Fastpitching

[ang4yanks]

Stephanie mentioned and also covered in Ernie's video is the importance of relaxing the arm. When my children focus too hard on any component of the pitch, they tend to tense up and are unsuccessful. My son has observed Chien Ming Wang (Yankee Pitcher) hanging his arm loosely as he receives the sign from the catcher. He has incorporated this into his pitching and claims it helps...

Ang

 

[ifubuildit]

Ernie

I would agree with you Ernie. There is a very fine balance there between arm speed and timing. I am currently working with a girl who is having issues because her current pitching coach has her leaping out so far that she cannot get the timing correct and at the 12:00 position she is bending her windmill arm to try and balance herself for the stride foot landing. By the time she gets half way down in her rotation her arm is bent 90 degrees at the elbow all the way to release.

She is not strong enough yet to be able to handle that kind of motion but the muscle memory is now so ingrained that getting her to back off a bit from the long leap has been a challenge. When she does her windmill looks much better. I get very frustrated with coaches who are out there looking for the holy grail of speed and will sacrifice the pitchers timing, Rhythm, and mechanics in search of a couple of extra mph on a fastball that is going to get jacked out of the park anyway.

Elliott.

 

[jandree89]

Get her into the weight room and try to strengthen her lower half. Calf raises, Leg extensions, and Leg curls are where you should start as well as squats without any weight on her back.