The dang curve ball spin

[FSP POPZ]

My dd is 11 and she throws strikes, throws for an excellent speed, but all of my research say that curve ball spin is wrong. Should I fix it or try to? We have been tryong to fix it, when she gets the spin right I see no increase in speed. It may be something that I am just obsessing on. I don't want to mess her up. Im not sure whats causing it but I believe that shes to worried about getting to palm down...and holds on to long and misses that last whip!

I tried some of hillhouses stuff and it just didn't work...I tried to get her to stop obsessing with palm down and finish to opposite shoulder, that was a disaster as she started to throw around her body...not in a good way..almost like side arm and way away from her body. Not saying his stuff doesn't work but it just hasn't for us!

Any advise or just a leave it alone opinion is appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[dbias]

If its not working it needs to be fixed now. Fixing it later will be even harder. Not sure what is meant by palm down. My DD throws hers palm up and any spin pitch will be slightly slower than her fastball.

 

[JJsqueeze]

in a nutshell, yes you should fix it, and the fix should be pretty easy if she has a good set of mechanics. I think pitchers at this age can easily get some of their hand positions confused as they try to learn new pitches. Practice a riseball too much and pretty soon your fastball starts to get more bullet spin, throw a drop curve enough and and your changeup starts to gain a little speed. Video would be helpful to get to the root of it.

 

[Jojo]

FSP, I'm trying to picture this without a video, so I'm imagining she is coming down into release palm up (hand under the ball) then at release she is still under the ball and she is cutting into her body achieving curve spin.

One question is you said she already throws a curve ball, so is her curve and fastball now the same pitch?

 

[JJsqueeze]

My goodness isn't that the truth! Its like you train them and then re train them and then start over again! Im just glad to hear someone else has the problems also...I think she just has a habit of turning her hand over to get to palm down/ turn the hand over a bit while the Balls still in hand and get that slight tilt for the curve spin! I mean what else could it be?

Her hand is getting outside the ball but the why is where the video will help. Is she getting outside the ball because she is pushing down the circle? Is she getting outside the ball because she doesn't brush so when she releases late the hand has already turned? Is she death gripping the ball so the muscles are releasing a tad late?

My guess is that she just isn't brushing. This is just based on the spin you describe and how often I see pitchers without any brush contact. One of the great things about brush is that if your hand is outside the ball you get instant feedback in the form of a painful thigh whack with a not so soft ball-they learn to keep the pinky leading pretty quickly. Then the struggle is to remove bullet spin.

 

[JJsqueeze]

What JOJO said is also a possibility, the tell will be whether or not the secondary component of the spin is more drop (hand outside) or bullety rise (palm up or fingers under)

 

[BoardMember]

Ok.........So you're saying her fastball has curve spin.......And you want to fix it......

She throws lots of strikes with "excellent speed" with her fastball......And you want to fix it.......

Because it has the EXACT SAME SPIN as her palm up curve.......

Oh wait, you didn't say that last thing, you only inferred it. By saying that her fastball has curveball spin....

So she either doesn't have a fastball, or she doesn't have a curveball.......Because they are exactly the same......OR......

What I'm trying to do for you here, is to get you to see/think more clearly, so you can make you own decisions about your DD.

Some fastballs have bullet spin. Some fastballs have inward-forward spin. Some fastballs look like drop-curves (sluggers DD) and one of my former students. Some fastballs are pure 6-12......and some are up-in scriseballs.

These are all referred to as fastballs because they are the best......fastest pitch the pitcher can throw.....

When you ask a high level pitcher "what pitch would you consider to be your fastball"..........You'll rarely get the same answer.

Hope this helps.....

 

[JJsqueeze]

I know my spins....its curveball spin for sure!

welcome back.

 

[JJsqueeze]

JJ

She is not brushing! This is a fact and we work on this! how would this contribute to the CB on her FB. Now that I think about it she does spin it properly when we exaggerate the brush when we drill it!

Without brush you can't control the timing of the release as accurately as possible. Without it the hand can be inside/behind/outside the ball, brush forces the hand to be inside because when the hand gets outside the ball it has a tendency to hit the thigh with great force and kids tend to remember this.

 

[riseball]

Without brush you can't control the timing of the release as accurately as possible. Without it the hand can be inside/behind/outside the ball, brush forces the hand to be inside because when the hand gets outside the ball it has a tendency to hit the thigh with great force and kids tend to remember this.

I have had the opportunity to see the Gators Lauren Haeger live several times this season. As with all elite pitchers what I immediately noticed is the remarkable consistency of her release and hand position at finish.