Looking for critique/review of my 12yo DD

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Jan 3, 2019
85
18
Florida
My DD has been pitching for a few years now. We've been seeing a PC for a few months now and although she doesn't teach IR(in fact nobody in our area does), she doesn't mind that I'm trying to teach my DD how to IR, as she has improved other aspects of her pitching(lower mechanics, mental game, preparation, etc).

I've been a lurker in the forums for quite some time and have learned a lot from many great people here, which is why I'm looking for a review or critique for what we may need to work on next. We've worked on FSR and posture, which I think looks pretty good now. Also palm up at 9:00, which is the most recent thing we've been working on. We've also been trying to not close the shoulders too early and stay open towards 3rd while at the 9:00 position. When she closes the shoulders early, she gets more pace on the ball than when she stays more open, but I think it's more strain on that shoulder.

Anyways, are we on the right track? Any opinions are welcomed!

Side #1 - https://youtu.be/HgBzVsE6XHk
Behind - https://youtu.be/lUwBdHFhiU0
Side #2 - https://youtu.be/bc8hunq5BPM
Front - https://youtu.be/X_qdRSkwK2M
 
Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
Really solid stuff! Love the drive sequence! Also really like the camera angles. Here’s a few thoughts:

1) I see a bit of effort in her drive to get open. I’d like to see her “think” about keeping her hips, knees, shoulders, knees, nose and toes driving squarely towards the target—then allow extension of her limbs to open the torso naturally.
2) Loosen up the lower arm as it’s pulled around the circle. The result will be more lag—more potential energy to whip.
3) Posture—her FSR is good, but could be even better if she was a bit more stacked at release. She’ll also achieve better brush as a byproduct.

Hope that helps,
Ken
 
Last edited:

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
She has no brush interference. Her arm needs to brush her body.
No brush interference leads to poor control.

Read the sticky on brush interference
 
Jan 3, 2019
85
18
Florida
Really solid stuff! Love the drive sequence! Also really like the camera angles. Here’s a few thoughts:

1) I see a bit of effort in her drive to get open. I’d like to see her “think” about keeping her hips, knees, shoulders, knees, nose and toes driving squarely towards the target—then allow extension of her limbs to open the torso naturally.
2) Loosen up the lower arm as it’s pulled around the circle. The result will be more lag—more potential energy to whip.
3) Posture—her FSR is good, but could be even better if she was a bit more stacked at release. She’ll also achieve better brush as a byproduct.

Hope that helps,
Ken

1) I'm not sure I quite follow, can you elaborate?
2) This is something we've also been trying to accomplish. I've been telling her to lead with her elbow at 12:00 and remain loose. It's a work in progress as well as pulling the ball down.
3) I'll continue to work on this with her. It used to be much worse as she'd have noticeable bend at the torso at release.

She has no brush interference. Her arm needs to brush her body.
No brush interference leads to poor control.

Read the sticky on brush interference

This makes sense. That night she had a tough time finding the strike zone. I thought she has a little brush, but obviously not enough.
 
Apr 12, 2015
792
93
1) I'm not sure I quite follow, can you elaborate?

I'm not Ken, but I believe he is referring the the fact your DD is twisting to open rather than driving to open.

Check these stills:

DSP.jpg

Look at her belt buckle. You can see how it twists to an open position by 3:00. This isn't necessarily improper, but check her drive foot as well. Notice it is still firmly in contact with the rubber and bearing weight. This means that your DD is taking some of that thrust force and twisting it to the side to open her hips.

What is ideal is to focus on keeping what I call the headlights pointing toward the catcher. Have your DD pretend she has a pair of headlights on the front of her shoulders and the front of her thighs, all facing the catcher when she is in the start position. Her focus should be on keeping those headlights pointed at the catcher as she drives out. She won't be able to do this since as her drive completes the body will naturally rotate into an open position, but by focusing on trying to do so she will allow it to happen naturally instead of the forced motion she has.

Another tell-tale sign of her forcing the open is her drag leg path. Notice how much on the side of the foot it is and how far it swings outside the body. If she focuses on dragging over the toe and finishing in a knee-to-knee position that will help as well. Her drag mark in the dirt should look almost like a question mark if viewed from the catcher's perspective. Not a diagonal line heading from the rubber to the first base line.

That said, her forced open isn't near as bad as most I see. She is doing well.
 
Last edited:
Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
71267DA2-4A1D-4124-A3B1-151BFC2253A8.jpgA233B321-2AD9-4E7C-A2CE-F650AF045FE0.jpg25C2A522-318B-4094-91E9-29C199D3E4B5.jpg63E0766B-F485-40B3-80D8-393222D87C9A.jpgD06A9009-12F8-4C64-8ABE-52AFE38CF440.jpg


(Sorry Doug, I know I missed a frame but it only let me enter 5 images... ) ;)
 
Last edited:
Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
/\ What he said! /\

As posture improves, so will brush. She’ll need some time to trust the change, but ultimately she’ll find her control will improve. Don’t focus on control. Ask her to close her eyes now and then. Eyes can mess everything up!

Looks like she is making a lot of adjustments. I see significant variation in each of the clips. Keep at it and as she gets comfy, her control will improve.
 
Last edited:
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
Our pitching coaches ask the girls to have palm back on the pre. So at the beginning of the movement as the arm comes back, the palm is pointing towards second base. Curious if that's a common teaching or not terribly important.

After her pitch she kind of wanders forward. I don't guess that ruins FSR much but I'd be curious what experts have to say. It just looks a bit "non-athletic" and probably not the best way to field a line-drive back up the middle.

But she looks really good. How does she do in games?
 
Last edited:
May 15, 2008
1,913
113
Cape Cod Mass.
I agree that your daughter's lower body action could be improved, but my main focus would be on improving her armwhip (IR). I feel that she needs to open her shoulders more as she comes over the top and maintain that openess as she comes down the backside into release. If you look at her arm as she goes through 9-8-7 o'clock positions you can see that her elbow isn't leading, this is because she isn't open enough. When the shoulder is too closed the arm turns a little and even though the elbow is bent it's not leading. This is also the reason why she is lacking in brush interference. I don't know how you verbalize instruction to your daughter but one thing I learned is that telling a pitcher to 'stay open' longer doesn't get the message across, I now tell them to 'stay sideways' longer. I would have her do some slingshot and emphasis the elbow leading into the hip/side for brush interference and tell her to 'stay sideways' longer.
 
Jan 3, 2019
85
18
Florida
Thank you DNeeld and Ken for explaining, it makes more sense now. I thought I had a good handle on mechanics, but that is something I never have even thought of, so thanks again. I will use the headlight explanation with her, which I know she'll understand. I'm a bit lucky with her because she takes coaching very well and grasps concepts fairly quickly. I suppose having a passion for pitching doesn't hurt either :p


Our pitching coaches ask the girls to have palm back on the pre. So at the beginning of the movement as the arm comes back, the palm is pointing towards second base. Curious if that's a common teaching or not terribly important.

After her pitch she kind of wanders forward. I don't guess that ruins FSR much but I'd be curious what experts have to say. It just looks a bit "non-athletic" and probably not the best way to field a line-drive back up the middle.

But she looks really good. How does she do in games?

I agree about the wandering forward. To me it says that there's some power leakage that's not being completely transferred to the ball. The FSR is still a work in progress, she just recently got it to where it is now. Previously, she had some decent bending at the torso at release, but I showed her what she was doing on slo-mo and she started to make the change. Slo-mo video FTW :)

In games she's pretty effective, usually accurate with good pace, but our rec season just started and she's had some control issues the first two games. Probably because we're working on her mechanics is my guess. She only throws two pitches at the moment, FB and a knuckle change, as I subscribe to the philosophy of learning FB command first and then learning other pitches.
 

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