Help with my daughter's mechanics

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May 9, 2017
8
1
Over the past year we've been trying to transition to IR and would like some feedback on the areas she needs to work on. I'll start with what I see: she keeps her back leg behind her too much, I believe she needs to turn her hips more towards 45 degrees. Her arm isn't getting enough brush contact because of her hips. Thank for any help!







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May 15, 2008
1,913
113
Cape Cod Mass.
It looks to me like she doesn't really feel the IR-armwhipping motion. Have her look at this Blair Luna drill and copy the motion. The arm should feel long and loose with the elbow flexed more and leading from over the head down into release.

 
Sep 19, 2018
928
93
Interesting. Take a look at the 51 second mark. At 10:30 - 11:00 (Viewing from 3B), Luna's palm is more down than sideways. but by 9:00 she has rotated her arm to palm up.

I am assuming most pitching coaches would say that is not the most efficient way of going about it. no?
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,133
113
Dallas, Texas
Over the past year we've been trying to transition to IR and would like some feedback on the areas she needs to work on. I'll start with what I see: she keeps her back leg behind her too much, I believe she needs to turn her hips more towards 45 degrees. Her arm isn't getting enough brush contact because of her hips. Thank for any help

Fix her arm movement first. Her hand needs to flip over, with her palm down and pointing at the catcher. See the image of Sarah Pauly. That is the way her arm should look.

For a young pitcher, there are various ways to describe it...."zombie arm", "kiss my hand, sir prince", "magician hand", "show the back of the hand to the catcher"....whatever.

Boardmember has the perfect drills for the progression. They are described in the IR in the classroom thread. The drills are "the lock it in drill", the unlock it drill, and the magician drill.

When she gets these drills, then incorporate those into the pitching motion.

After she gets the IR arm motion down, *THEN* work on the lower body mechanics.pauly-finish.JPG
 
May 9, 2017
8
1
Fix her arm movement first. Her hand needs to flip over, with her palm down and pointing at the catcher. See the image of Sarah Pauly. That is the way her arm should look.

For a young pitcher, there are various ways to describe it...."zombie arm", "kiss my hand, sir prince", "magician hand", "show the back of the hand to the catcher"....whatever.

Boardmember has the perfect drills for the progression. They are described in the IR in the classroom thread. The drills are "the lock it in drill", the unlock it drill, and the magician drill.

When she gets these drills, then incorporate those into the pitching motion.

After she gets the IR arm motion down, *THEN* work on the lower body mechanics.View attachment 14245
So your saying at the follow through of her pitch her hand should point down?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,133
113
Dallas, Texas
Yes. Any decent collegiate pitcher uses IR of the forearm.

The IR of the forearm (for a rightie, thumb goes from point to pointing to the left) is the fastest movement the human body can make other than blinking. Baseball pitchers, tennis players, ping pong players, etc. uses IR of the forearm.

The attached images of Rachel Garcia, Samantha Snow, Kelly Barnhill and Amanda Scarborough.

Some good pitchers do a "fakey" hello-elbow finish...Amanda Scarborough has great IR mechanics, does the palm down follow through, and then pulls her arm into an HE finish.

Pitchers throwing a breaking pitch sometimes have different follow throughs...but, your DD isn't there yet.
 

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