Pitcher daughter can't throw overhand to first base

She has the yips. Try this: Go to a field and throw about a dozen balls all over the area she would normally field . You go to first base, she is at the pitcher's plate, and when you say go she runs up, picks up a ball and throws it to first as quickly as she can without thinking. Then she goes back and does it again and again. The speed is the key. Repeat as needed until she gets comfortable with it.

My younger daughter had that same issue for a while. This is what we did and it cured her pretty quickly.

Former HS baseball head coach, didn't coach for a year and one of my players make like 7 errors at 3rd base in one inning. He had always played 2nd base for me. Went back and coached the next year and moved him back to 2nd, he couldn't make a throw from 2nd but could from third (crazy). Had him go to the outfield and throw. Had him pitch. Had him turn double plays. Lots of movement plays and throw off balance. One day he just started throwing normal again.

I know a former pro that had the same problem and he told me that he went to throw the ball and the pitcher wasn't looking and stopped his throw and it hurt his arm. From then on if he had time to think about it he couldn't throw from fear of hurting his arm.

JennyB4Jennie said:

My daughter is having issues throwing overhand to first base. She is stressing about it really bad and wants to quit. Is there anyone out there who has dealt with this and can help? She had 1 coach a couple years ago make a REALLY big deal about one throwing error...it has now spiraled out of control. I don't want her to give up but she is embarrassed and is tired of the girls laughing about it behind her back. PLEASE HELP!!

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I would check to make sure she is mechanically sound 1st. Make sure she is turning in the correct direction to field the ball most efficiently/effectively. Make sure she is planting her feet and stepping toward her target. Proper arm angle/arm slot. If all that looks good
I would suggest setting-up a 7x7 sock net at 1st. Hit her ground balls all around the pitching circle.
Hit her balls with different time intervals in between. We don’t want her to get into a rhythm just yet.If she has success make the target smaller. Use one of those pole fishing nets or put an empty bucket over a broom stick and see if she can hit the bucket or come close.
If she does well and shows improvement try a player over at 1st receiving balls.
If she struggles with the nets/bucket try hitting balls to her in rapid succession so she is just reacting and not over thinking her movements.
If she shows improvement with rapid ground balls move on to nets/bucket.

Jog toward 1st and underhand the ball while jogging...…..Or...…...Shuffle-Shuffle-Overhand Toss. NOT THROW.......TOSS.

The 2nd shuffle being the most important.

Get her doing something besides just "throwing the ball"...….

Play catch. Play lots of catch.

I think every pitcher goes through this at some point. The only solution is to practice it enough, that the anxiety of making a bad throw is gone.

I remember that one pitcher (not Ueno) of Japan national team pitched a ball to first base in a recent game against Team USA? So is it really an issue ?

My DD had the same problem. She'd launch a ball over the 1st basemen head when the batter was literally two steps out of the batters box. Really just need to slow down. Pitcher really shouldn't be fielding anything unless it is hit directly to them.

I told my DD when a ball is hit back, take a quick breath before throwing and set her feet. Has made no errors since starting to do that.

My DD that pitches throws lasers to first. The first baseman is her sister and you can see after a hard throw, they have “discussions” about how hard to throw the ball 45 ft away.

She played SS and third when she wasn’t pitching until this year, now she’s playing second and her throws have more touch on them.

My recommendation is similar to those before.

1. Place balls all over the area that she is likely to field one and have her start on the rubber, run to the ball and make a throw go first...use a bownet to stop the balls.
2. work on the shuffle. Field ball bring ball to belly button while shuffling toward the target, second shuffle and throw. helps ensure they are getting in the right position to throw and slows them down.
3. play catch from 40 ft away...slow tosses. It will be weird at first because of the short distance, but throw lots of balls.

The main thing is reps, she has to get confident making the throw...don’t correct or say anything beside stuff like “keep working”. She already knows how to throw, it’s likely mental and you should just encourage her to work through it. I know it’s frustrating, but reps will sort it out.

Just recently discussed with my pitchers that I would like to see them get out on the field quickly and throw a couple balls overhand to a teammate each inning. Pitcher goes through warmups and each inning...could be an hour since they last threw a ball overhand...while they've used a different set of muscles throwing a 100 balls "underhand". To hopefully relieve any anxiety over this situation, I'm looking for my pitchers to get some overhand throws in during games. If not on the field...on the side when they come off.