How the heck did she do that...

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Aug 19, 2016
42
6
First off I would like to thank everyone that contributes to these forums, they're a wealth of information!

So I was catching for my 12yo DD last night, she was firing in some fastballs mixing in some very poor attempts at a flip change (we just started working on the flip). She went back to throwing all fastballs and out of nowhere a beautiful curve appeared on one pitch...she's has never practiced a curve. She was thrilled when she threw it...the problems is that she couldn't duplicate it. So my question is...how was she able to throw such a good curveball while she was trying to throw fastballs? It had to be just a slight deviation in mechanics, finger pressure,etc but I'm at a loss of what to tell her. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated?

Thanks,
BG
 
Mar 13, 2015
202
18
Omaha, Ne
Did you happen to see the rotation? DD has done it quite a bit in the past when we started with IR. I believe it's just a late release after arm whip. Almost seemed like she was coming around the ball if that makes any sense. I could be wrong but it's definitely not the spin we want.

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk
 
Feb 17, 2014
7,152
113
Orlando, FL
More than likely she got her fingers outside the ball and it caused the ball to tail. My pitchers throw an IR/BI fast ball with their fingers both inside (typical) and outside (atypical) the ball. This allows them to tail the ball into or away from a hitter. You are having her throw all her sessions with a taped ball. Correct? If not you are impeding the learning process as she along with you needs to recognize and evaluate the spin on each and every pitch thrown.
 
Sep 29, 2014
2,421
113
If she plays with finger location and pressure even without introducing intentional spin she should still notice the ball reacting a little differently.

Most fastballs will naturally tail slightly (although some go straight) I would encourage you to let her experiment and then if she finds a method that will give her a little dropping tail go with it.
 
Aug 19, 2016
42
6
More than likely she got her fingers outside the ball and it caused the ball to tail. My pitchers throw an IR/BI fast ball with their fingers both inside (typical) and outside (atypical) the ball. This allows them to tail the ball into or away from a hitter. You are having her throw all her sessions with a taped ball. Correct? If not you are impeding the learning process as she along with you needs to recognize and evaluate the spin on each and every pitch thrown.

Riseball...thanks for your response and all of the excellent info you have on here. I do have her use a taped ball most times, I'll make sure I always use it from now on. When you say she may have got her fingers on the "outside of the ball"...does that mean instead of releasing the ball 6-12 she would be more 5-11 or 4-10?
 
Jan 17, 2013
414
18
Texas
I would bet she just got her fastball to tail out. Your outside fingers (not the middle finger unless the middle is shifted to one side or the other) can help direct which way the ball will tail (in or out) by using finger pressure. If she put a lot of pressure on one side then it caused it to tail out which is usually a late tail. This has caused my kid some headache by creating walks. Mine has not mastered her ability to control this and may be trying to hit the outside corner on a 3/2 count but it tails out for a ball instead of staying straight for the strike.
There is still a chance she through a curveball but her release would most likely have look different and felt different.
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
Not every practice session but at the end of some sessions I had DD do what she wanted and encouraged her to try different grips and releases.

Helps them get a feel of the ball coming off their hand.
 

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