Increasing Arm Whip

[ctfastpitch]

Looking for some drills to help generate more whipping action in DD's delivery. She's 15-16 and seems to have lost several MPH on her FB (as well as other pitches). Spots the ball well, and has pretty good movement on her DB, DC...but her speed is holding her back (low 50's). I had an opportunity to watch her warming up over the summer with side view from a distance, a perspective I had not had previously. It seemed to me from that perspective, that the ball velocity didn't seem to match her arm speed. After watching a lot of pitchers, you can visually sort of match up ball speed with arm speed. When I saw my DD, it seemed that with girls with comparable arm speed, the ball seems to be coming out significantly faster.

I do long ball with her, and she can easily reach Home from 2B without a lot of increased arc.

Her mechanics seem pretty good, but she was taught early on to drive the hand & arm UP after release, so she continues to fight that. Her arm does appear a bit stiff, so I am trying to get her to lead more with her elbow. I gave her the "skipping a rock" comparison, and I have her throwing a whiffle as hard as she can into a net indoors, extending her hand out toward the batter. Shows some improvement in practice/warm up, but when she has to throw for strikes, she goes back to her comfort zone, and her speed drops off.

Does anyone have other ideas or drills to help increase the arm whip and generate more ball speed?

 

[RayR]

Without a video it would be guessing as to what your daughter needs to work on. But, I would do a search on "Internal Rotation" and see if the info in that thread helps.