Confused - Need Opinions/Help

BTW, I really like the stride toe angle in the second pitch.

KenB said:

Whip looks good. Her timing looks pretty good.

Cut a piece of carpet, thin plywood, or whatever works to 6x24", then go the the local home improvement store and buy some non-residue duct tape. Tape your pitching rubber to your floor and use it every time you pitch. The tape is spendy, but worth it.

Her current stride is about 4.5 lengths of her shoe. Try this and ask her what she thinks/feels: Have her step toe/heel 6.5 shoe lengths from the front of your rubber. Take a 6 inch piece of the non-residue tape and lay it on that spot at about a 45 degree angle. Try a few dry pitches (no ball) and see what happens. Add a ball and try a few more. Ask her how it feels. Do this without a target. Preferably into a net, tarp, blanket, old mattress, carpet, etc...

Let me know how it goes.

Click to expand...

I was at Lowe's tonight. Tomorrow she has Dance class, so we take Thursdays off from pitching. Dad has some "Home Improvements" in the works! Friday she has SB practice (playing in a winter tournament in March and one of the coaches has access to an indoor facility) so I'll try your recommendation on Saturday. I've tried stretching her stride a few times and she really regressed with her speed and the timing went haywire. It just looked like she didn't have the body control, and core strength to be able to maintain the proper motion when she stretched her stride out. She also didn't have the strength in her plant foot to "catch" herself without the knee collapsing which caused her upper body to fall forward, out of balance. That was a couple months ago, so it's a good time to revisit.

Too much/too soon can be disruptive. Start with 6.5 shoe lengths, then if too much, back off until she finds the distance she can stride, and maintain form. There will be a point where you find that sweet spot, then work to improve a couple inches every so often. Eventually, I believe that somewhere between 6-7.5 shoe lengths is a goal.

KenB said:

Too much/too soon can be disruptive. Start with 6.5 shoe lengths, then if too much, back off until she finds the distance she can stride, and maintain form. There will be a point where you find that sweet spot, then work to improve a couple inches every so often. Eventually, I believe that somewhere between 6-7.5 shoe lengths is a goal.

Click to expand...

I had her stretch out to about 6 1/2 shoe lengths tonight. The black line i put on the ground is 6 lengths from the front of the marked off rubber. The 2 lines behind that are her typical stride location on 5 or 6 pitches before I told her what i was even doing. I told her to land at the far mark, assuming the middle of her foot landed there, you would see the 6 1/2 lengths.

[video=youtube_share;ozCPc9bEL3Q]http://youtu.be/ozCPc9bEL3Q[/video]

The OP is tough for me to read as it is all sort of lumped together, However, It sounds like the instructor is attempting to get your DD to 'Cock' her wrist AND release with trhe fingers pointing up, as if for a peel drop. Am I understanding this correctly??

She didn't say anything about cocking the wrist, but she is looking for a 12-6 spin on her FB. Right now, she either has a bullet spin, or a 1-7 spin. She doesnt want her turning her hand all the way to palm down after release. she wants fingers up. Since the last session, she's been able to limit the turnover to fingers facing first base, and to be honest, her rotation has improved quite a bit. Maybe she's giving her a target that's extreme so if she gets half way there she's got the proper technique? I don't know. I understand the global concepts quite well. It's these fine tuning and corrective measures that I struggle with. Is it good, is it OK, is it horrible what she's teaching. SHe's not teaching hand behind the ball... she specifically tells her to rotate her hand from palm facing third when her arm is directly behind her toward 2nd base and her hand rotates to release with fingers up.

Sounds to me like the coach is fine, she looks good. I wish mine was still that age. Does she still act like she likes you, give ya hug once in awhile? Man those were good days....
Honestly I really think we make this stuff much more complicated than it is sometimes, and there is definately "more than one way to skin a cat" so to speak.
My best advice, keep sitin on that bucket and keep making her feel special for putting in all the extra work neccessary to be a great pitcher. Many great pitchers have different techniques, but they all have almost inhuman natural work ethics.
Keep slingin it!

The results of My Lowe's Home Improvement Project. Can I get my Crazy Dad T-Shirt yet?

FrozenRope said:

She didn't say anything about cocking the wrist, but she is looking for a 12-6 spin on her FB. Right now, she either has a bullet spin, or a 1-7 spin. She doesnt want her turning her hand all the way to palm down after release. she wants fingers up. Since the last session, she's been able to limit the turnover to fingers facing first base, and to be honest, her rotation has improved quite a bit. Maybe she's giving her a target that's extreme so if she gets half way there she's got the proper technique? I don't know. I understand the global concepts quite well. It's these fine tuning and corrective measures that I struggle with. Is it good, is it OK, is it horrible what she's teaching. SHe's not teaching hand behind the ball... she specifically tells her to rotate her hand from palm facing third when her arm is directly behind her toward 2nd base and her hand rotates to release with fingers up.

Click to expand...

OK, from what I can make out of this description, the instructor is having her release the ball and bring the fingers up to promote downball spin AND to keep the fingers pushing the ball forward to the verl last millisecond for the most speed. Here is the problem with that thought process; If you hold your hand up with the fingers together, obviously, the last thing to touch the ball and push it will be,,, the tip of the middle finger. If the middle finger pushes the ball straight forward, it will go straight forward. Problem is the angle of the wrist and the exact direction the middle finger is pointing must be so ridiculously accurate and the timing must be that accurate. ITS NEVER PERFECT so the accuracy is all over the place, up, down, left and right.


Here's a little eye opener for some; The index and middle fingers are your steering wheel for accuracy and the strongest fingers for ball speed. The ring and pinky fingers just get in the way. Unfortunately, smaller hands must use all four fingers to mauntain a grip on thr ball during the circle.

This will depend on her ability to grip the ball like this, hopefully her fingers are long enough.

Make the old peace sign with the middle and index spread wide. Now extend the thumb to the side, spread them as far as you can. Now grip the ball just like that with the 'Fingerprints' of the middle and index just above one of the legsa of the horseshgoe. The ring and pinky to the side of tbhe ball if possible. DO NOT allow the ball to touch the palm, I used a popsicle stick to keep the ball that far away from the palm.

Release the ball with the palm up and that peace sign pointing straight towards the catcher with NO FOLLOW THROUGH AT ALL. Hand will be down somewhat low but make sure the peace sign is pointin straight at the catcher's glove.

The ball coming off the fingertips of the middle and index fingers will give a 4-seam dropball spin just like a peel. This makes a traditional fastball grip into a dropball.

She is struggling to hold the ball as you describe with the 12" ball. She tried throwing a few pitches and more than once threw the ball right into the gound next to her as the ball slipped out of her hand as soon as she started the rotation of her forearm. She whipped the ball right out of her hand. She's able to do it with the 11" ball, so is it possible her hands are still too small for that grip?