Dropball

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Aug 3, 2019
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Well, we did face a 11 year old girl throwing 57mph in the fall. Although she did get hit pretty hard a couple games, so I think she must not have had a lot of movement. But that is what I'd call elite speed. Supposedly there is a 12-year old girl in the area throwing 60 as well. We didn't face them, but that team was dominant.
What area of NJ are you in? What program does she play for?
 
Apr 12, 2015
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You make no sense. You say she has to throw it 500 times a week, then you say I'll burn her out. Completely contradictory. Also doing something wrong over and over does not help anything, just creates the wrong muscle memory.
The bolded parts are what makes it non-contradictory. If you can't understand that subtlety, you might be in for a long journey.

When she decides she wants to throw a proper drop ball, she will put in the work to do it.

Until that decision happens, no cajoling or prodding from you will do a thing.

I think that is the part you don't understand.

You may have some degree of control over her practice schedule now because, well, she's 11. It will be a completely different story in 3 years.

So yes, if you are consistently trying to force her to do something she doesn't want to do, there's a good chance she'll be spending freshman year hanging out with her boyfriend rather than playing softball. If you instead just support her decisions, then there is a better than good chance she'll develop into the athlete you want.

On a separate note:
I tell her to spin it off her two fingers at practice, or throw a fastball but spin it off your two fingers. She’s also tried quickly rolling over her hand.
The bolded part is correct. The blue part is ridiculous. As is the concept of "peeling up" on the ball.

Honestly, she probably already throws a drop with her base fastball. Most do if they are throwing with halfway decent mechanics. All that needs to be done is get the spin going the right way.

Seriously, just get some stripes on the ball. Work on getting her basic IR to generate spin that looks like the spin in this post:


Once you have that, you'll have a drop ball better than most. Key is not to overthink it too much.
 
Nov 18, 2015
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Did we ever determine what direction of spin she was actually getting on the drop? And on her FB? I know NJD mentioned the FB sometimes tails - but when it doesn’t, is it 12-6 or bullet?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
May 15, 2008
1,913
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Cape Cod Mass.
You should post some video of her 'fastballs' and alternate them with her 'drop'. With that high right shoulder at release I wouldn't be surprised if sometimes she gets on top of the ball early and comes over it. This will take some speed off and give the ball a little drop-curve spin.
 
Jan 6, 2018
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Thanks, do you think she’s peeling the ball in the video? I tell her to spin it off her two fingers at practice, or throw a fastball but spin it off your two fingers. She’s also tried quickly rolling over her hand. Whatever she’s doing in the video I’d like to have her try and practice that.

Here are the pitches full speed.


A "peel" is more of a hello elbow mechanic, but the cue for her to "peel" is an effective one regardless. "Rolling" over can also be a good cue too, but it doesn't necessarily achieve what you think on the surface. The idea is to "roll" over, but what the cue really achieves is more effort in the I/R phase...as does the idea of "peeling." The "rolling" or "peel" cue can also get the little shoulder pull you see in some of the pitches.

In my experience I ask the girls to feel it burn the finger tips. If we're 30 minutes in and they aren't complaining about their middle finger tip burning they aren't working hard enough on spin. Also why you need a tool to measure spin. When I started I literally put a big black dot on one side and a stripe on the other and count the rotations on the way down.
 
Feb 25, 2020
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She holds a 2lb plyo ball like she would a softball and spins it off her finger evenly has fast a she can to get forward spin.

Ahhhh. I think you might have been missing spin axis in your practice. I'm not sure if the plyo thing is good or bad or neither.

But, I don't think you need to teach her a "Drop". Just give her a stripey ball(or dot ball) and tell her you want to see a nice tight line on her FB. Spin axis should be a source of constant critique IMO. If you get nasty(bad) spin(wobbly line/gyroscope) you should let her know it was no good(or ask her if she thought it was good or not). And likewise if she throws a perfect 12-6 tight line that is really snappy, ask her if she noticed how much the pitch moved and how the spin was.

Looks like she is doing really well. But everyone should know how their pitches spin. Every time. Goes for both Bucket Dad and pitcher I think.
 
Nov 22, 2019
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You should post some video of her 'fastballs' and alternate them with her 'drop'. With that high right shoulder at release I wouldn't be surprised if sometimes she gets on top of the ball early and comes over it. This will take some speed off and give the ball a little drop-curve spin
Did we ever determine what direction of spin she was actually getting on the drop? And on her FB? I know NJD mentioned the FB sometimes tails - but when it doesn’t, is it 12-6 or bullet?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

video of random practice FBs.

 
Jan 6, 2018
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video of random practice FBs.


You are so far ahead of the game at this age…focus on the FSR and here’s the cue I’d use to turn that “fastball” into a “drop ball:” Get your thumb off the ball faster and hide your throwing shoulder. The taller she gets (FSR) the better the release angle. The better she keeps her shoulders behind her hips the better her brush will be.

Helpful way to get the thumb off the ball is to cup it a little instead of squeezing it. Depends on her hands of course. (Move the thumb closer to the index finger) Just some stuff to try!
 

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