Anyone have slow motion video of the hand at release?

[jryan15]

I'm trying to help my daughter work on her release as she appears to be loosing the ball the ball somehow. It appears that she allows her hand to get inside of the ball and it rolls off of her index finger putting a side spin on the ball. My daughter is a lefty and this action also seems to push the ball to the outside of the plate (for a r/h batter).

I thought taking a look at slow motion video of the fingers at release might help her see what should happen. Any other advice would be great as well!

 

[JAD]

It sounds like she is throwing a side release changeup instead of a fastball. Most pitchers have a natural 'screwball' motion on their fastball, which causes the pitch to tail into RH batters, but it sounds like your DD natural tendancy is the opposite. Work with her on wrist snaps and focus on her middle finger being the last one on the ball, with a strong wrist flick straight up to her collar bone.

 

[DB1]

See Amanda Scarborough Power Drive Thread. Great slow motion, high frame rate gifs.

 

[MandM]

There is a recent thread of Amanda Scarborough with great 1000fps video of her as she goes through release (Amanda Scarborough powerdrive product video) a couple of threads before your post- check that out. Also, here is something that another person posted (sorry I can't give them credit!) that has a series of stills through release.

I am not sure how old your daughter is or how how long she has been pitching. My DD is also lefty and has had this issue- the internal rotation thread suggests some practice drills from 3oclock and 12 oclock and we have done these regularly and this seems to be largely curing the problem but it sneaks back from time to time- good luck!

 

[Steve Huff]

I'm trying to help my daughter work on her release as she appears to be loosing the ball the ball somehow. It appears that she allows her hand to get inside of the ball and it rolls off of her index finger putting a side spin on the ball. My daughter is a lefty and this action also seems to push the ball to the outside of the plate (for a r/h batter).

I thought taking a look at slow motion video of the fingers at release might help her see what should happen. Any other advice would be great as well!

Well I have a solution that will prevent her from having a Cat Osterman fastball (bullet or corkscrew spin/not good!). A few hundred reps and she can get out of the habit, but should probably continue it for awhile especially during warmups. It creates a very new and recognizable feel. The ball is released off of the 2nd and 3rd fingers as the index finger blocks the slip off the side of the hand. This is simply a rise ball grip released as a fastball.

LH

RH

I don't think your DD will be able to finesse this issue, especially if she is young. So the only thing she will be able to do it do drills. All of the pitchers in MandM's great photos are using Internal Rotation in their arms to increase speed. But this has its foibles with young pitchers who aren't trained methodically. Turning the hand over and getting that as it seems your daughter is doing is very typical. The question you must ask is if the spin is mostly vertical, or does it have too much bullet spin.

 

[Steve Huff]

MandM, great work!

That last girls frames are interesting because she doesn't use a forearm whip but does have IR through her release with a stiff arm. Strange!

 

[MandM]

Thanks but I definitely can't take credit for the photo stills- it goes to another poster from many threads ago. I believe one of the pitchers is his/her DD-

 

[jryan15]

Thanks everyone, that Amanda Scarborough video is exactly what I was looking for. In the video it appears to me that the ball is rolling off of her index finger last. Maybe DD's release isn't too far off. I had hoped that her LH release may have been pushing the ball left, but I see that I need to take a step back and look at her overall mechanics. I tried recording video yesterday evening, but it didn't turn out as my EX-FH20 does not seem to handle low light conditions very well.

Amanda Scarborough video

 

[Ken B]

Work with her on wrist snaps and focus on her middle finger being the last one on the ball, with a strong wrist flick straight up to her collar bone.

I'd look at this differently if the goal is getting 12/6 spin. Instead of wrist flicks (which I don't think are used in the pitching motion other than for maybe a change up,) I'd encourage the kids to use the regular whip, but push a little more with the index finger. A striped ball helps give instant feed back. The trick is to make sure they don't force a bowling/wrist flick motion to get the end result. I'd also not say a thing about a forced follow through unless they were short arming, but instead of making them touch a specific body part, I'd encourage them to let nature take it's course.

 

[jryan15]

However I always say you need to be careful looking at advanced pitchers' releases, especially when on the mound. They may not being throwing a fastball.
Also if they are, it is a warm up pitch and not thrown regularly, so idiosyncracies may remain or get developed.

I agree, and I've been keeping that in mind while hunting around. The clip of the Amanda Scarborough video that FFS slowed down is helpful, but even in that video there appears to be a slight side/bullet spin component. My DD doesn't appear to have the finger drive that Amanda and all high level pitchers have. It appears DD doesn't feel the ball on her fingers at release and kind of just lets the ball roll across her fingers as opposed to driving them through.

I've been hesitant at pulling in wrist snap drills. Our 1st (and only) pitching coach pushed the bowling motion and had us doing a lot of wrist filps. Anytime I mention something slightly resembling a wrist flip exercise, DD instantly shuts down. I would have to say the positive outcome of it all was that online research brought me to this site and soon thereafter dad got to take over as pitching coach . All thanks to everyone here for the education and support!

I think I'm going to take another look at Steve's drill recommendation. I just have to figure out a way to trick DD into thinking it's something other than a wrist flick drill .