Pitching help needed.

[dpmde]

DD is 14 years old and been pitching about 4 years give or take. Switched to IR about a year ago. Speed was up around 50 to 52 when we made the switch, now anywhere around 47 to 50. Was making good progress until a few weeks ago she developed this release. We have been doing the 9 o'clock drill (the start here, not here drill) and the 12 o'clock drill and she looks fantastic and strong doing the drills it's only when she goes into her full pitch does this start to happen. I think she might be bending her elbow to much and leaning towards third some which hurts the brush. I've combed through a lot of the threads here, bought some of Rick Pauly's videos, and even had her in with an instructor for a couple of lessons that works some of the Pauly clinics to try and reinforce internal rotation and brush. Any and all help is appreciated.

Ps.- Not sure if I'm posting the video correctly, I might need more help than her.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hkz_Txd9_C8

 

[knightsb]

She doesn't understand armwhip.

1. She is short arm'ing up the front of the circle.

2. Her upper arm does not stabilize to facilitate the whip, and look at the position of her arm relative to her body.

 

[knightsb]

 

[Ken B]

Do you have any video from the side? If possible, use as much light as you can get and the highest camera settings possible. What pitch is she throwing in this clip?

 

[dpmde]

I'm not sure of the pitch, I believe she was throwing fastballs, but I might have caught her on a different pitch. This clip is from the side a couple of days earlier.

 

[Ken B]

Her drive looks pretty decent. The quality of the video is too low to make a decent assessment of the arm action. Try improving the lighting and using the highest settings on your device. Or, if you can borrow an iPhone 6--those things are awesome!

 

[sluggers]

Your DD looks like she could be pretty good.

KnightSB is on point, but let me elaborate just a bit.

Notice how far her right arm is from her body at release. Her right arm needs to be making contact with the body...that is called "brush interference". Brush interference is critical to become a good pitcher.

If there is no brush interference, the pitcher's control goes down the toilet. When that happens, the pitcher either slows down or she starts walking batters.

Here is Jenny Finch, possibly the best pitcher ever. Notice how her arm "brushes" against her leg.

<iframe src="//giphy.com/embed/l0NwPfawcWTvedLEY" width="480" height="360" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="http://giphy.com/gifs/softball-pitching-l0NwPfawcWTvedLEY">via GIPHY</a></p>


Your DD needs to think of bringing her body to her arm, *NOT* bringing her arm to her body.

The emphasis is on standing up straight and keeping the hips over the feet.

 

[Doug Romrell]

I prefer the label "brush-assisted arm-whip."

One cue that might help is to tell her the idea isn't to get the hip out of the way, it's to sort of get it into the way a bit.

 

[STRIKE3]

Your DD looks like she could be pretty good.

KnightSB is on point, but let me elaborate just a bit.

Notice how far her right arm is from her body at release. Her right arm needs to be making contact with the body...that is called "brush interference". Brush interference is critical to become a good pitcher.

If there is no brush interference, the pitcher's control goes down the toilet. When that happens, the pitcher either slows down or she starts walking batters.

Here is Jenny Finch, possibly the best pitcher ever. Notice how her arm "brushes" against her leg.

<iframe src="//giphy.com/embed/l0NwPfawcWTvedLEY" width="480" height="360" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a onclick="_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Outgoing', 'giphy.com', '/gifs/softball-pitching-l0NwPfawcWTvedLEY']);" href="http://giphy.com/gifs/softball-pitching-l0NwPfawcWTvedLEY">via GIPHY</a></p>


Your DD needs to think of bringing her body to her arm, *NOT* bringing her arm to her body.

The emphasis is on standing up straight and keeping the hips over the feet.

Absolutely excellent post Sluggers!!!!

 

[dpmde]

Thanks for all the replies. What really baffles me with her is that she looks pretty good through her warm up drills, she has decent posture and gets good brush. It's when she goes to her full pitch everything we have worked on and all the good things of her warm up drills fall apart and she starts to throw side arm. I'll have to see if I can borrow a better camera or phone and get some better video. We play this weekend so I'll see how she performs and if we can get some corrects after real time feedback.

Thanks, keep all the great information coming. I love this forum.