Any advice on daughters pitching

8 year old and 12 year old. Just looking for things to work on at home. thanks


Sara Pitching 2/25/13 - YouTube
Ashley Pitching 2/25/13 - YouTube

Lot to like on both. Both use hello elbow and both just kind of fall forward after release. There's experts that can give better assessments.

I like the strong drives, timing and use of the hands in the drive of both. Very impressive.

Not fond of the forced follow through of the knee/arm. Ashley seems to be squaring her body to the catcher at release. Sara has much better whip (and a huge glove!) Both seem to walk through the pitches. Sara stoops a little at release.

Good stuff!

Not sure i understand what your saying on the forced follow through of the knee/arm??
Saras glove is ashleys old one. sara has a new smaller on 11.5 but wont use it.
Also not sure what your saying with Sara stoops a little at release??
thanks for your advise.

Your 8 yo's form is incredible for her age, great job. Like one poster said, get rid of the 45 degree elbow bend after release and adjust the slight lean forward back a bit and your good to go. I teach my daughter to try and touch her left shoulder after release (righty)

bratswithbats said:

Not sure i understand what your saying on the forced follow through of the knee/arm??
Saras glove is ashleys old one. sara has a new smaller on 11.5 but wont use it.
Also not sure what your saying with Sara stoops a little at release??
thanks for your advise.

Click to expand...

Both kids appear to be forcing their follow through (elbow pointing to the catcher and hand going to the throwing shoulder.) Same with pivot foot knee (after release, the knee appears to be pulled forward in a forced manner.) Both "hello elbow" and driving the knee, and in some cases the hips/shoulders are occasionally taught, but in reality add nothing to the pitch. Some kids just do stuff and this may be their case. Watch the videos and pause right before release. Using the right arrow key on the keyboard, tap frame by frame to the end of the pitch. Both have beautiful releases that look loose/natural with the palm facing the torso, then both seem to make a conscious effort to pull their hands up to the throwing side shoulder. Ashley's is more pronounced. Both also seem to make a conscious effort to pull the knee around and point it to the catcher. Again, Ashley's seems more evident.

In my perfect world, nothing should be consciously added to a pitch after release. There is also no overwhelming evidence seen in high level pitchers that support these motions. My suggestion would be to work towards pitching into a firm front side—driving into the foot plant vs bleeding the body's energy around it.

While scrubbing through Sara's video, right at release it appears her torso is leaning towards the camera. I prefer a more upright finish. It might help to see video from behind or in front to confirm what I think I see.

Both of these kids seem to be well ahead and have major positives going for them. If left alone and allowed to continue with these weak points, they could still be kids who rise above the rest on their form strengths, athleticism and mental attitude. With some minor adjustments, they could have just that much more working for them and be excellent models for other pitchers to emulate.

Hope that helps,
Ken

She's gotta be happy with whatever glove she's using. If the new glove is potentially better, suggest she use it as often as possible to see if she can break it in and hopefully work for her. Otherwise, she prpobably needs to stick with what's comfortable.