peel drop

Finally received my hillhouse dvd building the house today. Does anyone have more insight to the peel drop. 10u DD throws with IR naturally. She throws 42-44 mph with decent accuracy. At release should her hand be behind the ball so she can get the downward 6 to 12 rotation? How much drop should she be getting at 35 ft

Have to get the experts in on this but I'm not sure that's enough velocity to create spin/movement

You should see some drop at that speed. Don't worry too much about it, just watch the spin as it comes in. If you see nice tight vertical or near vertical spin she's doing fine.

Actually, the way Hillhouse teaches it, you do NOT pull up on the ball. You just release at the pocket. You don't shorten the stride, you don't get your weight over your front leg. You throw it just like a normal fastball, just release at the pocket. As far a spin, have your dd site with a ball while watching television, and spin the ball off her fingertips a hard as she can, up in the air.

Screwball said:

Just like getting the opposite spin on throwing overhand.

Click to expand...

This is all you need to know. Throw overhand. Now do the same thing with the pitch. Viola. It's not rocket surgery.

-W

If the pitcher never throws a fastball, and goes with a peel drop from day 1 (ala Hillhouse), then there is no need to adjust stride, since there's nothing to change from. There is an argument to be made that stride should never change, but it's a straw man argument for the sake of this thread.

-W

With the release being on the right pocket Is this a pitch that is thrown low in the strike zone and should drop out of the zone or can you start it middle of the zone and have it drop for a low called strike? If so seems like you would need to adjust the release point.

I guess what I'm asking is does it only get correct spin and movement if you release at right pocket.

I think the term "peel" drop is a misnomer. Even Screwball thinks you "pull up" on the ball. Nothing could be further from the truth. The ball is snapped and comes off of the finger tips. Pulling up on the ball is somewhat impossible given the speed of the arm coming through the circle. Watch Hillhouse throw the drop, he doesn't pull up and his ball goes down pretty well. I find it hard to believe that someone with 20 years of pitching experience thinks you pull up on the ball and that a "peel" drop does not have tight spin.

I think sometimes PC's use a somewhat inaccurate phrase to a student in trying to get the student to have their body accomplish something. The phrase "pull up on the ball" seems to get some students to get the ball off their fingers faster if their motion is correct. Allowing a literal translation of the phrase to bastardize the motion is where the problem comes in. Sluggers even wrote a bit on the need to get the ball out of the hand faster. Another PC I know uses the phrase "finish sooner". That "finish sooner" translates sometimes into the pitcher starting their release sooner (by the back hip) and getting it off their fingers quicker.

I don't know that telling a kid to "pull out on the upper part of the ball towards the catcher quickly with their fingertips right before and during release" would translate very well. Each student's mind is different and what phrases work for one doesn't necessarily work for all. That is where the good coach earns their keep. JMO as a bucket dad.