DD pitching video

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Coach-n-Dad

Crazy Daddy
Oct 31, 2008
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DD is 13 and has been pitching for 2 years. She is seeing a pitching coach and making real improvements. A couple of weeks ago she was gunned and her cruising speed is 53 with a max of 56. She has a drop and screwball that both work about 50% of the time and just started working on the rise.

Video is her fastball. I would love opinions from some of the knowledgeable folks on this board.

<embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://i616.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid616.photobucket.com/albums/tt250/Dirt_Devils/videos/Pitching1.flv">
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
She probably has another 3 mph if you can get improve her form.

(1) She is "cutting off her follow through"...notice where her arm goes after she releases. It doesn't go up, it doesn't go out, it goes down. When throwing a fastball, the only way to get her arm to go down is if she pulls her arm down with the muscles in her upper arm. If you stop the video immediately after release, you'll see her upper arm muscles bulging. This indicates tension, and it is slowing her arm speed. So, what she needs to practice is finishing in the proverbial "L", with her hand up. (It isn't necessary to finish in the "L". In fact, she probably will never finish in the "L" during a game. But, first thing you have to do is break her of the habit of stopping her follow through. You do this by getting her to first get the feel of her arm going up.)

(2) She isn't "dipping the shoulder" or "bopping the hip". That is, the right shoulder rotates up and then down as the arm goes around in the circle, increasing the total length of the lever (or whip) by about 5 or 6 inches.

(3) What is the deal with the dirt kick with her left foot after she releases?

(4) Can you get us a video of her from directly behind or directly in front? It looks like she is bending her head toward 1B when she throws, but I can't tell for sure.

Ray
 

Coach-n-Dad

Crazy Daddy
Oct 31, 2008
1,010
0
Here's one from the front on the same day. I see she is following through, but the dirt kick is still happening.

Sorry it's sideways, turn your monitor on it's side and it's perfect :cool:

<embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://i616.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid616.photobucket.com/albums/tt250/Dirt_Devils/videos/pitching0.flv">
 

halskinner

Banned
May 7, 2008
2,681
0
This is not a little pixie pitcher. This is a larger frame and strong young lady.

There is no follow through to speak of because there is a wall in the way blocking the upper arm from letting that happen.

Pay close attention to the angle of the shoulders and the angle of the hips at the moment of release; The shoulders are a little more closed than the hips.

She is staying a little farther open with the hips than the shoulders to accomodate her large frame.

Here is what I suggest; Imagine the arm circle is a Hoola-Hoop. Right now she is trying to keep that hoola-hoop very close to her body, just like the pixies with no hips (pardon me pixies out there). She needs to bring that arm circle hoola-hoop out away from her body an inch or maybe a little more. She will still have to keep the hips open a little more than normal, like she is doing now but that will allow her to have a little more follow through.

We still want to keep the circle in a straight up and down plane but we need to move that plane away from the body an inch or so.

Have her start dragging her toe on top of the dirt instead of plowing the field with the bottom of her shoe. Only enough downward pressure to keep the toe touching the ground; it's the rudder not the anchor.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
She'll get to 55 mph by simply maturing in a couple of years. To get to the mystical 60 mph mark, she will need to get to perfect form. So, you and her will be fixing little problems in her pitching motion until she stops pitching.

Rule for the day: All movement is in a straight line. All movement is toward home plate.


8eef3393ec8541f7a438653d73967145.jpg


She needs to take the ball straight back. You can see that she is taking the ball back at an angle. You want the plane the arm swings in to be aligned with the plate through the whole motion. The video of Sarah Pauly, even though it is from the side, shows you her arm going straight back.

The glove needs to be moved as little as possible. In this shot, the glove is in front of her face, so she will have to swing the glove to her left. This swinging of the glove causes toque. Torque causes the body to spin, which causes the arm to come off line. The glove should move as little left to right as possible.

37829734e0e74fcd8a1d93db6740cb28.jpg


The ball is not at 12, but her front foot is down. At 12, her right foot should still be off the ground. She is off by a fraction of a second. A drill that will help is "three pump". She gets in the open position and does her circle twice without throwing, and then throws the ball the third time. Each time, through, she taps her left toe on the ground when the ball passes 12.

86ab7521af1b4e6bb2f53a7fef988d46.jpg


You can see clearly what Hal was talking about. Her shoulders have closed quite a bit, while her hips haven't closed. You've been working with her to stay open, which is good, but the hips do close, but they do so *after* the ball has passed the hips.

At release, note that her glove hand is on the left side of her left leg. The glove should be on the right side of her leg.

56a2c870e88845bea9cddf064886b0b5.jpg


Another shot, showing exactly what Hal was talking about. Note that the glove is outside her left leg rather than on the inside.


Your DD and my DD could be sisters. They both have the same "fireplug" body type. My DD's video is posted in the "Pitching Videos Thread". It might help your DD to look at someone with a body type more close to hers. Your DD has the potential to become better than my DD.

Ray
 

Coach-n-Dad

Crazy Daddy
Oct 31, 2008
1,010
0
Thank you both for the insight.

As for everything being in a straight line to home plate, I see exactly what you are talking about. Her coach was working with her arm going straight back before the pitch (and getting results) but it hasn't come up in a couple of lessons.

She is closing shoulders sooner than hips, maybe partly because she is beginning to get a nasty bruise on her right hip from her arm hitting her hip? She showed me this bruise just before the lesson that this video was taken. I asked her later if she brought the bruise to the attention of the coach; she hadn't. I told her to make sure that her coach knows about the bruise and suggested to her to keep her arm circle a little bit further away from her body. She looked at me like I was alien but I am pretty sure it sunk in - the bruise hurts.

One question: Why finish the pitch with her glove on the inside of her thigh instead of the outside. sluggers talked about torque causing her arm to come off line, I get that but after the release wouldn't she want the torque from the glove on the outside of her thigh to assist with the momentum of her shoulder/hip rotation and right knee driving forward so she finishes in a defensive position? (Geez, I hope that sounds reasonable)
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
Uhh...so she should reduce her pitching efficiency in order to field more ground balls that come right back to her? Your DD is a pretty good athlete. "Come backers" aren't really a problem, are they?

If your DD's body is spinning, her pitching arm will come off line. So, she will have a very difficult time controlling the horizontal (left to right) location of the ball. If she spins a little too much, the ball is outside. If she spins too little, the ball is inside. Spinning the body makes it very, very difficult to control her arm at high speeds. She can do it easily at 50 mph, maybe at 55 mph. But never at 60.

On the other hand, if your DD has a nice "perfect circle", the ball will always go straight to the plate. The only thing she has to worry about is vertical ball location (determined by the release point).

But, since you have your doubts, let's look at the three best pitchers in the world:

400e79f0c55d4a1998a459e86049e3cd.jpg

Yukiko Ueno, gold medal, 2008 Olympics

c2fc5a0a55e2443fb6b8a7aeabd8dbc9.jpg

Monica Abbott, NCAA strike out leader

74657deac1154b198487bf0de9866fa6.jpg

Cat Osterman, gold medal, 2004 Olympics, NCAA #2 strike out leader
 

Coach-n-Dad

Crazy Daddy
Oct 31, 2008
1,010
0
Point well taken. Thanks for the captures showing what the 3 best pitchers in the world finish like.

We now have some work to do.
 
Feb 19, 2009
196
0
She is closing shoulders sooner than hips, maybe partly because she is beginning to get a nasty bruise on her right hip from her arm hitting her hip?* She showed me this bruise just before the lesson that this video was taken.* I asked her later if she brought the bruise to the attention of the coach; she hadn't.* I told her to make sure that her coach knows about the bruise and suggested to her to keep her arm circle a little bit further away from her body.* She looked at me like I was alien but I am pretty sure it sunk in - the bruise hurts.

My dd would occasionally get a bruise on her forearm, not her hips, from her arm hitting her hips and her pitching coach came up with a solution for it.* We haven't tried it yet because it only gets sore occasionally and it hasn't been bothersome enough to do it.

Take an old computer mouspad and cut it to a small enough size to cover just the bruised area of her hips and tuck it into her pants waistband and adjust her belt/drawsting so it's comfortable and secure enough to stay in place when she pitches.Dusty
 

Coach-n-Dad

Crazy Daddy
Oct 31, 2008
1,010
0
My dd would occasionally get a bruise on her forearm, not her hips, from her arm hitting her hips and her pitching coach came up with a solution for it.* We haven't tried it yet because it only gets sore occasionally and it hasn't been bothersome enough to do it.

Take an old computer mouspad and cut it to a small enough size to cover just the bruised area of her hips and tuck it into her pants waistband and adjust her belt/drawsting so it's comfortable and secure enough to stay in place when she pitches.Dusty

Her Mom is letting her use a girdle for tonights game. She is a little embarrased to wear it but she can see that it pulls the bruised area in about an inch (she thinks that will be enough).
 

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