Is She Missing the Whip?

[parttimecatcher]

DD recently had a Video analysis done by her PC. One thing I notice(d) is the spin lately on the FB has some side spin 11 to 5 or 10 to 4 from the catchers POV. I remember from the IR in the classroom thread is BM saying it is better to have 1 to 7 rotation so that they are not missing the whip. Please take a look at the video linked here and let me know if you think she is missing the whip. Any other input is welcome.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hhUS21YzJeg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

https://youtu.be/hhUS21YzJeg

Thanks

PTC

 

[Dave619]

I'm not so sure I would say she is "missing the whip". Just from a quick glance I would say she doesn't stay connected and she allows her shoulder on her throwing arm to come forward with the release. Take a look at this video of Jenny Finch and watch her shoulders then look at your DD's shoulders. I think that is a good place to start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OA6RfTre6M

 

[Ken B]

Whip looks decent:

 

[sluggers]

The whip isn't her problem. There are many ways to describe her problem. Her body and arm are not correctly synchronized. And, perhaps more importantly, she doesn't have any "front side resistance".

Fundamentally, pitching is about getting a lot of momentum moving toward the plate and then abruptly stopping the body. This allows the transfer of all that momentum created into the ball. Think of it this way: If you put a brick on the dashboard of the car while you were driving 60 MPH, what would you do if you wanted the brick to fly through the windshield? Would you gently apply the brakes or would you slam on the brakes?

Front side resistance (props to Rick Pauly for explaining this) is simply that the pitcher has to stop her body from moving forward. Your DD is not stopping her body, so she loses speed.

Props also your DD--she uses a novel approach to "keeping her left foot off the ground at 12". Most kids lean back and keep the leg straight...your DD has decided to simply bend her leg. It is a solution never considered.

Of course, this causes her to fall forward. She has to rapidly extend her left leg to catch herself, so she loses all of her momentum. (Notice how much her arm slows down before release.)

Attached is her sequence.

(1) At 12, her leg is supposed to be *STRAIGHT* and off the ground. If you notice, she is already falling forward. Her weight is in the middle of the body.
(2) She falls forward, of course, losing all of that momentum. Because she was falling forward at 12, her body continues to go forward. Look at how much her torso shifts forward during the pitch.
(3) She is actually in pretty good position at 10, but her torso is already moving forward. She can't stop it, and then her whole pitching motion goes into the toilet.


The drill she needs is the stork...she gets open, stands on her right foot, lifts her left foot, points the mitt, and throws using her full underhand motion. She throws the ball as fast as possible. She is not to lower the left foot until the ball is returned to her. Good pitchers can do this for 10 to 15 pitches without ever lowering the left foot.

Also attached is Cat Osterman's sequence. You can see that at 12 Cat is leaning back over the left leg, so her weight is over her left leg. Your DD's weight is fully in the middle of her body. If your DD extended her leg at 12, her left foot would be flat on the ground.

With Osterman, notice her torso is *behind* her left foot even after release. Your DD, on the other hand, has her torso over her front foot starting around 8 or so.

Just as a little more detail, strictly speaking, IR refers to the entire pitching motion. "Pronation" refers to the rotation of the arm from palm up at 9 to palm down at 3. Your DD's pronation is great. The rest of the pitching motion...not so much.

 

[Rick Pauly]

I'm not so sure I would say she is "missing the whip". Just from a quick glance I would say she doesn't stay connected and she allows her shoulder on her throwing arm to come forward with the release. Take a look at this video of Jenny Finch and watch her shoulders then look at your DD's shoulders. I think that is a good place to start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OA6RfTre6M

I think Papa Pump is right on. Note that her shoulders are rotated farther than her hips at time of release......she is doing what is called throwing with her shoulder....sort of upper body dominant. The shoulders should lag the hips in rotation initiation, but catch up and be at the same angle as the hips at time of release. The over rotation is causing your DD to get minimal Brush Interference. She has a bit of drift forward as she is attempting release, so she should try to firm up the front side resistance some.
Now to answer the original question.......her whip is ok, but the things mentioned above really negate her whip affect.

 

[Rick Pauly]

Sorry Sluggers....didn't see your post. We must have been typing at the same time.....but not at the same speed. Glad to see you and I agree on the main points.

 

[JJsqueeze]

Nothing to add, just agreeing with Rick and Sluggers. Hit the wall for more resistance and get some brush in the motion. I like the whip part a lot. I wish my kid's arm looked like that from 12 to release.

 

[sluggers]

Rick, you are the guru.

Please go ahead and post. You are better at this than me.

 

[parttimecatcher]

Guys, Thanks for the feed back, That Stride leg has been an issue for too long and that is one of her goals this year. I see what you guys are saying about the front side resistance. Should be more of a sudden violent stop and she is currently coasting to a stop. She does much better on her rise in regard to that. I can also see the shoulder getting ahead of the hip.

So our plan is or should be to keep the weight back get the stride leg up, straight and toward the target and keep those shoulders from closing early finishing with a strong front side?

Sluggers when you mentioned the Stork Drill you said start open I just want to confirm your open is facing the target? Everyone seem to have a different definition.

I really appreciate the input. Ill post a followup as we progress to see if she is making the right adjustments.

Thanks
PTC

 

[riseball]

...Fundamentally, pitching is about getting a lot of momentum moving toward the plate and then abruptly stopping the body. This allows the transfer of all that momentum created into the ball. Think of it this way: If you put a brick on the dashboard of the car while you were driving 60 MPH, what would you do if you wanted the brick to fly through the windshield? Would you gently apply the brakes or would you slam on the brakes?...

Great analogy!