New pitcher. Natural IR? What to do next?

Looking for some "next steps" on a potential pitcher.

She's a Freshman, never played before this HS season, and a couple weeks ago she wanted to try pitching so after practice she was just throwing with one of the other girls. Looked to me like she had a natural IR delivery. I had never worked with her before, so the idea that maybe she was a natural was exciting.

So, a couple questions since I'm still a novice with pitching.

First, is this truly IR? It looks like it to me. She has that whip. I won't argue there are perfect mechanics, but I *think* I don't have to teach her that part. Maybe just reinforce with some of the drills from BM and Java (lock it in, etc.)?

If she's doing that part correctly, what's the next step? I've read through a lot of the sticky threads here, but I don't really know what to do with her next. Drive mechanics? Just keep working on the arm motion? Something else? Should I make sure she can just accurately play catch underhand before doing anything else?

And, one last question: At what point should I let her pitch to hitters? My big concern is not poor performance, but I don't want her developing bad habits.

(I do have guardian permission to post the video, in case anybody is wondering)

(Thanks so much for getting permission from guardians and blurring out the face.)

I agree that the girl has some talent.

Sometimes, the term "IR" can be confusing.

IR can refer to the entire pitching motion, or IR can refer specifically to forearm pronation.

So, I'm going to use the term "IR" to refer to the pitching motion, and "forearm pronation" for "forearm pronation".

One of the keys of IR is to pull the ball through the circle from 12 to release. This means that the hand is behind the ball at 12 and then the hand is under the ball at 9. She has the hand on the side of the ball at 9 and 12. So, you need to work with her getting her hand behind the ball at 12, and under the ball at .

The drill for this is for her to get open, with the glove pointing at home and the right arm pointing to 2B. Then, have her get the ball up at 9. When she can do this, then do the same drill, except have the ball at 12, and then her hand behind the ball.

When she gets that, then move to forearm pronation, For this, you want her hand pointing to the catcher with the palm down. When she gets the ball up at 9, her pronation will get better. At that point, there are a couple of drills which will be helpful.

BM's drills are good, of course.

At the same time, you need to start working on leg drive. There is an excellent, excellent thread on leg drive which is a "sticky" at the top of the forum. It is fantastic. There is a great explanation, and some super drills.

Finally, she needs to do walk throughs. She can't do enough walk throughs...my DD started doing these at 12YOA and did them all the way through college.

When she starts, the ball is going to fly all over the place. You have to be patient.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/r7o7MC1XX5k" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Boy, I couldn't agree more with regards to her needing to do A LOT of walk-ins, due mainly to her age (getting started late). If she's gonna go after this, she needs to quickly feel the rhythm of pitching, and I can see no better drill than the walk-in to accomplish that. Good call, Ray!

P.S. As much as I like Scarborough's stuff, I actually prefer Boardmember's student's example of the walk-in drill.

So you say "at the same time" we need to start working on leg drive. Do you mean that literally? Should I start on the drive mechanics (I've read that thread, though it's going to take a few more read-throughs to understand it all) while we're working on forearm pronation or should I just make sure she's got the ball/her hand in the right positions at the different clock positions before we even worry about leg drive?

I would work with her for 15 minutes on ball up at 9, and 15 minutes, on hand behind ball at 12. After that, I would play pitch and catch with her. She tosses the ball to you underhanded using the hand behind ball at 12 and hand under ball at 9. Then, start working on leg drive.

End with 15 minutes of walk-throughs (i.e., walk-ins). When she does the walk-throughs, you reinforce "hand behind ball at 12, hand under ball at 9." Encourage her to put some effort into the walk-throughs and throw the ball hard. The ball is going to go everywhere.

The other issue is getting her to work on this between sessions. She needs to be throwing 5 or 6 times a week.

DOUG: Can you post a link to BM's video on walk-ins? I haven't seen it.

I couldn't find it on DFP, but I uploaded it to youtube.