Bad throwing mechanics are hurting daughter's elbow

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Nov 25, 2012
1,437
83
USA
DD had the same problem a couple of years ago (a catcher). The ulnar collateral ligament was strained, which is the one that leads to Tommy John surgery. We were searching for answers all over the place like you are now. She got the best advice from a major league catcher: “When you finish your throw, always make sure your thumb is pointed at the ground.

Everyone always wants to break down the throw with scapular pinch, elbow up, over the top of your head, blah blah blah. Those are good under the right circumstances, but something as simple as pointing your thumb at the ground when you finish was the one that solved the problem. It took DD about two weeks to develop the muscle memory to do it every time, and she hasn’t had so much as a hint of a problem with her elbow since.


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Wasserman plus THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
Aug 20, 2018
107
28
I believe the drill helps because it teaches correct patterns of movement for the arm, not static placements like old school L-Drill and wrist flick stuff, that can translate to poor mechanics.

When you say the throwers hand "goes to the side", I'm not following what you mean. Are you talking about before or after release? Assuming you mean after release, her hand pronates - meaning thumb down like TexAg was describing. That's what should be happening. Apologies if I'm misinterpreting what you mean.

So she pulls back, ball away and everything really well, but when she starts to come forward her palm and fingers are under the ball, kinda like she's carrying a tray over her head. Then she snaps causing the ball to spin almost completely sideways (3-9 o'clock).

Hope that explains it.
 
Jul 16, 2013
4,659
113
Pennsylvania
Feb 26, 2012
93
8
So she pulls back, ball away and everything really well, but when she starts to come forward her palm and fingers are under the ball, kinda like she's carrying a tray over her head. Then she snaps causing the ball to spin almost completely sideways (3-9 o'clock).

Hope that explains it.



Frame 30.jpg

Before she starts to go forward (rotate toward target) the ball should be facing down. Try this-Tell her to take the ball out of her glove facing down and keep it down until her front foot makes contact with the ground. This should help her sequence.
 
Jun 19, 2013
753
28
DD had the same problem a couple of years ago (a catcher). The ulnar collateral ligament was strained, which is the one that leads to Tommy John surgery. We were searching for answers all over the place like you are now. She got the best advice from a major league catcher: “When you finish your throw, always make sure your thumb is pointed at the ground.”

Everyone always wants to break down the throw with scapular pinch, elbow up, over the top of your head, blah blah blah. Those are good under the right circumstances, but something as simple as pointing your thumb at the ground when you finish was the one that solved the problem. It took DD about two weeks to develop the muscle memory to do it every time, and she hasn’t had so much as a hint of a problem with her elbow since.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This crap screwed up my DD big time!! doing these dumb drills and trying to break it down into pieces her throws were horrid. I kept looking at video and saying "but the older players in games don't have their arms move like that?" and the coaches looked at me like I was an idiot (same as when we started pitching). Once her older brother watched that stuff and said "quit thinking about it and just throw the ball" and then her most recent coach just said if you move your feet and follow through you'll be fine. And she is. We never teach little boys to do all these gymnastics when they start playing t-ball. I understand there are folks with bad habits that need to be broke. But sometimes I think a lot of these well meaning youth coaches are teaching the bad habits.
 
Sep 21, 2017
230
43
PA
So she pulls back, ball away and everything really well, but when she starts to come forward her palm and fingers are under the ball, kinda like she's carrying a tray over her head. Then she snaps causing the ball to spin almost completely sideways (3-9 o'clock).

Hope that explains it.

IMO...here's your problem. There's no need to get to "ball away", and actually the ball shouldn't face away. What I see a ton when players get to that position is, the ball gets "stuck" meaning loses all rhythm because they are so concerned on getting to "ball away" instead of just being fluid. Then it turns into a push throw or "throwing pies" as former Hofstra coach Bill Edwards says - the palm goes under and shoves the ball. As she removes the ball from her glove, the ball should face down, think "thumb to thigh". If she's an infielder, her arm circle may not go to her thigh, but it's a good verbal cue.

My advice...anything from Austin Wasserman, Bill Edwards, and Heather Tarr you can dig up on throwing, study it. If you are like me, and was taught all the old school throwing drills that havent been taught at high levels in 15 years, it's going to take some humility and time to adjust to the info, but it's completely worth it.

If you want, DM me your email address, and I'll send you something I did with our JV team. They had a lot of throwing issues, so I went to a practice and did a "throwing clinic" type of practice based off the coaches I mentioned. I'm not saying its anything world changing, but it was a start for them, and seemed to help.
 
Last edited:
Nov 18, 2015
1,585
113
My daughter, in a classic case of the cobbler’s kids having no shoes, has a strong arm that’s negated by poor mechanics. She often ends up with the same 3-9 spin I think you’re describing - as if she’s constantly throwing me a curve ball (or maybe hanging slider is more accurate?).

Thanks to some slo-motion video (technique app), I realized that she sometimes starts with the ball pointing to the back of her head (at least it’s not to 2B!). From that starting position, unless she intentionally pronates her forearm during the throw, her hand ends up on the outside of the ball at release, leading to the sideways spin.

In short - the direction her palm/ball is facing when the elbow starts moving forward may be a factor.


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Nov 30, 2018
27
3
This drill may help - it's from my YouTube channel, and it's one I use with my softball and baseball players when they need to learn to get more on top of the ball. Holding a light weight (2-3lbs in the glove arm when throwing into a net is also a great way to help teach getting on top of the ball)

Give it a try, it's called the Rocker Drill: https://youtu.be/v7yG6s20Vo4

Dan
 
May 8, 2019
9
1
Pitcher's elbow usually presents as pain along the inside part of the elbow during, orafter, throwing activity. This injury is usually caused by repetitive motion and stress at the elbow, resulting in pulling and stretching of the tendons and ligaments of the inner elbow.
 

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