DD wants to pitch...opinions needed.

[MK37]

I would appreciate opinions of my DD's pitching. We have try outs soon and she wants to pitch. She is 11 playing first year 12U right now. She elected to stay on current team for this TB season knowing she wouldn't pitch. Coach only uses two girls to pitch. We went into this season with eyes wide open. Deal was, if she wanted to pitch, she would have to try out for other teams. Thank you

[video=youtube_share;4LB343kdOfE]http://youtu.be/4LB343kdOfE[/video]

 

[tojo]

If she wants to pitch, I would support her. I don't know how much instruction she has or how long she has been pitching. I like her frame for a pitcher. She appears to be a beginning pitcher and needs some fine tuning. But if she has the desire and is willing to do the hard work that it takes, I would definitely support her. As far as going to another team, if she enjoys playing with team and the other pitchers are more advanced and doing their jobs and she is learning the game, I would encourage her to work hard and improve her pitching skills and when she gets the oppurtunity to pitch, she wants to be as ready as possible.
Your DD needs to take lessons on a regular basis and "go for it".

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Man that looks like a big glove. 13 or 13.5 inch? Does she field good with it?

It may be me and being in the heat today, her stride looks like she is off time and "throwing" late with sequence?

 

[Amy in AZ.]

The second pitch was awful and she knew it. Based on the the first and third pitch, I see some natural talent. Did she get this far from watching the Hillhouse Youtube videos?

 

[Red504]

She needs to stand tall and not scrunch down. She gets sideways, but looks like she is finishing there too. Get her to drag her tow and finish square. It will add accuracy and a little speed to her pitch. Like stated above, if she likes playing on the team she is on, have her stay and keep plugging away on her pitching. If she gets to the point where she can pitch as good or better than the regular pitchers, ask the coach to give her a shot. 12U is a hard age and seems to be where the talented pitchers start to shine.

 

[MK37]

Man that looks like a big glove. 13 or 13.5 inch? Does she field good with it?

It may be me and being in the heat today, her stride looks like she is off time and "throwing" late with sequence?

Glove is a 12" and does better with it than her old glove. Might be the video versus live. I see others noticed this with another girl on a different thread.

I think you're right that the stride is off. It appears to me she is dragging her toe too hard which is slowing her down.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

She is landing on her front heal. Have her land on her toe. Then, the heal drops. Her balance would be off and she is shortening her stride, because of the heal thing.

 

[Ken B]

I liked the first pitch. Looked like she was a little more explosive off the rubber and the release looked loose. The last pitch seemed less energetic and the follow through forced (might have been aiming?)

 

[YOCOACH]

I am not a PC. With that disclaimer, DD is a pitcher who sees Bill Hillhouse (which seems to be the style she is learning) on a weekly basis for lessons and has done so for a pretty good length of time. That being said, I have a pretty good grasp of what he teaches so here are some things I noticed. First pitch looked the best. Was she throwing a fastball? If so, her fingers need to be behind the ball pointing at the ground as opposed to coming around and over the top. Second pitch was the worst IMO. Not only was her hand not behind the ball, her elbow was too far away from her body. Her arm should be brushing her ear at the top of the circle and her elbow should be brushing her belly at the snap point. I would lay money that this pitch was way inside. On all of the pitches, she seems to be closing early which hurts her not only on accuracy but speed as well. I think this may be due to her front foot landing straight and on the heel facing towards the plate as opposed to on the toes/inside ball of the foot and at a 45 degree angle. Also, she tends to lean a bit and needs to stand tall and open through the snap. These are all small issues which can be fixed with practice. I would definitely encourage her to continue if she is willing to put in the work. There seems to be some real natural talent there.

 

[jdcii]

Bill does not throw a fastball nor does he encourage throwing a fastball. Fastball being a single plane flat pitch. If she wants to pitch take her to some tryouts and see what she is made of. If she makes a team as a pitcher great. If not, continue practicing for next year's tryouts. I for one am not comfortable speaking for Bill's teachings. Although, I have been after him for years now to give me the Bill Hillhouse certification card, lol. Until then, if it doesn't come from Bill directly I'd take it for what it's worth.