Critique my DD please?

[mkral]

Ok gang can you please give some thoughts on what to focus on here. my DD is 12, 5' 8". Sorry, she is not happy in these video's, just because I made her do this. I will get better ones at the next tourney. Also I am sorry that they are so fuzzy. They got that way when I shrank them to fit on here. She has pretty good speed but her control is still an issue. She is running round 51 - 52 for the most part and tops out at 54 for now. She really only has 3 pitches - fastball, peel drop, and change.

 

[sluggers]

She really only has 3 pitches - fastball, peel drop, and change.

We discourage honesty here. Please re-post and list at least 7 pitches she throws. You can even make up names for the pitches if you wish.

 

[mkral]

Sorry she throws 77mph when it's raining and she really has 7 pitches but I forgot the names of them all Oh crap you said I could make up names...... the flipsta, downrigger, hotrock, fastball, peel drop, change, & the ah the twisty crazy one kinda like a knuckle ball, yeah that is all 7 I guess.

 

[sluggers]

You can now be officially proclaimed, "A crazy pitcher daddy..."

Your DD is easily going to break 60 as a HS senior. Her problem is that she is too concerned about throwing strikes. So, she slows her arm down instead of just "throwing the freaking ball". The result is that she ends up with her arm lagging her body as to timing.

First, I'm not sure what all that bending down, etc., is supposed to do at the beginning of the pitch. It seems to me that the primary result will be her getting tired rather than generating any speed.

If you watch the video, you'll see she comes off the mound really strong, and then she says, "oops" and slow down her arm. All through her pitch, the arms trail (in a timing sense) her body position.

She is perhaps "half a click" too slow with her arm. At 12 O'clock, her left foot should be 2 inches off the ground. Here, you can see her left foot is down and she has already started transferring her weight to her left foot (note that her knee is bent). Also, she is already pulling down her mitt instead of "holding the point".

<a href="http://share.ovi.com/media/ratwod.softball/ratwod.11603"><img src="http://media.share.ovi.com/m1/lt/0923/2152992f2a1b46f9b5f71e9534b1892d.jpg" border="0" title="yellowshirt1 - Share on Ovi" alt="yellowshirt1 - Share on Ovi" width="199" height="194" /></a>


At nine o'clock, you see further how she has shifted her weight even more forward over left foot.

<a href="http://share.ovi.com/media/ratwod.softball/ratwod.11605"><img src="http://media.share.ovi.com/m1/lt/0923/4aa2f8d4148740dfba7c11b62a4e2d96.jpg" border="0" title="ys3 - Share on Ovi" alt="ys3 - Share on Ovi" width="175" height="161" /></a>

Here is the one, the only Jenny Finch:

<a href="http://share.ovi.com/media/ratwod.softball/ratwod.10930"><img src="http://media.share.ovi.com/m1/lt/0302/8573b82f7891472da2089903fc0fe09c.jpg" border="0" title="finch-9oclock - Share on Ovi" alt="finch-9oclock - Share on Ovi" width="280" height="218" /></a>

Look at her upper body's position with respect to her legs. She is leaning back over her right foot, while your DD is reversed--she is leaning over her left foot.

Here is your DD at release:

<a href="http://share.ovi.com/media/ratwod.softball/ratwod.11604"><img src="http://media.share.ovi.com/m1/lt/0923/deb15cdb40394227bbf9fc29e46e361d.jpg" border="0" title="ys2 - Share on Ovi" alt="ys2 - Share on Ovi" width="121" height="169" /></a>

She isn't throwing, she is bowling. Also, she doesn't consistently follow through. The arm should be up in an "L" right now (yes, I know that you technically don't want the "L". But, she right now is stopping her right arm. So, she needs to letting the arm go on every pitch.)

What to do about it?

A) She needs to be encouraged to throw the ball as hard as she can, every pitch. That means you are going to need a whole lot more than three balls. You are going to need twenty or thirty of them, cause they are going to be going over the barn and you don't want to be stopping after every pitch to go find a ball.
B) She needs to do the 3-pump drill until the cows come home. And, not a "nice, polite" 3-pump. (3 pump--she stands open. left glove pointed to the catcher. She has her left toe on the ground. She does three arm circles. Every time she gets to 12 o'clock, she lifts her left foot off the ground. On the third circle, she throws. You want her to throw as hard as she possible can without worrying about where the ball goes.
C) You need to do speed work. This will take a leap of faith, but you need to get her where she can see how fast she is throwing. A speed gun with a digital display for her to see with each pitch. And then just have her work on pitching faster without worrying about where the ball goes.



And, please post how to throw a "flipsta"...My DD's high school coach said of a different pitcher that she threw a pitch that broke left and then broke right.

 

[mkral]

Thanks slugger for taking the time to break that down!! We will do a bunch of 3-pumps and get her weight back where it needs to be. I am going to get some infield meterial to put around the rubber here at home so she has a better surface then going off of a little sand/clay onto grass. But again I can clearly see exactly what you are saying and we will dive into it.
Thanks a lot!!

 

[sluggers]

Your DD's body position is pretty good other than leaning forward. Her arm position is pretty good at 9 o'clock. She has a bend in the elbow which is going to create a nice whip action in the arm. I would expect the ball to be exploding from her hand...and then she just stops. I really think that she is worrying too much about throwing strikes.

She has good arm speed up to 12 o'clock, and then she slows her arm down from 12 o'clock to release. This is exactly backward.

WARNING: Doing speed work now will play havoc with her summer softball. She won't be able to find the plate for a while.

Another drill for her is "rapid throw" She takes a ball and throws it to you underhand. You immediately throw it back to her. WHEN THE BALL HITS HER MITT, she starts her pitching motion. No delay, no waiting, no "swing the arm back, lean forward"...the ball hits her mitt, she does her circle, and she throws. As soon as you get it, you throw it back to her. This is to be as fast as possible. If you do this write, she (and you) will be huffing and puffing. Again, be prepared for the balls to go sailing into the next county.

By the way, pitchers need some p*** and vinegar in them to be good. They need to be high strung, pains in the rear. Ask Hillhouse...

 

[mkral]

Thanks Slugger!! We will work on all of this. I can see exactly what you are saying and we will do the drills you have suggested. I will make sure I get a taller backstop here at home (ha ha). I have been through all of this once with her, well, the chasing the balls all over the country anyway, so we can sure do it again. She is determined to succeed and I am not going to stop her. She is at that age where the p*** and vinegar comes natural along with a ton of middle school attitude so if she will focus I think she can get through this fine. I just really appreciate you taking the time to break her video down and analizing it for me.
We will start now because I don't think waiting is the right answer, even if she struggles finding the plate for a while. I think it would be harder to break her bad habits the longer we wait to fix them. Or would you reccomend we wait to start speed drills and training until after summer ball is over?

 

[sluggers]

If it were me, I would start now. Her control will be awful. She (and you) will be pressured for her to go back. This is going to be tough...so I would really set her down and show her the Jenny Finch video and say, "She is the best that ever was. We have to get you there." She has to really buy-into throwing as hard as she can every pitch.

She won't get better until she improves her form. I'm not sure what level she pitches at, but 52 mph isn't going to get her anywhere. She will barely be competitive at 14U, and she will be a 3rd string pitcher at 16U.

Ray

 

[mkral]

I agree! I sat down with her last night and we discussed how much work she will need to put in to get where she wants to be. She wants to do it. We will start this weekend. I may have a lot more questions as we go down this road, but again thank you!