Feedback 9 yo

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Aug 13, 2014
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a slight toe drag off to the side a bit and a slight lean toward third. I think her arm looks good. She may be ADDUCTING a little to much???

Slight turn out of the foot.

Posture is OK at best. She kinda fakes the follow through and may be throwing around her body a tiny bit?

I like her athleticism and her stride length.


She absolutely peppers the strike zone. Extremely high ratio of strikes vs balls.

This particular video she doesn't load as well as I'd like.

Main problems I see is the slight lean and the SORTA STATIC LOAD AS HER ARM GOES BACK..What about a lean in as arm goes back? Im kind of scared to do that as I don't want her leaning to much??? So that being said what about a lean? At the initial take off I think she is a little to stiff and straight up??? Any opinions?
 
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Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
Overall, she looks very good from this angle. Do you have a video from the front or back?

I'd like to see just a little less lean towards 3B (less bend at the waist) and the release from farther back. Check out any threads regarding brush interference or forearm brush.

CTG1.JPG
 
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Jun 18, 2010
2,624
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How do I get her there? I have been trying? She throws around 45-46 mph..i think I can get more...also I see her hips don't assist her as much as Id like either??

I know how it should look and what to look for...I have tried a lot of things and still we have this slight lean!


Conan,

IMO, she is well above average for a 9yo in both speed and mechanics.


Age Average Pitching Speed Top Pitching Speed
10u 37-41 MPH 43-46 MPH
12u 44-47 MPH 50-53 MPH
14u 46-49 MPH 52-55 MPH
16u 50-53 MPH 54-57 MPH
18u 53-56 MPH 58-61 MPH
College 59-64 MPH 65-72 MPH
 
Oct 22, 2009
1,781
0
She has a slight leap off the rubber.
The reason she isn't getting as much from her hip/lower body as you would like, is that she is getting it from her upper body.
She doesn't yet trust her legs through release. She's overcompensating with the upper body and shoulder. It's not that bad but she could improve. You can tell she feels it and knows she has to stay back with her little shuffle step on the first pitch, she does a better job on the second pitch.

I don't know how much focus is being given on speed, because a 9yr old throwing 46 is fantastic. I just want to bring that up because I had a 9yr old last year throwing that hard and her dad was a constant beast on focusing on her speed and he would not let her relax and try not to muscle the ball so much through her shoulder. At 10 she dropped a couple of mphs, because what little whip she had was slowly transferring to shoulder shove.

Make sure you allow her to relax and work on the resistance and whipping out the release and gain trust and confidence in it. You cannot scream out every time it doesn't pop your mitt.--Not saying you do.
She's at a great age and great mechanics right now, make your focus on refining the release not on speed.
 
Oct 22, 2009
1,781
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I wont say I don't care about speed. But what I care about #1 is mechanics and getting rid of this lean!

I hear all of the critiques and I appreciate them. What abut a fix or suggestions?


Goal:

Be more tall and tight to the hip.

Get the hips around

Any drills or methods is appreciated

My plan of action:

Move in closer and focus on slo motion and posture. I feel that pitching closer for now will eliminate that grab for poser and allow her to focus more on mechanics!

Knee to gut drills


Thanks JoJo!

You are right about this. I can't say enough about eliminating the distractions of strikes and speed and just allowing the focus to be on mechanics. I know it's no fun for the pitcher which is why a lot won't do it. Pitchers want to see the speed and they want to see where the ball is going. It's so visual. But by focusing on more non visual aspects of training, makes the eventual visual so much more fun! Good luck, it looks like you're on the right track!
 
Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
Im all over that Ken. Thanks!

We are doing knee to gut drills for posture. Would you suggest anything else drill wise?

I don't know if I know what a knee to gut drill is?

My focus would be in getting her to feel the hip with her forearm, first by having her swing her arm loosely back and forth without a ball. Other than starting at about 9 o’clock with the palm up, I’d have her keep swinging that arm every chance she gets until she can feel “it.” I would also suggest you learn right along with her so you can feel what she feels. Once you find that sweet spot, you’ll feel what it does to the hand. I like a release angle around 45 degrees or less from the body.

Progress to easy, underhand catch from up close. No emphasis here on speed or control, just feeling the release from the back hip. Feel free to use a net or backstop. Check posture and give reminders, or ask her what she thought to help her gain awareness.

As she gets the feel of this, allow her to take a step and increase distance gradually. Add more circle and lower body as she feels the need. Progress to walk-throughs.

Be more tall and tight to the hip.

Get the hips around.

I like the tall and tight cue. I also use, “pitch from the pocket” and “pitch off the back hip.” Most of the time, you’ll find that pitching from the back hip helps posture (it’s about impossible to throw well to a target from the hip if posture isn’t correct.

Meanwhile, I’d check the I/R in the Classroom for another way to approach this and the Drive Mechanics thread for other great tips.

I'm not fond of forcing the hips to get around. For the most part, the hips do what they need to when all else is in place.


Hope that was helpful,
Ken
 
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