11 YO (12u team) - Looking for advice/suggestions/comments

[TeNeetKeeMom]

I have again added some videos for all the pitching experts/teachers on this site to look over and provide some feedback. I added several short videos because I was not for sure which video would be most helpful. Thanks and advance.

 

[tojo]

When doing the circle drill, have her put her stride foot on a block 4'to 6' high. This will help her keep her weight back. She gives up a lot of left side resistance by forcing her right side forward. She has a tendency to bend at the waist and lean forward. She has a lot of moving parts at release that is not necessary and will interfere with control and generating speed. Her leg kick is more suited to a screw ball. Have her drag the toe towards the plant foot heel and this should help alleviate some of the leaning to the side and aid her in standing tall.Don't force the elbow bend on follow through. Let it happen naturally following release. I will comment further. All the time I have right now.

 

[TeNeetKeeMom]

Thank you for taking the time to reply/comment. Yes, she does have a problem with keeping her weight back and being "tall". We will have to try out that drill you mentioned. She does have a tendency to throw screw-ball like fastballs sometimes. We will look at that too. I look forward to reading more of your comments/suggestions.

If any others have any comments/suggestions please reply. I love this website and I learn about so many things that can aid a pitcher in her journey to being a successful pitcher. The more comments/suggestions/opinions the better because you never know what piece of information it might be that "clicks" with the DD and promotes progress!! Thanks again!!

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I don't teach the "slap the hip" with the glove. I want girls to punch forward with the glove and keep it high, to protect themselves from line drives. Along that same topic, I would want your DD to have the left shoulder up and right shoulder down, as she releases the pitch. You want "long levers" on release.

She looks good. I can tell that she is having fun.

 

[Goobie]

I don't teach the "slap the hip" with the glove. I want girls to punch forward with the glove and keep it high, to protect themselves from line drives. Along that same topic, I would want your DD to have the left shoulder up and right shoulder down, as she releases the pitch. You want "long levers" on release.

She looks good. I can tell that she is having fun.

Amy... I have seen you make reference a few times about having your girls "punch forward with the glove" instead of slapping the hip. Do you have any videos that illustrate what you are describing? I just can't picture it. Most videos I see have the pitchers bringing their glove down to their hips.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

A quick search found this pic of Akamine at UofAz. I asked Teresa Wilson about this one time and she wants the glove high on release. The elbow comes into the rib cage and then punches back out.

 

[Jojo]

What I tell my pitchers is to keep the glove in the front of the body, if they bend the glove elbow it's much easier to keep the glove in front.
I explain the more the glove is in front of the face right after release the less likely you will need to use your pitching hand to stop the ball.

My DD took one in the pitching hand at a college game. She had to go to the ER and have it x-ray'd. Nothing was broke but it was blue and very swollen.
You just don't want to lose the entire season with an injury like that.

 

[sluggers]

1) She is doing the stork wrong. She should have her right foot down and her left foot up.

2) On the walk-throughs, have her keep her right foot off the ground after she throws. This will help with her forward body lean.

3) Her follow through is wrong. You are having her finish with the tips of her fingers pointing up. Find the thread entitled "internal rotation" for a discussion of the correct follow through. In the video "pitching long ball side view", you can see that she uses two follow throughs. Neither is correct.

 

[tojo]

The stork drill you show is actually called a "flamingo". Slugger is correct in his description of the stork. The stork drill also has the pitcher facing the catcher.

 

[TeNeetKeeMom]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I meant to reply yesterday but my younger DD (7u) had her league game, son had his baseball practice and my oldest DD (this pitcher) had a double header league games - so we were swamped & running around every where yesterday, lol. Oldest DD (this pitcher) got to pitch 1st league game of double header last night - her team is a 12u team but playing up in 14u league. She did pretty good and the team won!! She had 3 Ks - most of the opposing team's girls were trying to bunt the entire game. So defense took care of all the bunts and few "dinkers" that were hit. We noticed that when a girl was similar to her size (meaning a smaller 13/14 year old, she is a fairly young 11 year old) she pitched particularly well. However, we noticed when a bigger, more intimidating sized batter came up then the more balls she would throw. Hopefully with her own physical growth along with the continued experience in the circle pitching/playing against bigger/older girls will help her strengthen her mental game. She knows she still needs to work and improve on a lot of things and she is ready/willing to put in the time and hard-work to do so.

We will be working/looking at the things that were mentioned here in this post when she does her pitching practice - one of them being this afternoon. Thanks again!