9YOA pitcher--suggestions?

[Orthodoc]

https://www.coachseye.com/v/TacT

This is my 9 year old. I know she has a ton of stuff to improve on (leaping, allowing her arm to whip and not muscle the release, negative lean, front side resistance, what we call banging the cymbals together which is each inner thigh), but I like where she is at for her age. Can you guys recommend something to help her not muscle the ball and let that wrist crack the whip? The 12 year old just "does it" and is no help.

 

[sluggers]

She is stepping forward/falling forward after the pitch. That is messing the rest of it up.

Let me try to sound scientific: Her lack of front side resistance is creating a problem with her kinematic chain.

The "drill of drills" for this is walkthroughs. You have her stand two or three steps behind the rubber, have her walk forward, and then throws the ball when she crosses the rubber.

After she throws the ball, she is to stand on her left foot with her right foot up in the air *until the catcher returns the ball to her*.

 

[Top_Notch]

Daughter opens up nicely.

However, she walks out of the pitch (killing speed), and finishes like a baseball player. She needs to open up, remain open, and throw the ball.

I would suggest she stand feet shoulder apart, slightly askew, facing the third base line. Just throw from there, stationary. This will give her the feeling of how to finish the pitch. Also, she stops her arm, which is stressing her shoulder. Let that arm fly!

Once she can throw stationary, have her drive from the mound the same way, open, and land and throw from the same as her drill she practiced. The only difference is her leg drive/momentum...at which time she needs to learn to drive her rear ankle into her calf. But she will finish open, not closed.

 

[inde53546]

One thing we did early on to develop front side resistance along with walk throughs I would have her throw 10 balls as quickly as possible. I would sit next to her with a ball ready. She would pitch, upon foot plant she would have to immediately push back with the stride foot and back pedal back to the rubber I would toss her a ball and she would pitch again upon front foot plant immediately back pedal concentrating on resisting. You'll see similar to walk throughs a few pitches that get snapped off that are very nice. Because of the speed of this drill you'll have to make sure the mechanics don't suffer. If she steps back with her stride foot to gain momentum fine. This is fun for them too. I've seen video of your other dd's this one is coming along very well too. Good luck

 

[xygent1]

for 9 imo looking pretty good and I don't know if its that big of a deal anymore but I would break her of that crow hop now.

 

[WindmillPitcher]

Another idea for walkthroughs is to have her start in center field and take a stride and "pitch" into her glove, this should be completely smooth, every stride is a pitch into the glove, this helps to break the habit of the forcing it as the windmill motion should be the same throughout, she should keep going until she reaches the mound, where she strides onto it actually pitches to her catcher. Repetition is key here.

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[Orthodoc]

Yes, definitely good stuff. We will be hitting it all hard, thank you. We are in an area with very few "quality" PC's (I put it in quotes, because the only way I know how to judge that is if they teach Palm to the sky at 9:00.)

Today we went to the oldest' highschool regional softball game, and I was using the coach's eye app on the pitchers and I was asking her to tell me what she sees as good and bad mechanics. She said some good things, guessed at a few things, and finished up by saying something like, "she leaps like I do." It was pretty funny, but I think she understands what I'm telling her.

The leap off the rubber is a problem, as is her getting the feel of not stopping her pitching arm just after the release. I think the walk through pitch ideas are going to be extremely helpful in her bad habit of trying to get in a fielding position ASAP tendency.

Many thank you's

 

[Rocketech1]

Yes, definitely good stuff. We will be hitting it all hard, thank you. We are in an area with very few "quality" PC's (I put it in quotes, because the only way I know how to judge that is if they teach Palm to the sky at 9:00.)

At 9:00, she is close to getting palm to the sky (BH says more towards 3rd base) but as long as she is "pulling the ball" down the last half of the circle, she is good. IMO, her arm is a little too straight at 9:00 and if she had a little more bend in the arm, it would put the ball in better "palm to sky" position and she will get better whip action into release.

Something to keep in mind when choosing a pitching coach. Most don't fully understand what is generating velocity and spin on the pitch. So you can educate yourself and work with her directly on getting the proper arm whip mechanics down "IR in the classroom" drills. ,etc and use the pitching coaches for other things like drive mechanics, back swing, grips for different pitches, glove arm reach, stride adjustments, game strategy, etc. I guess my point is, it's unlikely that you will find the perfect PC, but many have some good things to offer the student if you understand that in advance.