10u pitcher after 10 months of pitching advice needed please

[Madsdad]

This is my DD Maddie. She started pitching last June and although we live in Wisconsin we have been working pretty hard all winter on mechanics. We have been working with one of the coaches on the natinal registry and she seems to be doing fairly good in my eyes but I'm no expert. I think she is standing up tall and has pretty good balance. I know her arm looks stiff today but that changes from day to day and as it was 38 degrees when we taped this my guess is that might have something to do with it. I know there is plenty of room for improvement but are we on the right track.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Just another balmy day in WI., huh? I can sympathize. I lived in IL. for 50 years.

She is a very talented 10 YO and has grasped the skill quickly. I like her size and her delivery seems above average for the 10s that I work with.

The finish, is something that I would work on. I like a more natural follow through, rather than a pointed elbow and mule kick (her left foot is going to a stork stand.)

Also, she is slapping the back of her thigh with her glove. I am trying to break an 11YO of that right now. She needs to learn to lead with the glove, use it as a counterweight and protect herself with it. (Plus, it is hard on the right wrist to do all that slapping.)

Good luck. She will do well.

 

[tojo]

Your DDs a trooper for getting out in the cold to pitch. I would have her get her elbow closer to her side on follow through. She has a figure 4 finish which is proper but sometimes difficult for a beginnig pitcher. She appears to do well with the figure 4 and I would not change that. It will teach her to stand tall. I like her and she is doing well. P.S. Get her some long pants if she is going to pitch in 38 degree weather.

 

[Madsdad]

Thank you for your responses. Amy I started the figure 4 to get my dd to stand up straight. In the begging it was real high kick and as time goes on it is dropping.I just want to make sure she keeps bring her drag foot all the way through for now. I had never done this before and it seemed like a good fix. The glove thing is a bit more of a challenge. We can do knee drills and she will never touch me with her arm. Stand up and well you see.
Tojo the elbow is a work in progress. I have been slowly letting her work out of "the touch your shoulder" follow through. There are times where it is very relaxed and just come forward across her body. Other times she forces it up. Does it look like she is getting IR????
Would I have gotten more responses if I said she was throwing 60 and had 6 different pitches.
P.S. today it is almost 65 out She will want to run around bare a_ _ She just does not like long pants

 

[Jojo]

Would I have gotten more responses if I said she was throwing 60 and had 6 different pitches.

No, just if you "SAID" she was throwing 60 with 6 pitches. ; )

P.S. today it is almost 65 out She will want to run around bare a_ _ She just does not like long pants

Mine hated clothes to, she'd pitch naked if she could! Getting sleeves on her was a NIGHTMARE!

 

[redondo85]

Great video! I would have her "peel up" after release. It'll help her get tighter spin on her fastball. I bought my DD a tightspin trainer and she uses it daily to get the muscle memory down and strengthen her fingers and wrists. Her landing is good on her right foot (landing at 2 o'clock). Hope it warms up for y'all up there!

 

[tojo]

Great video! I would have her "peel up" after release. It'll help her get tighter spin on her fastball. I bought my DD a tightspin trainer and she uses it daily to get the muscle memory down and strengthen her fingers and wrists. Her landing is good on her right foot (landing at 2 o'clock). Hope it warms up for y'all up there!

Why peel up after release? There should be a more relaxed follow through after release. If you peel up during release, the ball will get more spin and drop more. PEEL DROP.

 

[Madsdad]

O.K. guys I know very little about what we are doing. It took her about 91/2 months to feel her wrist snap at release even though we had done thousands of them in warm ups. The spin that she has gotten right from the beginning was 10/4 from the catchers view except for the short time that I tried to get a 12/6 bringing her arm straight up to her shoulder. If the wind is blowing correctly ( we need wind for movement right now) the ball drops inside to a right handed batter. She throws right now with a two finger grip and has a callous on the inside of her social finger that she is pretty proud of. I don't want to throw off the order of universe right now so how do I get more spin without making her think about it too much.

 

[3DD'sDAD]

Madsdad - when you say two finger grip, do you mean two fingers across the laces? The best way to spin a ball to get movement is throw the ball with four laces rotating through the air. I have my players (all not just pitchers) sit and spin a ball off of their fingertips while they watch TV. Tape a line around the equator of a ball and have your daughter spin the ball straight up (not very high 8" - 12" is lots)and have the tape spin in a straight line to help get the feel of spinning the ball off the finger tips. She can then relate that feeling of spinning the ball to her release. She will know when she is spinning the ball better. Use that ball during your mechanics work outs as it makes it much easier to see the spin from the "bucket perspective". My DD also has the Tight Spin Trainer. It has helped a lot.

With respect to yor question if hour daughter is achieving IR or not. It is difficult to stop the You Tube video, but at the spots where I was able to stop the video (best one second vid at 0.15 seconds), she definite shows that she is "pulling" the ball to release, not "pushing down" to release. This is IR as the arm has to internally rotate to release the ball. It looks like she is showing the ball to the first baseman. Some on here would have the pitcher rotate their arm another 90 degrees so the ball faces the sky. Not sure how much you want to work with the "order of the universe right now".

At a couple of points, she is leaning a little bit, but not much. Your daughter looks like she has really taken to pitching. She shows very good mechanics for only doing this for 10 months. With some tweeking, she definitely looks like she could have an enjoyable career. Good work and congratualtions.

 

[Madsdad]

3DD'sDad
WoW!! thanks for the complements. Maddie is very coach-able and with sites like this we have been able make correction as we go along. As for your question about the fingers. Her hand is big enough to use a 2 finger grip. I constantly have her switch from 2 fingers to 3 and from 4 seams to 2 get get used to not having to look at the ball. She does use the seams to pull up on. She does spin the ball and early on when we were doing tons of wrist snaps it was quite apparent that she was getting a tighter spin on the ball then when she started out.
When you mention leaning, are you talking about at release? That is what I saw but wondered what will happen when she begins to develop hips. She is clearing her hip now but there is none. I'm new to all of this and don't know what is normal. No one else picked up on that detail and if I did not play it back frame by frame, I would not have seen it either. With the season starting, I don't want to get her thinking too much. When should the ball be facing the sky? at what point in the arm circle.