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Mar 20, 2015
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Had my DD try a couple of things so far this off season with varying results. Interested in what others think about these items.

Had her try a 2 finger grip. I always felt that the ball was too far down into her palm and I noticed some upper level pitchers use a 2 finger grip so she tried it. At first it was very awkward but then she became more comfortable throwing this way. Now for the last 3 weeks she only wants to throw with a 2 finger grip and she says it feels funny throwing with 3 fingers. So far it looks like she gets more speed with less effort but maybe sacrificing some control. She has not tried this in a game yet. I am sure she could go back 3 but would need time to adjust before spring season.

Tonight asked her to try to squeeze her fingers shut when releasing the ball as I have noticed some top pitchers seem to do this. At first ball was shooting into the ground and right but once again she became accustom to it quickly. She said it felt good and started throwing it hard seemingly with less effort. Was not trying to throw a drop but noticed better action on the ball and better axis with 12/6 spin and good drop movement. This was the first time she was able to get perfect 12/6 spin with her normal IR follow through. I was very pleased with this however when I put her on Radar she had lost a few mph and she got mad at me and said I ruined her when she could not instantly switch back to her old release :) It was late so we had go home.
 

StormChase

3 Daughter's, 3 Athletes
Jan 21, 2019
30
8
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Finger pressure will vary the speed. I assume that her adjustment to the two finger grip involved holding on to the ball tighter which means a slight drop in speed. Loosen the grip will get more speed but if she is unable to loosen up the grip while maintaining control then maybe best to go back to gripping with three fingers
 
Mar 20, 2015
174
28
Thanks StormChase. To clarify these are two separate and I think independent items that she trying. 1) the 2 finger grip, and 2) applying forward finger pressure at release. I just put them in the same thread rather than creating two threads.

1) the the 2 finger grip: The 2 finger grip did not slow her down and in fact I think she picked up a little speed. May have sacrificed some accuracy initially but I think this will improve and hoping to see more speed improvements. It gets the ball further from the palm and seems to allow more whip at release. Here is a picture of Ueno who uses this grip.

ueno grip.jpg

2) consciously applying finger pressure by a snapping of the fingers toward he palm when releasing the ball . The pressure with the fingers slowed her down a little but I believe increased spin (will need to test this with RevFire) and changed the spin axis. As others have discussed the finger pressure is a way of controlling spin so if she can control it this could be used for different pitches. In this case she was applying pressure by snapping her fingers toward her palm at release and it seemed to create a drop ball effect. There may be other or better ways of instructing a player in how to apply pressure.
 

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StormChase

3 Daughter's, 3 Athletes
Jan 21, 2019
30
8
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Agreed, I should have clarified. Less fingers on the ball = less friction = More speed. However a person with smaller hands who tries to use a 2 finger grip may inadvertently apply more pressure while the ball sits a bit deeper in the palm which results in loss of speed. 2 finger grip is the goal. I'm sure if someone found a way to maintain accuracy with one finger everyone who strive for that but unless you have the hands of a giant were stuck with 2 fingers. It's just a matter of what feels comfortable to the pitcher. If you notice that accuracy isn't improving as we get closer to the season then maybe going back to three may be better. Accuracy and command of the strike zone always trumps a few clicks faster on the gun.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,133
113
Dallas, Texas
My DD had great control and she used a 2 finger grip all through college. If your DD keeps working with it, the control will come.

As to finger pressure, it is common to lose speed when learning to put some spin on the ball. It'll come back.
As others have discussed the finger pressure is a way of controlling spin so if she can control it this could be used for different pitches.
Finger pressure can create movement.

[MENTION=10413]riseball[/MENTION] knows more about this than me...but, the "finger pressure" method doesn't result in the big break that you get with a full drop ball/riseball motion.
 
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Mar 20, 2015
174
28
My DD had great control and she used a 2 finger grip all through college

I thought of your post a while back with the video of her when I instructed my DD. I remember she had a lot of snap with her fingers on her release. Is this something she did consciously to get drop spin or did it just come naturally?
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,133
113
Dallas, Texas
The drop ball was her bread and butter. So, nothing about that pitch was natural. She could do all kinds of stuff with the dropball. In college, she was very aware of what she was doing with the drop.

Her fastballs broke as well, probably because of finger pressure (thanks again, [MENTION=10413]riseball[/MENTION] for your explanations and patience). It wasn't a big break, but it definitely moved. It was like a 3 to 4 inch break on the ball, and it appeared to happen late in the ball's flight to the mitt.

What kills me is that no one is really studying this...even though if you watch the super slow motion MLB pitchers, it obvious that they are changing the rotation axis all the time.
 
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StormChase

3 Daughter's, 3 Athletes
Jan 21, 2019
30
8
Vancouver, BC, Canada
The only difference between a drop ball and a fast ball is the release point. Releasing it slightly earlier will cause a drop. As Hillhouse says "if you can make a ball drop by releasing it earlier then why the hell would you ever want to throw a ball that has no movement?" <---- paraphrasing
 
Mar 20, 2015
174
28
For my DD her fastball has that natural yawed IR axis spinning towards a RH batter. Even though it has some forward spin component its amazing how much the ball doesn't drop almost like a "ramp ball". With the 2seam she sometimes gets unpredictable sideways movement. She has pretty good spin rate and from my observation the amount of her drop movement is directly correlated to getting close to that 12/6 rotation. If the release point changes the spin axis then it would help but my guess is that this is directed more toward pitchers that already has 12/6 spin. I did find that using the finger pressure she was able to get the 12/6 spin and maintain an IR release and follow through.
 

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