Curve Ball Speed

[Boomers2012]

DD was warming up before a game on Saturday and her travel ball coach, who admittedly knows very little about pitching and leaves the pitchers alone for the most part, asked her to try and throw a curve ball. DD's response was that she has never thrown a curve ball and didn't know how to do it. The coaches oldest daughter helps with the team (she is a major D-1 college pitcher commit) heard my daughter say that she didn't know how to throw the curveball. She came over and showed DD the basics of it and helped her for a few minutes. She got it to move a little but nothing spectacular. However, it seemed a bit faster than the regular fastball. My suspicion was confirmed this evening when we pulled out the rev fire and sure enough, the curve ball she was throwing was averaging 2 mph (57-58) faster. I asked DD what she was doing to make it a little faster and she didn't really know. I suspect it was because her front side timing was a little better because she wasn't striding so far out due to the push just on the other side of the power line which causes her to land and stabilize and split second sooner. So, my question is, has anyone else experienced this? Or, does anyone have any idea why the speed would increase while throwing this pitch?

 

[JAD]

Would be helpful to see videos of her fastball and curve to make a better assessment, but I would suspect that your DD has a limper wrist and is getting a little more "whip" out of her curve ball, assuming she is using IR mechanics. Some girls also benefit from a little more drive with their hips on a curve ball. Most pitchers have a natural motion and some pitches fit their natural motion better than others.

 

[Ken B]

Willy started a thread recently that speculated that learning the rise can lead to better whip. I'd say the same can be true for the CB. Like the rise, the cues often associated with the CB are similar to those of good whip mechanics. Interestingly, I'd say a perfect 6/12 RB or a perfect 3-9 CB will be off-speed.

 

[Ken B]

BTW, I think a flat 3-9 CB is the most fun pitch to throw except for maybe an Eephus pitch!

 

[corlay]

If she is throwing a corkscrew curve, then yes, we have experienced this too.

as Ken said, I think the cues for this pitch elicit greater whip AND spin

 

[Rocketech1]

FWIW - one of DD's teammates (13yo) has been out for more than two months with a stress fracture to one of her vertebrae. They claim that the injury happened because their former head coach asked the pitchers to throw a curve using some crazy twisting motion of the upper body to get more spin on the ball. I think it was a wake-up call to me that these young ladies are still growing and we need to take much care in making sure they are using good pitching mechanics, they need to probably warm up, and not to overuse them. They need these bodies for the rest of their lives, long after they hang up the cleats.

 

[Il softball fan]

Agreed Rocketech. DD took pitching lessons for a few months back when she was 12. Pitching coach stressed the motion of the arm wrist snapping across the body as well as a crazy twisting motion of the spine at release and just after to come across the body. Cant be good for a growing body to repeatedly do that motion.

 

[Boomers2012]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

 

[kenny 77]

DD was warming up before a game on Saturday and her travel ball coach, who admittedly knows very little about pitching and leaves the pitchers alone for the most part, asked her to try and throw a curve ball. The coaches oldest daughter helps with the team (she is a major D-1 college pitcher commit)

I have a question. How does a coach have a daughter that's a "major D-1 college pitcher commit" and not know very much about pitching? Really?

I've always heard that college coaches want girls that can throw movement pitches within a couple of mph of their fastball so feel very blessed with this.

 

[JAD]

FWIW - one of DD's teammates (13yo) has been out for more than two months with a stress fracture to one of her vertebrae. They claim that the injury happened because their former head coach asked the pitchers to throw a curve using some crazy twisting motion of the upper body to get more spin on the ball. I think it was a wake-up call to me that these young ladies are still growing and we need to take much care in making sure they are using good pitching mechanics, they need to probably warm up, and not to overuse them. They need these bodies for the rest of their lives, long after they hang up the cleats.

Pitchers need to work on mechanics with a pitching coach and if the head coach tries to changer her pitching motion, change teams....