Critique my 12u pitcher
- Thread starter Bjones80
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- Apr 17, 2019
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dumb question... but if you're fighting the leaping issue... is that a broomstick that she has to ... leap over?
Only thing I'm seeing as relates to locating - is she seems to be allowing the shoulders to rotate quite a lot after release (not stabilizing as much as she could), but the way she's doing it looks to me like she'd have trouble going in on a righty, not out. (unless you mean she's missing outside?)
How does she think about locating pitches? Maybe as simple as thinking about a powerline going to that part of the plate, and directing the arm over that powerline, rather than the one right down the middle.
Only thing I'm seeing as relates to locating - is she seems to be allowing the shoulders to rotate quite a lot after release (not stabilizing as much as she could), but the way she's doing it looks to me like she'd have trouble going in on a righty, not out. (unless you mean she's missing outside?)
How does she think about locating pitches? Maybe as simple as thinking about a powerline going to that part of the plate, and directing the arm over that powerline, rather than the one right down the middle.
The stick was just something I put down for her to try and drag it. As far as missing location, she’s leaving everything to the right side of the plate from the pitchers perspective. I had to set up in the opposite batters box last night before she finally started hitting the outside corner. Maybe you’re on to something with visualizing the power line to the spot. I’ve asked her is she’s trying to guide the pitch but she’s 12 and already knows everything.
With young pitchers would try to fix one thing at a time. Otherwise you can confuse them. Personally i'd start with having her work on the lock-it-in drill. Will create whip. Her arm is pretty straight throughout the circle. You can find examples of the drill in this forum. Also a quick fix is a little less on the back swing. If you go too far it pulls you out of your scaps which create a lot of power loss.
BigSkyHi
All I know is I don't know
- Jan 13, 2020
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hope you see something here that helps
I see that my dd is not pushing straight over the toes. She looks to be turning the foot before it ever leaves the rubber.
BigSkyHi
All I know is I don't know
- Jan 13, 2020
- 1,385
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Is she missing outside for a ball?
I think your DD is doing a lot of things right and, overall, looks good.
I agree with trying to fix one thing at a time, especially at a younger age. Make one key correction the area of focus. If you do, you might be surprised how relatively quickly you can sort it out.
I've said this before, but I think something that really helps is dry pitching. It removes all focus on location and result. As part of a warm up at the start of each practice and as part of a cool down at the end, have her do, say, 10-15 full pitches off the rubber without a ball. Tell her the only thing you want her to focus on is trying to keep her drive foot shoelaces to the catcher and feeling her drive foot toenails or the inside of her big toe scraping across the ground. Each time she does it correctly praise her. You could progress on this drill by having her do the same thing with a wiffle ball or a lite flite ball before you progress back to doing it with a standard ball. You will probably need to do hundreds of such reps correctly before it hopefully clicks in, but that might only take a month to get to. When my daughter was 11U or 12U, she had a really bad zombie foot problem--drive foot anchor. I took something like the approach above and we totally fixed it in about a month or two.
The other thing I would suggest is having her think about taking her stride leg knee straight toward the catcher rather than thinking about reaching out or kicking out with her stride leg. Just have her think about getting off the rubber and straight down the powerline as quickly as possible and her body will do what it needs to get into position for toe touch and foot plant.
I agree with trying to fix one thing at a time, especially at a younger age. Make one key correction the area of focus. If you do, you might be surprised how relatively quickly you can sort it out.
I've said this before, but I think something that really helps is dry pitching. It removes all focus on location and result. As part of a warm up at the start of each practice and as part of a cool down at the end, have her do, say, 10-15 full pitches off the rubber without a ball. Tell her the only thing you want her to focus on is trying to keep her drive foot shoelaces to the catcher and feeling her drive foot toenails or the inside of her big toe scraping across the ground. Each time she does it correctly praise her. You could progress on this drill by having her do the same thing with a wiffle ball or a lite flite ball before you progress back to doing it with a standard ball. You will probably need to do hundreds of such reps correctly before it hopefully clicks in, but that might only take a month to get to. When my daughter was 11U or 12U, she had a really bad zombie foot problem--drive foot anchor. I took something like the approach above and we totally fixed it in about a month or two.
The other thing I would suggest is having her think about taking her stride leg knee straight toward the catcher rather than thinking about reaching out or kicking out with her stride leg. Just have her think about getting off the rubber and straight down the powerline as quickly as possible and her body will do what it needs to get into position for toe touch and foot plant.
No... she can’t seem to get the ball outside enough, everything is missing inside or getting left directly down the middle.
BigSkyHi
All I know is I don't know
- Jan 13, 2020
- 1,385
- 113
