pitch placement

What are the theories on putting the pitch where you want it? 9y/o DD is progressing nicely and now I'm thinking about this next mission. I searched DFP and didn't really find anything. Is it where you line up on the mound, how you move forward, how you twist your upper body, how you angle your arm, what?
thanks.

At 9 years old I am going to assume your DD is just throwing fastballs. One of the things we did early on was get a spool of string and run a piece of string from both side of the plate and from the center of the plate to the middle of the pitching plate. This helps demonstrate how a minor adjustment in her footwork will result in major adjustments 35' away.

Front foot dictates were ball is going. At 9 DD used her foot to mark the power line in the dirt.

DD says it's in the front foot. She knows better than I do.

Let's look at the facts about pitch placement:

A plate is 17 inches wide. A ball is 12 inches. Your DD will throw the pitch about 40 feet away...or, 480 inches. That means the angle between an inside pitch and outside pitch is about 5 degrees. Put your hand out in front of you, palm down. Rotate your hand until your hand is sideways. That is *90* degrees. So, a 5 degree movement is less than 10% of that movement. Try to move your hand 5 degrees. Now, think about doing that at 50MPH.

This is only for left-to-right movement. We haven't even gotten to vertical location of a pitch.

The point? It is impossible for anyone to come up with a set of instructions to teach your DD to place a pitch.

There is one and only one person who can teach your DD how to place a pitch: Your DD.

How does your DD learn how to place a pitch? Practice, practice, practice. She has to learn how to move the ball around the strike zone.

I'll even go further...telling your DD specific ways to move her wrist, arm, legs or body does more harm than good. (To be clear...there is "the pitching motion" which has to be taught...brush interference, internal rotation, and good leg drive.

"Control" is learned by practice...over and over and over again. Repetition...repetition...repetition. It is boring, tedious work.

Front foot dictates were ball is going. At 9 DD used her foot to mark the power line in the dirt.

Click to expand...

No it doesn't.

cvsoftball said:

What are the theories on putting the pitch where you want it? .

Click to expand...

By throwing 10k pitches. No secrets, just lots of practice.

Yes it does?

I have a right-handed pitcher who strides a bit to her right when throwing her drop-curve (off-speed) and her rise-curve (faster). So is this counter to the stride foot dictates where ball goes? I think it is (somewhat). She strides a bit right to increase the angle of these two curve pitches.

I think a lot of factors come into play in what dictates ball direction, but for me I believe it's the release point relative to body orientation (Of course, body orientation includes the front foot). Of course, what pitch is being thrown would be a pretty big determinant.

Someone on here posted about a drill for in and out location and it really helped DD as already pointed out 17" is very little change at 40 ft. If your on bucket and set up outside but way out like a foot or two. Then do the same on inside. Now they can feel the big adjustment. Then move back in closer to the edges. It helped her "feel" the difference between in and out. I was told once to steer with the stride foot and disagree with it like others do. Reps are the key. DD throws a roll over drop pc had her stand half way between plate and rubber. From k postion roll over ball throwing it downward make it bounce to me. Basically exaggeration of what it should feel like.

The same as the overhand throw. It should have nothing to do with stepping left or right of an imaginary line.