Two Photos, Same Pitcher, Practice vs Game

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Nov 6, 2013
771
16
Baja, AZ
She is not driving forward in the game. And she's losing velocity in the game by pulling her brush back. Planting lead foot nicely in practice but landing on toe in game. = Loss of power.
 
Feb 7, 2013
3,188
48
In the game photo she seems to be fighting lower body lean towards 3rd base and probably the reason her head is titled to her left to compensate for the lean.
 
Jun 18, 2012
3,183
48
Utah
Okay, let me go back up the chain to the beginning of the practice pitching.

This pitcher's old muscle memory is such that she wants to open too early. This old memory shows up more pitching in games, and the new muscle memory is a bit more of a challenge for her to get. Her old muscle memory gets her to turn her right foot and leg, which prematurely opens the hips (turns them to somewhat face third). Her old memory entails twisting the shoulders to also somewhat face third. All this old memory is turning and facing third before she drives out.

The following is a clip of her with the new muscle memory meant to replace the old.

Notice there are several stylistic types of things that we might not all agree with.

1. There is a reason I have her taking her glove arm back--it seems to greatly help her keep from turning her shoulders too much (old memory).
2. I have her do a very light brush-brush with her throwing arm--a light brush taking the ball back into the backswing, and a light brush bringing the ball forward (thanks Rick Pauly). But why have her do this? Because her arm was too far from her body when she brought it forward from the backswing.
3. I really hound her to not turn her right foot. Why? Because the old memory wants to have her turn it a lot.

Here is what I would like to see in her game pitching in terms of the start. Yes (Javasource), I want more driving the right knee forward and hips forward just after the arm passes the thigh.

Although this clip is what I would like to see in her game pitching, when she does pitch in games her foot tends to turn a little too much, causing her legs and hips to turn too early, causing her shoulders to turn too much, resulting in the backswing being wrapped around too far behind her back, etc. etc.

It's tough to get there new pitching memory to a point that it dominates the old.

But here is what I would prefer to see (her staying a bit more square to the target as shown here).

Later stages of her better-practice-mechanics-than-game-mechanics clips yet to come. Feel free to comment on this particular stage.

 
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Jun 18, 2012
3,183
48
Utah
There there is this stage. I've isolated a "whirly" glove action that seems to help this pitcher with her "bow-flex-bow" (thanks Rick Pauly).

This whirly action is of great benefit to this particular pitcher. Go back to the original post and see what her glove arm tends to do when pitching in games (old memory). It's like a fence post out in front of her.

While some would call this glove arm action a swim problem. In my opinion, this isn't a swim problem. This glove action she gets in practice is actually worked on. Yes, I understand that many think of it as a no-teach. I disagree, at least with respect to this pitcher, and keeping the "bow-flex-bow" in mind. It's hard for her to get this when pitching in games (old memory still dominates), but her is our work on the new memory building.

Also, I think this practice pitching (new memory) has pretty good connection--hips, torso, shoulders. It's not as good in games.




Next clip will be about the RIGHT hip and RIGHT leg.....
 
Last edited:
May 30, 2013
1,442
83
Binghamton, NY
The following is a clip of her with the new muscle memory meant to replace the old.

Notice there are several stylistic types of things that we might not all agree with.

Feel free to comment on this particular stage.

I see in this clip she is still fighting the old tendancies.
Although her pitching arm backswings straight back and " outside the shoulder",
her glove arm backswings outward. this allows her to " prep" to immediately get open on the forward motion.
She still hasnt embraced remaining square to target on both backswing AND initial drive.
 
The action of the glove arm may be one of the most mis-taught movements in pitching.....perhaps right up there with HE. The action of the glove arm is extremely important in the whole scheme of pitching. Often kids are instructed to "drive the glove out at the catcher".....kind of like stabbing a piece of meat. If you study high level pitchers you will note that most of them use a glove whirl.....it is one of the reasons some pitchers look smooth and fluid. The benefits of glove whirl are many: a) smooth and fluid motion vs. herky jerky b) it actually aids in shoulder opening/closing c) it can help with the timing/balance of the arms pulling together d) it helps increase speed e) it is part of the stretch/shortening cycle.....as Corlay has suggested, it is the main component in Bow-Flex-Bow.
Dougs pitcher desperately needed to work on this.....my guess is that she had some poor instruction early in her career (pre-Doug) that caused her to remain so open.
I've attached a quick clip of "Glove Whirl" to help with the explanation.
[video]https://youtu.be/-kYv0mhNAek[/video]
 
Jun 18, 2012
3,183
48
Utah
And this is what I see as a main old memory issue, one that is hard to rid herself of----her right hip collapses immediately after landing, resulting in disconnection. The knee-kick drill (Pauly) is one of the things we are using to help with the new memory (you can see her utilizing it in the second part of the clip). Hopefully, she can eventually get it to her game pitching.


 
Last edited:
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
practice vs. game motions is a great idea fora thread :) night and day for 100% of my students :):)

That's a bit reassuring since my DD throws way slower in games. Nerves? Being overly careful to hit the strike zone? I guess it's probably a combo of those 2. Anyway.
 
Apr 12, 2015
792
93
That's a bit reassuring since my DD throws way slower in games. Nerves? Being overly careful to hit the strike zone? I guess it's probably a combo of those 2. Anyway.

Incredibly common with new pitchers. Break the habit early by having her start throwing all out to at least one batter per inning. Results don't matter, just have her throw her hardest against one batter. Once she can do this, go to two batters, than an inning, than a game.
 

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