DD Pitch analysis please

[RookKev]

Hi all, well, I've finally taken a minute to video and post and such. Was looking for some feedback. My dd will probably check this, so please be sensitive to a young ladies feelings in your commentary. Obviously, feel free, but also try and color it so she can constructively learn. She is picking up a bit of speed, but it is very slow, and she is no where near where she would like to be... (who ever is?). Thank you.

[video=youtube_share;1e1t5ecuS3E]http://youtu.be/1e1t5ecuS3E[/video]

 

[joemcq51]

Not seeing a video. Could be my PC. After all I am at work.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Very nice little athlete. I want her to land on a firm from side, and straighten her left knee more. I stopped the video at 03. Have her drive that glove towards the catcher and keep it on the power line. It is swimming out away from her and zapping some strength from the pitch. Those are the 2 things I would work on first. I like the arm circle.

 

[sluggers]

Your DD is taking a step after release, which will substantially reduce her speed. She needs to keep her right foot behind her left foot.
Pitching is about momentum transfer. You get the body moving in a straight line toward the target, and then stop the body. The momentum is transferred to the ball and it "explodes" out of the hand.

E.g., suppose you set a brick on the dashboard of your car and you were driving 60 MPH. If you want the brick to go through the front windshield of your car, would you gently apply the brakes or would you slam on the brakes?

Because your DD is taking a step after release, not all of her momemtum is being transferred to the ball. Therefore, the ball isn't going as fast as it can.



This is a video of Amanda Scarborough, a two time All American from Texas A&M. Watch the location of her feet after release, and then compare that to your DD.

[video=youtube_share;k5X86nD_WS4]http://youtu.be/k5X86nD_WS4[/video]

 

[FrozenRope]

How old is she? I think she looks like she whips the ball in there pretty good. I agree with sluggers. That left foot needs to plant and stop the foreward momentum of the upper body so it transfers to the arm and to the ball. Looks like she is generating all of her speed from a lightning fast arm circle. As soon as she learns to create the negative momentum of her body to propel the arm and balll, she's going to be a fire baller. In my limited experience, the younger, lighter pitchers lack the core strength and body control to actually allow that plant foot to stop the forward momentum of the body. Add 15 minutes of sit ups, planks, wall squats, and unweighted lunges to her pitching workouts and I bet you see a big improvement in her body control in just a short time. She's not lacking in agility from what I see...just a little bit of strength. She's fast...now time to build a little bit of power into the equation. Overall she looks great... huge potential.

 

[Ken B]

Do you happen to have any video from the side? In this video, her arm seems very straight through release and her shoulder seems to be helping throw the ball. I like her timing, use of the arms during the drive and her toe angle at foot plant.

 

[RookKev]

Thanks guys. As some of you know from my posts here, my daughter is extremely small for her age. It's almost comical, but she is on the upward climb. She is 13. So, standing tall at just over 5', and obviously no extra weight to help out on strength, she has to muster up everything to deliver a pitch. The solid front side is a concept we are familiar with, and thought she was doing pretty well with it. We do want to make sure that although she hits the brakes effectively, she doesn't leave herself vulnerable and defenseless in the process of the pitch. I will talk with her coach and see if maybe to much emphasis is going into that aspect right now.

I will also try and video a few more shots and angles, to see if we can see any other glaring issues. The glove is something we have talked about ALOT. It's difficult though, because we do not want her to slap, and finding that bring the glove down, but not slap has been very difficult to deal with. Maybe she can try the draw the elbow back to the body method.... I feel that at least 1 or 2 mphs could be gained on the glove hand being better.

 

[halskinner]

Hi Kev,

A few little fixes are in order. However, there is one big one you should focus on first.

She is throwing with a step style. She is probably more than a little frustrated because she surely feels that SOMETHING is holding her back. She is at the point that I have always called the 'Pitching Style Limbo'. When a step style pitcher gets aggressive enough that their step style will not contain the energy anymore, they sense something is very 'Not Right'.

You need to convert her to Leap and Drag'. She has no push off from the rubber. Her strong step and momentum is what is bringing the pivot foot forward. She is pretty m,uch standing straight up through the entire pitch. SShe might also be feeling a sore lower back after pitching as the lower back is what has to take on the role of the body's brakes when the leg, knee and ankle cannot do it. They cannot stop the forward momentum if you are standing straight up, you need to come down on a slight backward lean for your bbrakes to work correctly and not stress your lower back.

I used to receive students referred by other instructors for the specific purpose of converting them from step to leap and drag. Coach Hal's Foundation Method is what I always used. It is in my book.

Dont let her throw in the towel out of frustration over this, it happens alot. Dont let her keep pitching like this to the pooint she hurts her back.

We can fix this.

 

[David Carter]

One thing that might help her be more explosive off the rubber is to not leak forward with her front foot. If you watch the video and pause it several times you can see that with her back arm back her front foot is already going forward when her arm reaches the rubber her front foot is way out in front off her you can see her toe out and bottom of her foot almost completely extended already, this might have something to do with being more of a step versus a leap, although I don't think she is a step style pitcher in the classic sense of what I usually think about she is just not very explosive of the rubber. If you hear Hillhouse describe it he uses the analogy of a sprinter coming out of the blocks. Watch the slo mo video of Amanda and she how everything comes forward together and her rear leg and arm are in sync

 

[acers16green]

I am by no means an expert but two things I'd do with the glove hand.

1) I'd get her pitching with a wall on her left side. She won't be able to swim and will get the point quickly. As a tip, don't try to catch her while she's working through this...let her figure it out first. The richochets are wicked.

2) If her glove is doing that, that is going to take her center of balance offline. We want everything going towards the catcher and abruptly halting ( except the ball ). My daughter's coach talks about a crash dummy in the passenger with no seat belt. The best feedback device I've seen that indicates your energy is not going straight forward and you're off balance is a balance beam. Essentially just get a 2x10 board about 8-10 feet long and have your daughter pitch on it.

She will hate both of these drills for a while but I think they will work.

My experience with the balance beam is my daughter throws harder on that thing because she has to get all the energy on line....
Good luck.

Thanks guys. As some of you know from my posts here, my daughter is extremely small for her age. It's almost comical, but she is on the upward climb. She is 13. So, standing tall at just over 5', and obviously no extra weight to help out on strength, she has to muster up everything to deliver a pitch. The solid front side is a concept we are familiar with, and thought she was doing pretty well with it. We do want to make sure that although she hits the brakes effectively, she doesn't leave herself vulnerable and defenseless in the process of the pitch. I will talk with her coach and see if maybe to much emphasis is going into that aspect right now.

I will also try and video a few more shots and angles, to see if we can see any other glaring issues. The glove is something we have talked about ALOT. It's difficult though, because we do not want her to slap, and finding that bring the glove down, but not slap has been very difficult to deal with. Maybe she can try the draw the elbow back to the body method.... I feel that at least 1 or 2 mphs could be gained on the glove hand being better.