“Stay Tall”

Hillhouse said:

I apologize, I didn't read all 4 pages of this so pardon me if it's been said already: the #1 cause for a lean forward is the front knee bending. Straighten that, the body will erect itself. STRAIGHT, not LOCKED. Nothing should be locked out. She may need verbal cues like, keep the chin behind the bellybutton at release.

For Houston, Bobby Smith is the man. Was a great pitcher in his youth (still pitches in the over 60 divisions) and Cat Osterman says he is the difference in what separated her from other pitchers.

Bill

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I have experience here and will say that I would not recommend Bobby for girls newer to pitching that need work on basic mechanics like this girl needs. He is good with spins and using the fingers etc.... but I have seen several girls pitch just like this girl who have taken lessons from Bobby for over a year and it goes uncorrected. I would recommend him only for more advanced pitchers who already have good mechanics that need help on spin pitches. He has a lot of good advice in that arena, although I will warn, he does teach to wave bye-bye to the second baseman on a fastball which means the palm is facing down at 8 o'clock.

If you pay close attention to what Cat says, she always says that he taught her how to spin the ball. She already had good mechanics when she did lessons with him.

Texas McE said:

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I think if you fix that soft front leg you fix the other issues you asked about.

texasheat said:

I have experience here and will say that I would not recommend Bobby for girls newer to pitching that need work on basic mechanics like this girl needs. He is good with spins and using the fingers etc.... but I have seen several girls pitch just like this girl who have taken lessons from Bobby for over a year and it goes uncorrected. I would recommend him only for more advanced pitchers who already have good mechanics that need help on spin pitches. He has a lot of good advice in that arena, although I will warn, he does teach to wave bye-bye to the second baseman on a fastball which means the palm is facing down at 8 o'clock.

If you pay close attention to what Cat says, she always says that he taught her how to spin the ball. She already had good mechanics when she did lessons with him.

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Ok, fair enough, interesting take. Regarding Cat, I am sure Cat was already a good pitcher with good mechanics. I just find it interesting that she distinguished Bobby from other coaches. Lord knows, I too have had girls come to me who were going to be great pitchers regardless of whether they came to me for lessons. I'd like to think I can make them better but they are going to pitch at a D1 Power 5 school with or without me... lets be honest. Too his credit, I have never heard Bobby take credit for Cat's success. Same cannot be said for others who have taken credit, or never corrected the facts, when someone attributes an Olympic pitcher's success to a coach incorrectly.

I think this is an important problem to discuss: finding a pitching coach for basics that will ALLOW the pitcher to continue with someone like Bobby Smith. I don't mean "permission" type allowance. I mean, it doesn't do someone any good to go to someone like Bobby if they have 4-5 years ingrained with Hello Elbow mechanics. Speaking from experience, in many cases when I get new students a good portion is spent "unlearning" what they did before which will prohibit them from throwing a riseball (for example). Learning how to spin the ball with bad mechanics is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. So I am guessing a good portion of Bobby's lessons are similar to mine, getting pitchers out of habits and mechanics that are hurting them.

Bill

chinamigarden said:

I think if you fix that soft front leg you fix the other issues you asked about.

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Thanks

It's a good thing you are looking for another pitching coach!

Start with the legs, she's bending the landing leg and dragging her drive leg, the two are related. I think the drive leg is the first issue, it's acting as an anchor. Sometimes a fear of being called illegal for leaping, or working with a coach who stresses dragging the push off foot can lead to that 'long' trailing leg that she has.

Something very simple that I've seen our PC use with a couple girls who we're leaning forward, was a pool noodle. Watch her pitch and note where her leading hip (left side for a righty) finishes. Hold a pool noodle in this same position but at chest or even chin height, have her pitch with with enough drive to get her leading hip back to (or even just under the noodle) but to not let her chest touch it. Don't have the noodle extend all the way across her so that it doesn't interfere with her arm circle.

The suggestions mentioned earlier are certainly addressing the root problem (drive mechanics, front side collapse, stride leg needs to come up during launch and land firmer, etc) and are where I'd start as well, but the noodle may give her a better visual cue or reference point. Example, using chin height, her eyes should finish above the noodle and chin just behind. If she doesn't mind pushing the noodle out of the way using her face, use a bat instead of a noodle

Thanks to everyone that has replied. A lot of really good suggestions. We had a lesson last night, and I reinforced with the PC that this is something we need to fix so let’s focus exclusively on getting this addressed. There was some improvement, and we have a long way to go.

Also core strength helps too
Core can never be too strong

It looks like her back leg doesn't drag up at all. It's more of a step and pitch and after the ball is gone do some leg work. If she can get her drag leg under her she will get taller.

For a different take on this very common issue, take a look at Boardmember’s posts in the below thread, particularly number 11. It took longer than 15 minutes (more like a week, throwing only into a tarp), but learning to release the ball at the rear hip (with brush) was a virtually instant fix for my DD when she was a first year 12.