12 year old DD critique

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Jun 29, 2014
53
8
Been a long time lurker here for the last 4-5 years. The IR threads started my DD off on the right foot right out of the gate. We were really fortunate to find these boards. I absolutely love the DFP community! So we are desperately trying to gain another mph or two and were hoping to get some feedback on things to work on during the offseason.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/btovelMEZS0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
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Nov 19, 2014
89
8
First of all she looks great. The only things to that stands out to me is maybe get a little push back at the front leg. Getting a little taller at release.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
She looks great for her age.

From here on, it is basically tweaking and refining her form. her body is going through some changes right now. I don't think the results will be worth he effort at her age. Spend time working on the change and either the drop or the rise and then "maintaining" her fastball form.

Do drills where she goes back and forth between a breaking pitch, changeup and the fastball.

Remember, your goal is to have a great 16YOA pitcher, not a great 12YOA pitcher.
 
Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
Aaron,
Really good stuff overall. I have a couple ideas on things I'd explore, but curious to know what her/your questions and concerns are? Do you have a video with a pitching rubber? I'd also like to see a clip from behind or from the catcher's view. Is she throwing a rise and what is her spin like? How is she doing with her other pitches? Based on what you're showing, my guess is you've got a very good handle on MANY aspects of the motion and I hope you and your daughter are able to share your gifts with other pitchers.

Nice work,
Ken
 
Apr 28, 2014
2,316
113
Agree with the above. She looks good. From the dad of a 15 year old who was in the same position you were 3 years ago my advice is not to obsess over speed. It will come. I know that's hard when there are kids who are throwing harder or camps look at the 60+ kids and no one else.
Keep working and get her working out with resistance bands and light weights.
 
Jun 29, 2014
53
8
Aaron,
Really good stuff overall. I have a couple ideas on things I'd explore, but curious to know what her/your questions and concerns are? Do you have a video with a pitching rubber? I'd also like to see a clip from behind or from the catcher's view. Is she throwing a rise and what is her spin like? How is she doing with her other pitches? Based on what you're showing, my guess is you've got a very good handle on MANY aspects of the motion and I hope you and your daughter are able to share your gifts with other pitchers.

Nice work,
Ken

Ken,

Thanks a million! I'd love to hear any advice you may have. She throws a palm up curve, a rise, and a change. The curve is her best pitch and the change is a close second. The rise is decent for a 12 going on 13 year old. Her biggest problem with the rise is it being too high at times and she has a tendency to get behind it resulting in a bullet. Really focusing on trying to bring it down into that midriff area. We've gotten some spin numbers off of a RevFire and she's at 20 on the curve and 18 on the rise.

So here's what's going on. She was hitting 59-60 early spring into the summer and then all of a sudden during the late summer and fall she dropped down to 53-54. Through some blood, some sweat, and a whole lot of TEARS we've managed to get her back up to 56-58 range. She's still pretty upset that she lost the 60mph milestone so I'm desperately trying to get her back there.

I see the frontside issue that Matt pointed out and that's something we've actually been working on. When she was down in that lower 50 range I could see she was drifting over her front side and hinging at the hip a little so that's been a major point of emphasis. The other issue I identified was she was stepping way open. That Doug Gillis post/video helped us identify that and get her back to 58 this past week. I guess my question is are there any other little tweaks that you see that could maybe get her that 1-2 mph back?

The only other video I have is a GoPro video of a game from this past summer. We are the grey team.
[video]https://youtu.be/7DriyzCY6_c[/video]

As for sharing gifts with other pitchers that is a huge part of this journey for me. We live in a old school hello elbow area and have been ostracized for preaching IR. The so called experts in my area have said everything from "you'll blow your arm out throwing like that" to "nobody pitches that way." It's now my mission in life to preach the IR gospel to anyone willing to listen.
 
Jun 29, 2014
53
8
Agree with the above. She looks good. From the dad of a 15 year old who was in the same position you were 3 years ago my advice is not to obsess over speed. It will come. I know that's hard when there are kids who are throwing harder or camps look at the 60+ kids and no one else.
Keep working and get her working out with resistance bands and light weights.

Currently doing the Tincher pitcher workout and some other lifting that doesn't affect her shoulder mobility. A lot of focus on core, lats, scaps, and legs.
 
Oct 10, 2012
502
16
Oklahoma
Wow, great looking mechanics. One thing I see is she appears to be a little tight in the arm from 9:00 through release. Be loose. Looser the arm the more whip there is, the more whip there is the higher the MPH. Perhaps a little more bend in the arm from 12 to 6 may help with that. Remember to keep her shoulders as close to 45 degrees as possible. That will come with core strength but maybe shes slamming the door with her shoulders a bit. Some are saying her posture and front side wall are not as good as they could be. In my opinion, I think that is one of the best aspects of her mechanics. I think she looks great, just remind her to be as loose as a goose.
 
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