IR in her pitching?

First off, sorry for the length of the post..my daughter is 10 about to turn 11 and has been pitching since February. We’ve done lessons here and there for about two years, practiced in the yard occasionally, but February, she decided to fully commit, so we’ve been doing lessons weekly and trying to practice about three times a week in the yard. She just finished her all-stars in 10u and are about to make the 12in ball transition.

I’ve been lurking on this site for a couple months. Her PC has been great and has helped her tremendously. She teaches straight arm delivery, meaning the arm stays straight throughout the pitch until the wrist snap, but has never come out and said hello elbow. Since we are moving to 12u in the fall, I figured now is a good time to get her pitching the right way with IR. Again, I’m new to IR, and she’s never been taught it, but I’ve noticed that she pitches considerably faster and more accurate than anyone else in the league and took some slow motion videos to see exactly what’s going on.

I’ve attached a link to a video of her below pitching from a balance board. She has a slight leaping problem that I’m hoping to help fix this off season as well. Can the experts in IR on the boards tell me if she’s naturally throwing with IR even though she hasn’t been taught it and provide any suggestions from where she is at this point and how to progress? I plan on using the drills that boardmember illustrated on the stickys. Thanks in advance!

https://youtu.be/JgXJsv_dyQo

She isn't doing too bad for being taught a straight arm. Some things to work on:

1 - Show the ball to the catcher coming over the top at the 12:00 position.
2 - Ball up at the 9:00 position.
3 - Lead into release with the pinky.
4 - Landing foot at a 45 degree angle or thereabout. She's landing at almost 90 degrees, which not only puts a lot of pressure on the knee, it also prevents the hips from snapping into the correct position.

Not related to the arm action, she needs to work on her drive. Check the picture:



If you didn't know what she was doing you wouldn't be able to tell which way she is facing. Work on her driving out and over her toes. This will help with setting the hips as well which will lead to a better brush and IR action.

What do you mean drive out over her toes? Is this the beginning of drive or during the drag or everything? How would I drill that? Also, I’m confused when you said you couldn’t tell which way she was facing based on the picture of her legs..are you meaning just by looking at the legs you can’t tell whether she’s a righty pitching to home or a lefty pitching toward where 2nd base would be? Does that make sense?

That balance board may be forcing her to land at 90 degrees. See the model pitchers for proper or better landing angle on lead foot.
Ball needs to be up at 9:00.. She needs to be pulling the ball through the circle, she's pushing at 9:00. That's what Dneeld is saying.
All good advice above.

BT3100 said:

That balance board may be forcing her to land at 90 degrees. See the model pitchers for proper or better landing angle on lead foot.
Ball needs to be up at 9:00.. She needs to be pulling the ball through the circle, she's pushing at 9:00. That's what Dneeld is saying.
All good advice above.

Click to expand...

I agree about the angle on the board...she’s usually not at 90 degrees on turf or dirt but not exactly the angle she needs to be at either.

So by ball facing up at 9:00, if the ball should be facing the catcher at 12:00, there’s not supposed to be any rotation in the forearm or wrist until after 9:00, right? Then she should lead with the pinky? I may need some more explanation.

Also, since this is all free advice, any cues or drills we could work on to fix the leaping and getting her foot dragging the right way..and by the gifs that some of you posted, it’s toe down, laces facing the catcher?? Again...thanks so much for the advice!

Seminole said:

I agree about the angle on the board...she’s usually not at 90 degrees on turf or dirt but not exactly the angle she needs to be at either.

So by ball facing up at 9:00, if the ball should be facing the catcher at 12:00, there’s not supposed to be any rotation in the forearm or wrist until after 9:00, right? Then she should lead with the pinky? I may need some more explanation.

Also, since this is all free advice, any cues or drills we could work on to fix the leaping and getting her foot dragging the right way..and by the gifs that some of you posted, it’s toe down, laces facing the catcher?? Again...thanks so much for the advice!

Click to expand...

This may sound weird but it made sense to my DD. Imagine a Hula Hoop and the ball following that path. You want your DD to pull the ball around the hoop, not push it.
As far as foot dragging and replanting. My DD entered her freshman HS season with a slight replant and was throwing 60. First game of the season she was called for an IP. Head Coach told her she needed to fix it, just like I had been saying for 18 months. She fixed it that game. She did lose 4-5MPH on her FB and it took the whole season to get it back pitching legally. My advice would be not to allow her to pitch any way, other than legal.

Seminole,
She looks athletic and has some of the flow of throwing with IR but she is not there yet.

My opinion would be to focus on throwing a light ball until she is comfortable with throwing loose and relaxed. Use a tennis ball outside or ball of socks indoors. No forced movement just step, lag or bend the arm over the head, whip the ball towards the wall, and finish with the legs knee to knee (don’t let the back side anchor). Watch the hand after she throws and if it is higher than her shoulder than she is still bowling it and if the hand is mid-chest and the ball pops out quickly then you are getting there. This is an easy no stress activity that can be done while talking and this is a great time for YOU to try it as well and discuss it TOGETHER.

From there just work up to a harder step (aka “drive”) and still throwing it correctly and finishing with the back leg not anchoring and hand whipping thru and finishing low.

Honestly, do pitching drills to isolate a feeling or movement to teach something but don’t get too hung up if she can’t do a drill.


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BT3100 said:

That balance board may be forcing her to land at 90 degrees. See the model pitchers for proper or better landing angle on lead foot.
Ball needs to be up at 9:00.. She needs to be pulling the ball through the circle, she's pushing at 9:00. That's what Dneeld is saying.
All good advice above.

Click to expand...

Every time I see a balance board like that, all I can think about is a broken ankle!
Why not use a 1''x6" and lay it flat? it serves the same purpose with out the risk...