12U Pitcher Evaluation Please

[Shawn]

Alot of the issues are caused by crow hopping. There is a hitch in her motion, Instead of a fluid motion that results in front side resistance, she is creating a inefficient action with the hitch.

I also think the arm action can be better as well.

 

[Shawn]

Posture is a issue as well. the front leg/knee are bent for to long, not creating good resistance against the front leg.

 

[joe720]

Best thing with a young pitcher is start small. You are not going to correct everything at once, you'll just confuse her.

I'd suggest having her start with the lock it in drill. 9- 3 over and over. Then push it back to 12 and so on. It's a long journey. Enjoy it.

 

[hummingbird]

Arm needs to have a bit of a bend on the downswing. The crowhop issue should be fixed once her drive is improved. Have her drive out more and less up. Front knee bend is fine but have her straighten out sooner to create a better front side resistance, which should help with her velocity as well.

 

[Traps71]

Best thing with a young pitcher is start small. You are not going to correct everything at once, you'll just confuse her.

I'd suggest having her start with the lock it in drill. 9- 3 over and over. Then push it back to 12 and so on. It's a long journey. Enjoy it.

Think this is really good advice. My DD is 13 and will be 14 in March. In the offseason, we try to identify the one or two key things that we can correct or improve. If you try to work on everything all at once, you are not likely to make much headway as there is only so much time and energy to be spent.

For improving drive mechanics in particular, I am a believer in dry pitching (going through the pitching motion without a ball). You can use this as part of a warm up--15-20 reps. It's amazing how many issues can disappear when there is no ball. In addition to do a lot of throwing from the 9 o'clock and 12 o'clock position, I would highly recommend instituting some long toss into your practices. Long toss works on many issues at once because if you don't drive and get your body into a good position, the ball is not going to go very far. I would also spend a lot of time throwing into a tarp rather than a catcher, so that she is not focused on trying to "throw strikes" (which can also be the root of many problems when you are starting out).

As I have in other posts, I will again plug the Hillhouse DVDs--especially for those starting out. There is a beauty in the simplicity of his approach. He only focuses on three basic drills as well as having the girl play catch with herself. I love DFP, but before you know it your question can be turned into a graduate seminar on the physics of pitching and magnus forces. LOL.

Be patient, celebrate small victories, and enjoy the ride.

 

[djcarter1966]

The dry pitching mentioned above is where I would start to address the crow hopping....you can be the next Kelly Barnhill and get away with it until you reach internationals or you could be the girl crying after your coach pulls you off the mound because some umpire in the tournament championship or HS championship decides he wants to actually enforce the rules. Use the drill for several things keeping her foot in contact with the ground (it should be the tip of her toe just gliding on the ground), making sure her back heel is off the ground (laces to catcher preferred) and use the power line to keep her straight.

Also I would work the backchaining drill starting at 9 with a bent arm so she gets the right feel of bent arm palm up then she can go to 12 again starting with bent arm throwing into net or her own glove even. Right now her arm is locked out the whole time and she will never reach her full potential until she gets the lose and whippy motion down instead of a stiff and mechanical style.