Feedback wanted " 15 y.o - form at plant"

[abbygale]

My turn to share. One pitch on a just turned 15 y.o. Curious about other's thoughts on Lauren's mechanics and form at plant. It's a straight fastball. She's 6' for reference and uses a local PC for 2 years now.

Sorry for the you-tube quality. I realize it is hard to view and I wish I could post a video you can just step thru.

Anyways "thanks"

 

[Ken B]

Hard to tell for sure due to the video, but overall, she looks like she's doing well. If you have a way of shooting video at a little higher frame-per-second and better resolution, it would be easier to tell for sure.

Nice looking shop! Can I come play!


Ken

 

[halskinner]

If I am seeing this correctly, it looks like her stride knee has only a very tiny bend in it at LFT. She is also standing straight up at release, next to no resistance against the stride leg. Stride length looks OK, a little slower than I am sure she could do it.

I dont know how heavy the pitching mat is but if it slides on her at full speed when the stride foot touches down, that could be why she is holding back(?) Thats the feeling I get from this one pitch, that she is holding back more aggressive speed. Is the pitching distance in the shop way less than full distance? Is someone catching her at way less than full distance? If so, is that someone fully geared up? Any of these thing can hold her back from throwing full speed.

Again, my vision sucks so I might be way off here. If this was my student, I would look her right in the eyes and ask her why she is holding back.

 

[Rocketech1]

I would focus on the arm whip into and through release. Her arm whip could be so much better. Look how far her arm and elbow are away from her body right after release which is indicative of not "snapping" the arm whip enough. And then compare and contrast that with Amanda Scarborough below. The elbow is tucked into the hip and the arm is rotating around this fixed point utilizing great Internal Rotation. I'm a big believer in arm whip resisted against a firm front side is the key to velocity and high spin rate. Everything else is minor window dressing.

softball pitching machine in slow motion

 

[abbygale]

Thanks for the feed back. It's a 50' drop down net which we use in the shop when practicing. I just turned the mat sideways for better lighting.

It's nice to have fresh eyes every now and then to help make sure she is moving forward.

 

[JJsqueeze]

this is a question for the group. I see a lot of up motion at the end of the pitch with this girl (who by the way looks pretty darn good to me) that no one mentioned. I have been discouraging this with my DD but I am on the fence about how big of an issue it is. I discourage it because it seems like it's wasted and could complicate the release timing and lead to hi/lo inaccuracy. Is this something to be avoided or is it no big deal?

 

[Ken B]

Hard to tell for sure from the video, but the key for me is that her shoulders/hips are open at release (45 degrees +/-.) I teach keeping the shoulders open during follow through, but it is very common for high level pitchers to follow through with the shoulders. If her whip is good and she otherwise has decent control, I wouldn't ask her to change the follow through unless it seems to be affecting her release.

 

[halskinner]

Thanks for the feed back. It's a 50' drop down net which we use in the shop when practicing. I just turned the mat sideways for better lighting.

It's nice to have fresh eyes every now and then to help make sure she is moving forward.

Next question; is she practicing throwing into the net, or to a catcher?

 

[abbygale]

Myself or teammates

 

[halskinner]

OK good. As long as she has a target to focus on.

I will repeat what I said earlier; Get the stride foot to land at 45 degrees consistently. Nothing else ahead of that priority. Fix that and any other issues might just fix themselves.

You cannot fight against your own muscles and have the best speed, accuracy or ANYTHING ELSE. With the stride foot coming down at the exaggerrated angle, that is exactly what is happening.

Your stride is the FOUNDATION for everything else in a pitcher's motion.