Good vids that breakdown throwdown mechanics?

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Apr 16, 2013
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My DD is mainly a C, 1B, and sometimes OF. In baseball she was a catcher, mainly secondary, and her sole job was to let nothing get past her. She's good at that. However, she doesn't have strong throwdown skills, at least on the stopwatch. This past weekend she did a prospect camp at a school she's highly interested in. Her times were in the 2.0 range. Sadly, this is the ONLY thing they did for catchers. Didn't matter that she's a wall and has single digits for passed balls allowed for an entire year in her stats. :( Thing is, the hardest thing to get as a catcher, her arm, was super strong. (I even saw the coaches turn around and start talking about it, overheard one say something like "Didn't see that coming.") I don't want to use the word "cannon", but visually, she had the strongest, or at LEAST top 3, arms of the entire group. There was one girl there that got in the 1.6 range. My DD's arm was as strong, if not stronger, than hers. So her throw down issues are 100% in her footwork and mechanics before that. She wants to go back next year and impress the hell out of them and also show a progression of work over this year. Are there any GOOD videos I should be looking at that really breaks things down step by step? Free or even buy something, though I'm certainly not looking for a whole SET. Thanks guys/gals.
 

#10

Jun 24, 2011
398
28
909
This is the first video that I applied with DD when she was nine, and rewatching it sums up her throwing approach to this day. She'll be signing her NLI to a D1 school next month, so it's helped the cause! Quick release, bounce from stance to throwing in one motion, release point and staying compact are the takeaways. Hope this helps!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOkGosoTKNs
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
This is the first video that I applied with DD when she was nine, and rewatching it sums up her throwing approach to this day. She'll be signing her NLI to a D1 school next month, so it's helped the cause! Quick release, bounce from stance to throwing in one motion, release point and staying compact are the takeaways. Hope this helps!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOkGosoTKNs

I would add some further details to this...

The right foot should plant under the hips, with the instep facing the target. Rotating so far that the right foot plants in line with the left foot not only costs time, but can cause throwing accuracy issues. We also don't want to jab-step forward. "Gaining ground" is not gaining time.

The transfer should be happening in front of the chest (centerline of the body), not up by the ear. Transfer in front of your chest, and separate the hands from that point.

If your primary throwing style is from your feet, you should be using a secondary receiving stance stance in throwing situations.

There are a LOT of small factors that can ruin being quick from catch to release - slow feet, poor foot placement, slow hands, improper transfer location, long hand path, poor throwing sequence, stance issues, etc., etc.
 
Last edited:

#10

Jun 24, 2011
398
28
909
The transfer should be happening in front of the chest (centerline of the body), not up by the ear. Transfer in front of your chest, and separate the hands from that point.
I disagree. When done at game speed, bringing the mitt to the ear to creates coiled torque in the core and shaves tenths off of throw times.
 
Apr 16, 2013
1,113
83
Here's a live throw down and a skills video throw down. The live throwdown isn't anything special, it's just one I can remember and easily find of the massive amount of videos I have because she hit several HR's that day. (Our skills video is just her and I, no budget, no frills. This is just one throwdown pulled out of the whole video.) She gets a LOT of runners because of her accuracy, above all else. She throws strikes from 90ft over and over again, probably from her years being a baseball pitcher.

https://youtu.be/lxA0Q1_FbUk

I'm having trouble really nailing down one issue to just concentrate on. For one, she's a NECC student that keeps the hand behind the glove. This was reinforced at a camp where the JMU coach said she has her catchers keep the hand behind the glove ALWAYS, runner on or not. My DD took that advice. Sadly, a coach told her not to do that at her prospect camp this past weekend. :( IDK what's "right". Two, she has a weird kind of "double arm cock". Long story behind that, but I don't know if that is seriously slowing things down, or if it's more footwork related. I just want a list of things to work on, 1 by 1, over the winter and next year. It may not be that easy, but it might be that easy. :)
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
I disagree. When done at game speed, bringing the mitt to the ear to creates coiled torque in the core and shaves tenths off of throw times.

We will just have to disagree on this issue, then. IMO, bringing the mitt to the right side of the body is unnecessary travel. Transferring in front of the chest creates a shorter and quicker pattern. This is the way my DD was instructed by a former top-D1/Team USA/NPF catcher. It's also what I see from the best in MLB. Here's a few guys who do it pretty well...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtH2ZMhIJzg

justanotherguy - Lots to be learned from the above video - footwork, etc.
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
Here's a live throw down and a skills video throw down. The live throwdown isn't anything special, it's just one I can remember and easily find of the massive amount of videos I have because she hit several HR's that day. (Our skills video is just her and I, no budget, no frills. This is just one throwdown pulled out of the whole video.) She gets a LOT of runners because of her accuracy, above all else. She throws strikes from 90ft over and over again, probably from her years being a baseball pitcher.

https://youtu.be/lxA0Q1_FbUk

I'm having trouble really nailing down one issue to just concentrate on. For one, she's a NECC student that keeps the hand behind the glove. This was reinforced at a camp where the JMU coach said she has her catchers keep the hand behind the glove ALWAYS, runner on or not. My DD took that advice. Sadly, a coach told her not to do that at her prospect camp this past weekend. :( IDK what's "right". Two, she has a weird kind of "double arm cock". Long story behind that, but I don't know if that is seriously slowing things down, or if it's more footwork related. I just want a list of things to work on, 1 by 1, over the winter and next year. It may not be that easy, but it might be that easy. :)

Here's the things that jump out at me first...

Feet - Her foot placement is good, but it could be a lot faster. Think of her feet moving to the rhythm of a song. Speed up the song. For some players, changing the speed of their internal clock is really hard. It's going to take work.

Throwing hand - Watch what her throwing hand/arm does. She transfers and brings the ball up and back with her hand, and then her elbow pulls back to load for the throw. That's the "double arm cock" you're seeing. Have her work on separating from the transfer by pulling back with her elbow, rather than with her hand.

The top half and bottom half must be in sync. Speeding up one might help speed up the other, or it might not. Often, it's the slow half that is forcing the other half to wait in order to be in sequence for the throw release. In your DD's case, I suspect that her arm pattern might be the primary culprit for the slow pattern. Work on both top and bottom.
 
Apr 16, 2013
1,113
83
Here's the things that jump out at me first...

Feet - Her foot placement is good, but it could be a lot faster. Think of her feet moving to the rhythm of a song. Speed up the song. For some players, changing the speed of their internal clock is really hard. It's going to take work.

Throwing hand - Watch what her throwing hand/arm does. She transfers and brings the ball up and back with her hand, and then her elbow pulls back to load for the throw. That's the "double arm cock" you're seeing. Have her work on separating from the transfer by pulling back with her elbow, rather than with her hand.

The top half and bottom half must be in sync. Speeding up one might help speed up the other, or it might not. Often, it's the slow half that is forcing the other half to wait in order to be in sequence for the throw release. In your DD's case, I suspect that her arm pattern might be the primary culprit for the slow pattern. Work on both top and bottom.

Thanks Eric. I'm trying to come up with a "plan of attack" for this. I think she's kind of pumped to work hard on this after this past weekend's results. She doesn't like being shown up. LOL While her arm strength isn't out of this world, I believe she's capable of 1.7 times. Just got to cut the slack out here and repeat over and over again to ingrain muscle memory. I just wish there was as good of talk about this as there is batting mechanics!
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
Thanks Eric. I'm trying to come up with a "plan of attack" for this. I think she's kind of pumped to work hard on this after this past weekend's results. She doesn't like being shown up. LOL While her arm strength isn't out of this world, I believe she's capable of 1.7 times. Just got to cut the slack out here and repeat over and over again to ingrain muscle memory. I just wish there was as good of talk about this as there is batting mechanics!

More people focus on hitting. Everyone's kid is a hitter. Only the awesome ones are catchers. ;)

Muscle memory problems are hard to change. Be relentless about making her practice the correct movements.
 

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