CLOCKING YOUR DD

[El Oso]

But it doesn’t matter what the gun says if the girl is being taught bad mechanics. I can only speak from what I’ve seen around here, most of the coaches who gun every lesson focus on what the gun says and the fact that the mechanics are bad is a side note.

Forget about the pitching instructors around there for a minute. Just put that out of your mind. Who cares what they do. I'm not them. None of what I quoted above is relevant. I'm talking about doing it for young players with good or bad mechanics in order for them to BETTER focus on their mechanics. You are trying to hide the gun from them so that they focus on mechanics. I'm saying, condition them to it so they can then use the gun to help them understand their body and associate it to their mechanics and the improvement that comes along with better mechanics.

BUY IN to changing bad mechanics is what I'm looking for and what better way to get them to buy in to changing mechanics than seeing the improvement on a radar gun? Trust me, they get tired of hearing Dad and the PC saying "You need to improve your _________ " without understanding what improvement will come along with the change. They really don't like changing somethig solely for the sake of changing something. They need incentive.

See we both want the same result, ie... them focusing on their mechanics, I'm just advocating for using an additional tool (radar gun) to get them there. That's all. I want the radar to speak to them instead of Dad because they stop listening to dad around 12u but they will listen to that number on the gun.

 

[ArmWhip]

When you are working on learning the basics of a good motion you don't need to use a radar gun. Once they have a solid motion then using a radar gun can help refine those mechanics. You can't just say 'that pitch looked faster, or slower' objective feedback helps.

At the 10U level there are a lot of pitchers with a locked elbow and a fast arm circle that dominate, but as they age up they will hit a speed limit. If you are teaching them IR a radar gun would not be a good idea. Each pitcher is a special case.

 

[uncdrew]

True. But how many PCs are out there that don’t stress the mechanics. They stress speed. It took 2 years for us to realize what good mechanics were. Like another PC in our area guns every pitch, but doesn’t stress mechanics.

I don't know. I know of 5-6 pitching coaches. All stress mechanics. In my world, it's the overwhelming majority who put mechanics over speed.

 

[El Oso]

I don't know. I know of 5-6 pitching coaches. All stress mechanics. In my world, it's the overwhelming majority who put mechanics over speed.

Same here. I don't know any that only stress speed. All are concerned with mechanics over speed or anything else.

 

[HunterMO]

1) I would run from this instructor

2) agree

How do you know her mechanics are improving without this simple tool?

I started gunning my kid at 11, and we would try a technique from others, and if it did not make him faster, we discarded it. At 14 and 140 lbs., he was throwing 90.

All that to say that most things PC say are nonsense.

1) No. I should clarify. He knows speed is important but wants the focus on mechanics and ball movement. But preaches explosive action and being as fast as possible during stride. The result is growing/higher velocity as everything improves. Speed isn’t ignored. It’s just not the main focus but rather a result of everything coming together.


Overall, I’m in agreement for use of the speed gun. Some good food for thought in this thread.

 

[PapaBear]

I don't know. I know of 5-6 pitching coaches. All stress mechanics. In my world, it's the overwhelming majority who put mechanics over speed.

Without it, speed doesn’t matter. Mine has worked privately over the years with Coaches like Rick Pauley when he comes to town and Denny Tincher (middle school). Not once did they speak to her about speed. Cleaned some things up on mechanics and that was it, end result of better mechanics was increase in speed. Her personal PC in HS years has not mentioned it and neither has her soon to be college coach. Beauty of the board is that there is no perfect way to do it or one size fits all. As stated above, I mentioned two well respected teachers in the game and two different styles with great results.

 

[cnardone]

What does this mean? Please describe

To me, when I hear "Over Throwing" or "Over Swinging" I think of it as a break down in mechanics due to trying to throw (or hit) the ball too hard.

 

[efastball]

Over(throw/swing)ing may be a mythical creature

 

[_MIA_]

Over(throw/swing)ing may be a mythical creature

Let us know when you find out for sure..

 

[Bonesaw]

Over(throw/swing)ing may be a mythical creature

I think overswinging/throwing is very real

For some reason i thought of this video.



Those Mike Schmidt videos TDS linked in the swing down thread; he talks about tensing up and fouling off 2-0 pitches also.