better video-comments??

[JC heir]

here is some better video(not nessecarily better pitching) of DD. I was able to get both sideshots & frontshots of pitching motion. Her location is pretty good after a good long warmup. My biggest concern, right now is proper mechanics to get maximum speed. right now, she is max out @ about 46( my gun). maybe there just no more in there without steroids??? we are working on the swimming glove. In my eyes, the leap is very good, the follow through a bit weak, but not terrible-the internal rotation is not perfect, but coming along. maybe someone else can pick out a speed eating mechanical problem???

YouTube - LL fastball 121709

YouTube - LL front fastball 121709

 

[halskinner]

Dont push her to try and get more speed until you get that stride foot coming down at 45 degrees. It's coming down at around 90 degrees right now.

Fix that and see how she does then. FIX THAT FIRST BEFORE TRYING TO ADJUST ANYTHING ELSE.

Hal

 

[ctfastpitch]

Agree....the 90 degree plant is keeping her from fully closing her hips after release. That's why she is falling off to the left rather than finishing on balance. Sorta like throwing across her body, rather than letting her hip follow her hand to a closed position. Working on the same thing with my daughter. Might want to try a pause drill on a balance beam.

 

[Ken Krause]

I like the overall mechanics. Good leg drive and strong effort. Very smooth and loose for the most part.

One thing I see is with her arm circle on the back side. It looks to me like the arm comes through as a single piece instead of the upper arm coming down first and then the forearm and ball whipping through. Around 1:08 or so you can see her pushing the ball into and through release instead of pulling it. In my opinion it's acting as a brake, defeating the rest of what she's doing.

Work on separating the arm into pieces so she can pull the ball through release. That should help boost the speed appreciably.

 

[ifubuildit]

JC

As the other posters said she is landing the foot at a 90 degree angle. One of the ways she can help herself correct that is to focus on just turning to foot and not the front hip and the leg comes out. She is over rotating the hip. One of the things I do is take orange soccer cones and put them out in the stride area at a 45 degree angle then tell the pitcher to roll her foot and land between them. Gives them the feeling of what they are trying to accomplish.

She is robbing herself of momentum with her upper body motion. She is taking the ball out of the glove prematurely as she starts her motion. She needs to "Rock the Baby" as I call it and keep the ball in the glove all the way out in front of her. This will also get her used to the idea of bending her elbow and may translate later onto the back side which is what Hal was addressing with his post about her motion. If you think of this movement in terms of hitting this would be the equivalent of loading with the negative move of the hands going backward. This will give her more momentum forward.

The next thing I see is she is doing a figure 4 with her back leg. I am not a fan of this movement. I think that movement throws the young pitcher off balance and tends to get them leaning over more often than not. I would tell her much like Bill Hillhouse to bring the knees together at finish. This will eliminate that motion and again give her more momentum moving forward. More momentum translates to more speed when the mechanics get in place.

Your daughter is very athletic and reminds me of my daughter at that same age several years ago. She has a bright future ahead of her if she keeps going with her pitching.

Good luck and keep in touch.

Dana.

 

[coachdan]

At 12 oclock I see a couple of things.

1) as you know the glove is swimming out quit a bit and pulling the front sholder off line hurting her control. I bet she misses inside alot.
2) As other have pointed out front foot is at 90 degrees get it at 45 degrees.
3) Looks to have her hand on top of the ball pushing down the back side of the circle. Arm is locked out, she needs pull down and lead with the elbow.

At 3 oclock

1)Arm is still locked and ball and elbow are moving together, elbow needs to lead the ball into release.

2)Drag foot is being anchor and slowing her speed down. My daughter was doing this same thing. We have been working on getting the back knee turned out and then getting it turned in quickly. Knee needs to be turned in between 12 oclock and 9 oclock and only drag the tip of her toe and show shoelaces to catcher. Look at Cat's back knee.

Release looks good !

 

[RayR]

At 12 oclock I see a couple of things.

1) as you know the glove is swimming out quit a bit and pulling the front sholder off line hurting her control. I bet she misses inside alot.
2) As other have pointed out front foot is at 90 degrees get it at 45 degrees.
3) Looks to have her hand on top of the ball pushing down the back side of the circle. Arm is locked out, she needs pull down and lead with the elbow.

At 3 oclock

1)Arm is still locked and ball and elbow are moving together, elbow needs to lead the ball into release.

2)Drag foot is being anchor and slowing her speed down. My daughter was doing this same thing. We have been working on getting the back knee turned out and then getting it turned in quickly. Knee needs to be turned in between 12 oclock and 9 oclock and only drag the tip of her toe and show shoelaces to catcher. Look at Cat's back knee.

Release looks good !

How is it working out? Any clips?

Ray

 

[FJRGerry]

You may want to add a power line to aid in consistancy of front foot placement. In our garage I've added one using duct tape with a strip placed at 45 degrees where the front foot lands. This has helped my daughter improve her stride consistancy. You can also ask her if she's standing tall at & after release over the stride line.

BTW, my daughter plays for another XTreme team here in the Collegeville area of PA

 

[coachdan]

MTS,

I'll get some new video soon to share but she has picked up a couple MPH aready and we have only been working on it a few weeks. We are having trouble finding time to pitch now that she is playing basketball for middle school.

Thanks for the advice.

Dan

 

[JC heir]

Thank You Thank You for all the instruction & kind comments We will start right away by addressing the foot angle & downward pull of the ballfrom 12-6. & then move on from there. This is a great site with a lot of wonderful people on it. I can watch the video a dozen times & not pick out the things that some of you get right away!! I like to think I am a pretty good coach as far as game strategy goes, but I am sure in a learning mode when it comes to pitching & hitting mechanics,,,,Thanks to you all! Lane