Dropball

[NJSwampdragons]

So my 11U DD often throws drops during games, but if you asked her to throw a drop she struggles. Is there a way to teach her to do something she already does naturally?

Some slow motion video of drops during one game from the fall I captured. These are from 40ft.

 

[Gags]

If her fastball naturally has a 12-6 rotation, just tell her to throw a low fastball and remove “drop ball” from your current vocabulary. My 12YO has a much more consistent “low fastball” than she does when she tries to throw a drop (IR sooner or do anything to create more spin).

And if you could somehow get the catcher to start with her glove almost on the ground, she’d get a lot more calls on the low strikes by coming up TO the ball vs letting the ball drag the mitt back down.

(b/c every catcher’s parent loves getting position tips from the pitcher’s parents!)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Shiloh]

Is there a way to teach her to do something she already does naturally?

This question makes no sense…except as a humblebrag.

Do you have an actual question? If so please restate what it is that you’re asking. If not, please consider moving to the parent brag forum.

Thanks.

 

[Tango]

Good movement on her FB/Drop. If you want it to drop a little more just pronate more. Some will not like this but you can make her Drop a Drop Curve.

My DD's FB/Drop does drop. She throws a Drop Curve as her Drop ball.

 

[eagle6]

Looks like she is throwing a drop. Many instructors teach to stride shorter and get the upper body over the front foot more when starting with the drop. This is what she is doing. Only other question is "How fast is she throwing?". Not assuming she is throwing fast or slow, but the video is slow motion. Hard to gauge if the ball is dropping from spin or lack of speed. She looks really good.

 

[NJSwampdragons]

This question makes no sense…except as a humblebrag.

Do you have an actual question? If so please restate what it is that you’re asking. If not, please consider moving to the parent brag forum.

Thanks.

The problem is that she’s worked on a dropball and struggles to throw it at practice, but then she starts randomly throwing her FB as a drop at games. That’s all fine and good, but she needs to be able to do it on command.

Since she does it in game naturally, she can do it, but there is a disconnect when trying to get her to do it on purpose. So the question is has anyone dealt with this before, and how did you get your pitcher to learn to do something when they want vs it just happening.

 

[NJSwampdragons]

Looks like she is throwing a drop. Many instructors teach to stride shorter and get the upper body over the front foot more when starting with the drop. This is what she is doing. Only other question is "How fast is she throwing?". Not assuming she is throwing fast or slow, but the video is slow motion. Hard to gauge if the ball is dropping from spin or lack of speed. She looks really good.

She typically throws between 47-50mph. High is 51mph. 1st year 12u, so 40ft.

 

[ArmWhip]

The first question is 'what type of spin does she throw on her fastball?' If she naturally throws a topspin fastball then you're not going to gain much by trying to deliberately throw more topspin. In my experience trying to get a pitcher with a topspin fastball to throw extra topspin often does not go well. If you want to add some deception or make 2 pitches out of 1 you can try to take some speed off the 'drop'. It's not uncommon for pitching coaches to teach 'pitches' and not spin.

 

[NJSwampdragons]

The first question is 'what type of spin does she throw on her fastball?' If she naturally throws a topspin fastball then you're not going to gain much by trying to deliberately throw more topspin. In my experience trying to get a pitcher with a topspin fastball to throw extra topspin often does not go well. If you want to add some deception or make 2 pitches out of 1 you can try to take some speed off the 'drop'. It's not uncommon for pitching coaches to teach 'pitches' and not spin.

I don’t think she has only one spin on her FB. When I catch her sometimes the ball drops, others times the ball tails left.

Any thoughts of what she’s doing in those videos and how to get her to do it on command? Queues to use.

 

[eagle6]

She typically throws between 47-50mph. High is 51mph. 1st year 12u, so 40ft.

with the forward lean, she is just throwing a natural drop. When she starts with a rise and is staying back more, it could affect her natural drop or she could have a hard time staying back on the rise.