What "causes" accuracy

A man is walking down the street in NYC when a very harried looking person runs up to him and asks "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"

The first man answers "Practice."

Get to the point where you can hit one spot consistently. I usually recommend low and down the middle to start because it should be easiest and makes a good foundational starting point. Then make adjustments to go left/right and up/down. As others have said, up/down is posture. Make down the default, then I usually have pitchers tilt back slightly to raise the ball without changing the rest of their mechanics. For left/right, I like striding *slightly* left or right of where you stride to hit center. The operative word being slightly. You shouldn't be able to see the difference from the batter's box.

I really appreciate all of the input...there's some great stuff in here.

When working on accuracy...how many reps at each spot (say the 4 corners) would you have your daughter complete...I know it will vary but a ballpark figure?

briang said:

I really appreciate all of the input...there's some great stuff in here.

When working on accuracy...how many reps at each spot (say the 4 corners) would you have your daughter complete...I know it will vary but a ballpark figure?

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Well my DD is just 16 and is a work in process still in all areas. But our location works usually goes something like this - I hold my glove for outside corner she misses by 8 inches, then misses by 6 inches then may finally hit it (or some days may miss it in another direction like up by a foot), then I wait for her to hit it again. Then I go inside for one throw and then right back to outside for a couple more. My goal is usually 3-4 good ones in a row before we move completely on to something else. For my DD she can usually nail inside up and down pretty decent but outside is always a work in progress - and since her default is inside and she naturally will throw to far inside, an outside miss can be right over the plate

What we are working on now is throwing her other spins to different corners - like the screw high and low and her rise spin to low corners. We are no where near on this work.

Work the corners. 20 balls to each. Track how many time she hit them. To aid in this and make it more fun, set up a tee with a mini basketball. Place the tee in a corner and see how many time she knocks the ball off the tee in 20 attempts. Do each corner every practice 4x a week.
Understand first that adjustments are made with posture and release angles... do not guide or steer towards the target. And overall mechanics are the #1 priority. Stay fast with emphasis on the legs and core. Really stop and never allow her nose to float out past her front foot.

briang said:

I really appreciate all of the input...there's some great stuff in here.

When working on accuracy...how many reps at each spot (say the 4 corners) would you have your daughter complete...I know it will vary but a ballpark figure?

Click to expand...

That is like asking how fast is fast? Each girl will differ in the amount of reps it takes to achieve a goal. I've had girls who were able to make adjustment within 1-5 pitches and others who take dozens if not more to learn how to make an adjustment.

Learning how to pitch is not a smooth progression. It is a series of forward and backwards steps. When you get something dialed in and you add other things it will take time for the new skill/tweak to be learned and mastered. Age/experience usually has a bearing on it as well. Older more proficient pitchers will make adjustments quicker. Younger pitchers will take longer.

Again, it's not a sprint. Patience is the watchword. One of the hardest things for young pitchers and sometimes parents is differentiating between parenting and coaching. Honest and consistent feedback without judgement will help a pitcher the most. I know once I learned that lesson things improved dramatically when I was working with my DD.

Really stop and never allow her nose to float out past her front foot.

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I tell my pitchers I don't want them to "Pinocchio" a pitch trying to steer it with their nose.