DD pitching...please offer opinions

[Steve Huff]

I think she should put the ball in the glove and not swing back like she does. It will take a couple of weeks to get used to but will solve a lot of her problems.

Agreed! I mentioned this in my post and it cures some of her initial issues. It can be hard to convince people though. I found out in Denmark that I coach a lot like Bill Hillhouse. I met his former wife there and some of his students. They told me we teach many of the same things. The glove and back-swing issue, keeping the hips open, follow through to the left ear (I think he teaches something similar) are all similarities. I think there were more but I can think of them now as it is midnight!

 

[greg99]

Thanks Everyone for the comments. Sorry for the confusions with the videos. The latest video is the newest. The one with her squatting down is old, maybe a year or so. I thought it might be good to link the new vid to the old thread of her pitching, i won't do that again.

She tried to keep the ball in her glove during her wind up fore a while. The problem was she would rotate her shoulders during the windup and then push over a bit to the right, her right. It was hard for her to keep straight down the power line after she rotated. Maybe she was over rotating by taking her arms/hands to far bbackwards. Can one of you find a clip of what you are saying. I will see if I can find a clip of Hillhouse as well.

Ever time she tries to pitch without bending some she can't seem to get her legs into the pitch. Same thing with the "rocking" I don't like either a whole lot but not sure if thats what she should work on first. Screwball, can you get a clip of a pitcher of what you belive is the best wind up. Or just who do you think has a great one. Thanks.

I think she needs to work on getting a bit of a bend in her elbow to create some whip first. But I am jsut a crazy Dad looking for that 1-2 MPH

Thanks for all the comments

 

[greg99]

Here is a different view of DD pitching. I have some from straight on but they are all Change Ups. I couldn't get the WW to stand behind me when she pitched a Fastball.


[video=youtube_share;qw61_RWY2KI]http://youtu.be/qw61_RWY2KI[/video]

 

[knightsb]

I see a lot of my DDs pitching in your video, and have worked on many of the same things. IMO I would:
1. Eliminate the bend in the waist in her premotion.
2. Work on the glove hand swim. The harder DD tried to throw, the more she seemed to swim, so much so that her front shoulder would fly open her hips would close more causing her to pitch around her hips which led to control issues.
3. Spray paint a power line on her pitching mat, if it is not yours, draw a line with a piece of chalk. She seems to be striding to the left of the power line. My DD did the same thing, fixing her glove hand swim and being more consist down the power line have improved her accuracy.
4. Reenforce she needs to be pulling the ball down at 9:00. As Joe mentioned, her arm appears to be locked at that positioned.
5. Fix the pivot foot drag, she should be lightly dragging her toe, not the entire side of her foot.

 

[02Crush]

Based on your first video I noticed she squatting and not utilizing it for power. I have a pitcher who uses a squat as part of her motion. She is taught by a former Division 1 World Series Pitcher starting pitcher that was very good. The PC's pre-motion did not include squatting at all. However she saw a natural body tendency in my pitcher and she went with it. Why b/c my pitcher was shorter and the PC saw two things. 1) she would not need to change to much which would allow the player to remain comfortable and confident while on the mound. 2) it would help her push off and gain more lower body power as a shorter pitcher. The PC told me (and I agree), "She can squat in pre-motion so long as she does squat too much and the squat is a set up for leaning in and pushing off more towards the batter to utilize her lower body for power. She must still get tall, maintain a full arm circle and get into a power position fully turned towards third baseline, then close down again all as she is rising form the squat. A lot to chew on...The point is that squatting opens the door to complications and is harder to make work for some pitchers as it requires more to be happening at the same time to pull the pitch off successfully. However if your DD is doing this naturally it may be something you use and tweak as it is a part of her style in pre-motion. If she has a tendency for this then she is already comfortable squatting and it would take some smaller adjustments make the motion work better for her. I am not certain this is a natural motion for your DD as she seems to be average height or taller for her age. Either tall 10 yo or average 11-12 yo.
All this is to say squatting is not bad but it does not seem natural for her and may not be right for her. Others..maybe...Her not so sure.

In your second video she looks better. Taller more of a stride out from the pitcher's plate. I would say this seems
more smooth for her and the style looks right based on her height and movements. That said I would continue to work on this style motion but work on getting her to completely open up towards the third baseline (power position she is about 80% there) and more importantly if you stop the video at release she consistently not turned completely back (open) to the hitter and therefore is probably loosing some significant power from mechanics b/c that last little bit of movement is not being used. Otherwise...A great improvement and a great base to continue growing into her role as a pitcher. Good Luck.