How stop a pitcher from leaning

[tnacntv]

Leaning

My daughter had her collar bone broken a couple of years ago. In making her come back she began to compensate for her shoulder by leaning to get more speed. It took several weeks and a couple of specific drills to get her back in line mechanically. One was the leg drill mentioned previously and another was the wall drill. She had to do 50 reps of her windmill standing with her shoulder almost to the wall. She laid her palm flat (wearing a batting glove) on the wall and did the windmill with her finish at the end of each one. 50 per Night. I would stand with her and hold my hand above her opposite shoulder so she could tell if she dropped. I also made sure her head stayed up and her shoulders stayed square. We noticed considerable improvement within just a couple of weeks.

 

[jaguars2010]

A way to fix the leaning is to hold her pony tail a few times so that she can feel the muscles needed to use for proper mechanics.

The way to do this is: Have her get in ready position, hold (not pull) the pony tail up (above the head) and walk with her as she delivers her pitch. This is very effective with younger players. After a while all you have to say is pony tail and she knows what to do to correct.

Good luck!

 

[Old Man River]

Holding the pony-tail does not deal with the cause of needing to bend over! As I said before, in my experience, the cure to bending over as the ball is being released is to teach kids how to power the ball efficiently with whipping action. This whipping action is counter-intuitive and it is not being taught to a vast majority of pitching students that come my way. As long as pitchers are forcing their hand forward to power the ball, they will have a strong tendency to not stay back and tall as they release the ball and these various other drills that are being suggested are not dealing with the root of the problem.

 

[Geekydad]

OMR: Do you have any suggestions or drills on how to instill the counter-intuitive whipping action as opposed to push/pulling the ball through? 1/2-Ks or power K's?

 

[Old Man River]

OMR: Do you have any suggestions or drills on how to instill the counter-intuitive whipping action as opposed to push/pulling the ball through? 1/2-Ks or power K's?

I'm sorry !! I just saw this today- I will respond. Sooo... How does one learn to whip the ball? First, this is seldom learned in the first lesson or two; so it is important to have realistic expectations ! For whip to be developed there must be significant flex in the pitching arm at the 9:00 position so that " lag " can be created with the lower part of the arm and hand; so as the upper arm is drawn down to the side of the ribs with the upper inside of the forearm brushing the hip which triggers a trailing wrist and hand to snap over the ball to a 12-6 spin. The primary tension is in the upper arm as it comes down through the 9:00 o'clock position; but to learn this concept of whip, it is very helpful to learn to allow gravity to feed your slightly bent ( 15 to 20 degrees ) arm down to and through your hip area and allow the hand and ball to swing forward from the a triggering action caused by contact with the hip by the upper inside of the forearm all powered from downward momentum. This can be practiced from the K position with the hips at a 45 degree angle to home plate and maintaining that angle as the ball is released without any forced action forward with the pitching hand. ( As I've attempted to explain this, I'm realizing I need to demonstrate this with video!! ) As you start getting a feel for this, you can start accelerating a downward pull with the upper arm to increase the power and eventually make a full arm circle with increasing arm speed especially on the way up in front. ( I'm tempted to erase all of this; but I guess I'll leave it alone for awhile !! )

 

[Ken B]

Anyone know who Old Man River is? /\

 

[shaker1]

Google it, comes up with a guy that may or may not be him. But is associated with softball.

 

[Ken B]

Google it, comes up with a guy that may or may not be him. But is associated with softball.

Thanks! Kinda hoped I'd hit on something solid, but nothing for sure...