And in fact, what my hand/arm do after the frozen frame below has absolutely ZERO influence on the ball......



This is an example of good information and demonstration in the wrong hands being dangerous.........

As far as "over-rotation".........Once the ball is released, the direction and spin will dictate the finish.......In "my book", over rotation occurs when I/R is TOO early in the sequence.........Causing a "tumbling" rotation.......