1 step forward and 2 steps back...Video Review

[leerph]

Hi gang. Hoping some of my fellow bucket dads can give me some feedback on my 16YO DD. 2 years ago she was topping out around 55mph with good control and change up so we starting working on breaking pitches. We decided to go with a drop curve. She picked it up pretty quickly and soon could throw it really well and hit her spots with it. We worked on it non stop for about a year. That's when we noticed that her fastball had lost some speed. After doing some video review we realized that she had begun to roll her hand over the outside top of all of her pitches including the fastball, probably b/c she had worked on the drop curve rotation so much. She went from 55mph to 50 which is pretty significant obviously. She is the only varsity pitcher on our HS team and this really limited us being able to work on it. She still spots her FB well and her change and drop curve are really good. The problem is that when we face good hitting teams they will all get in the front of the box to hit the drop curve before it breaks since at 50mph they don't have to be worried about her throwing the FB by them. Long story short we got out the ole spin right spinner disk and started working on keeping her fingers behind the ball and making sure she really loaded the forearm (i.e. get palm to the sky at the 9 o'clock position). She has made good progress and we are now up to around 52-53 mph. I know every kid has a limit when it comes to speed but I also know she isn't close to her max potential and I can't figure out why. She has grown and matured a lot in the last 2 years so there is no reason she shouldn't at least still be hitting 55mph if not more. I look at her mechanics and I see a lot of the good stuff we talk about here on the forum. The only glaring problem I see is the glove swimming which she has always done but certainly that can't be the only reason for such a drastic loss of speed. The only other possibility I see is that maybe she is "missing her whip", but she doesn't look like she is holding on to it too long as evidenced by the video showing her fingers behind and to the inside of the ball at release. I don't see alot of wrist snap but that has been debated on here extensively in regards to if it actually adds any speed to the pitch. I need the masters on here to chime in and point out what I am missing. She is a really gifted athlete as you can see in the videos. She is super strong and very athletic and in better shape than almost anyone in her school. We really gotta get this figured out before she gets so discouraged she wants to hang it up. The other day she asked about just concentrating on her hitting and OF and that is when I knew I needed some help. Any and all technical advise would be greatly appreciated. We found this site 3 years ago and it was nothing short of a miracle. We went from a hello elbow pitcher throwing 42mph to an internally rotating machine throwing 55mph in 1 summer. LOL. She had 113 strikeouts her 8th grade year against only 12 walks and we play in Florida where the competition is pretty stiff. Help me get my DD back on the right track. Thanks in advance for all the replies!! Sorry for the poor quality. My camera shoots slow motion video at 240fps but it can only do so at low resolutions.

 

[leerph]

 

[leerph]

Forgot to mention the only other weird thing I have noticed. When we throw lately working on keeping our fingers behind and inside the ball she almost does it too well. What I mean by that is instead of the spinner coming at me on a lateral axis that has it spinning end over end and pointing at my left shoulder, it often comes at me spinning end over end but pointing almost at third base. Basically what kind of spin you would see if she were throwing a screw ball and keeping her fingers inside the ball and snapping through the inside half of the ball. This of course makes it come in with bullet spin instead of top to bottom or 1 to 7 o'clock spin. Now for the weird part: When we throw with an actual ball instead of the spinner, about 50% of her balls come in straight and the other 50% come in with a curve ball break, not a screw ball break. In other words they break off towards my right shoulder on a flat plane just like a palm up curve ball would. I thought maybe she was throwing it differently when she was holding a ball versus the spinner, but the slow motion video clearly shows she does stay inside the ball at release. I have no idea why it is happening or how she is doing it. Any ideas?

 

[pumpkinbear]

It looks like your dd is facing the ball is toward 3rd at 9 o'clock. I pasted some of Boardmember's words on this below. This thread http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/18064-ball-up-9-oclock-2.html#post229314 has lots of discussion on this.

"First of all.......Lets say the "palm up" is subjective with regard to the flexibility of an athlete. But what is NOT subjective about "palm up" is that it does NOT mean palm down, or palm sideways at 9:00.......It can be thought of as any amount of palm up more then down or sideways is creating MORE LOAD for the UNLOADING in the form of I/R..........

"Ball Up and 9:00" has everything to do with creating OVERALL superior bio-mechanics in the pitching motion, and nothing what so ever to do with "creating arbitrary static positions". It is every bit as important, if not more important, then "leading with the elbow" when it comes to creating whip in the pitching motion. I.E. if you lead with the elbow but create zero load in the forearm for I/R by keeping the hand on top of the ball down the back of the circle, the bio-mechanical result will still be inferior.........

Why do I say "as important, if not more"? I say this because it is a bio-mechanical fact that creating a palm up position is ONLY POSSIBLE if you are leading with the elbow......Better said........Leading with the elbow is a "byproduct" of palm up........IOW, palm up is an "automatic" elbow leading position...........

Transversely........Leading with the elbow IS possible without being palm up or creating load in the forearm for I/R.........IOW, you can lead with the elbow and still be "palm down" in a pushing position, BECAUSE I/R, or radial/ulnar rotation allows it.

Palm up at 9:00 also creates a bio-mechanical advantage because in order to be palm up, or "load the forearm for I/R, you must be "more sideways" to the target then "facing the target"..........IOW.......More open then closed as the ball travels down the back of the circle..........

The importance of this relates to proper "ADDuction" of the throwing arm into the body and then through to the target with some core rotation to create the "window to the target" using ADDuction...........Vs. a bowling motion that allows the arm/ball to push through to the target with little to no ADDuction...........ADDuction of the arm is the act of pulling the arm INTO the body as a way to generate power. It is a FAR SUPERIOR power generator in the whipping motion........."

 

[knightsb]

 

[leerph]

Here a a bunch of screen captures I took a couple days ago. They are at a fewer FPS but they are high res so you can better see the hand orientation. I know the hips are too open in these. That is what we have been working on the last couple days as evidenced by the improvement in the videos above. Thanks for all the insights!

 

[leerph]

 

[Doug Romrell]

I agree with pumpkinbear.

Also, I don't like the drag foot leaving the ground before release, but I don't think that has much to do with your concerns.

At the 0:11 mark, I she's pushing as evidenced by the fact that her hand/fingers come straight through (at least immediately after release). I think the hand/fingers should flick inward toward her opposite hip immediately after release. I think the palm up at 9:00 would help with this.

But, I'm a novice.

 

[Doug Romrell]

I also see what Rick Pauly refers to as a "disconnection" at the waist--she's tilted at the waist toward 3B.

Also, I think she's tilted back too much in those last photos you posted.

Nonetheless, the I think she looks pretty good in those first two clips you posted!

 

[inde53546]

take it for what is worth. But she has a lot of up/high leg drive which to me may contribute to some balance issues and loss of momentum. If she were pushing straight out and not so much up it would speed things up. Notice how far her drive foot slides out behind her, looks to be coming almost off the mat onto the concrete before it lifts. I can't see the whole video at work but does she then fall off to side after the pitch? It's not how high or how far you leap but how fast. Notice arm position at heel plant. Arm seems to be almost 9 oclock. I think that's too far which would contribute to loss of velocity.