Learning to Throw Underhand versus Learning to Pitch

[grcsftbll]

My 9 year old has been in lessons for almost a year. She's a natural athlete but there have just been a few things with her pitching that have lingered (whip and leaning forward/pushing the ball are the standouts). We started just in the past month with BoardMember's IR drills with just underhand throwing and it has made an amazing difference. We use them to warm up before every practice now. She hasn't had a lesson in nearly 2 months - I can't wait to see what her PC says about her progress. I feel like she's improved a ton from nothing but that. Highly recommend!

 

[dadofadirtlover]

My 9 year old has been in lessons for almost a year. She's a natural athlete but there have just been a few things with her pitching that have lingered (whip and leaning forward/pushing the ball are the standouts). We started just in the past month with BoardMember's IR drills with just underhand throwing and it has made an amazing difference. We use them to warm up before every practice now. She hasn't had a lesson in nearly 2 months - I can't wait to see what her PC says about her progress. I feel like she's improved a ton from nothing but that. Highly recommend!

I hope her PC isn't of the HE variety or it might wind up getting a little hairy.

 

[grcsftbll]

I hope her PC isn't of the HE variety or it might wind up getting a little hairy.

No, she's not. Though we may end up having to switch even though we love her. She was half an hour away or so, but now she's moved 15 minutes further. I'm afraid traffic is going to make it closer to an hour drive. Boo.

 

[dadofadirtlover]

No, she's not. Though we may end up having to switch even though we love her. She was half an hour away or so, but now she's moved 15 minutes further. I'm afraid traffic is going to make it closer to an hour drive. Boo.

Good thing you're in the middle of a plethora of coaches to get another.

 

[mothgirl]

I offer this video to help those learning to teach their DD how to pitch. Before learning to pitch a girl should first learn how to throw a ball underhand. This is not the same a pitching. In fact, the amount of time it takes to teach a boy or girl to throw overhand properly is comparable to the time it take to learn how to throw underhand. Never in a million years would a PC try to teach a boy to pitch without first ensuring they could throw overhand properly. Yet, time and time again we see fathers and mothers posting videos of their daughters starting the pitching journey asking what's wrong with their pitching technique when in reality they can't even throw underhand properly yet.

What is a proper underhand throw? Boardmember has explained too many times to count on this forum, he is the master and made me aware of its importance. But I will give it a shot and demo with a video. A proper underhand throw is using body rhythm to assist in an arm whip that uses the elbow joint as a pivot point. On the backside the ball will point up, release somewhere around mid thigh, and a finish with the palm down. This is rotation.

Nice, relaxed and smooth overhand delivery is exactly the same as the underhand delivery--nice, relaxed and smooth. You'll catch them trying to pitch when doing this, tell them to stop, we're not pitching, we're throwing. This is the starting point. When they can do this then they're ready to start learning the art of pitching.

Willey, your student does a great job of throwing underhand. Do you have any tips for others just starting out? In others words how'd she get to where she is? How much time do you recommend spending on throwing before moving on to pitching?

If you already have a student who is older and pitches, how much time would you recommend they spend throwing?

Should they start at 9:00 or 12:00? Or does that depend on the student?

Are we talking about doing BMs lock it in, 9:00 and Liberty drill? Would this be considered the same as throwing underhand?
Sorry if this is a dumb question I just want to make sure I'm clear.

Thank you


I hate tacos- said no Juan anywhere

 

[WillyT812]

I pretty much just throw underhand with them until they get it. If they get board we'll work on drive mechanics without a ball. I always have myself or one of the girls who can throw under hand properly throw with them. The reason is I need them constantly seeing that striped ball coming at them with the proper 1 to 7 spin. Sharp stripe at that I may add. Once you see that you can be pretty much assured they've got it and your ready to start adding on the rest of the layers.

Side note: We don't do the above drill as a regular part of our routine, I built that clip to show the level of effort in throwing underhand. When girls first start out as soon as they try to throw underhand they try to pitch. We'll do this drill until they understand, we're just warming up, we're not pitching. Eventually they can throw underhand as hard and accurately as they can overhand...without going through some kind of pitching motion. During the winter I have them throw overhand for a few minutes, then underhand for a few minutes...then we start the drills.

BTW, I'm back in the states for another week. Visiting family. I started teaching my daughter (who is 30 now and a HE pitcher from years gone by) to throw underhand with IR. She did pretty good on her first lesson. Out of every twenty throws she'd have one or two good stripes. My granddaughter just turned one. Don't think for a second I don't have big plans for her!

 

[WillyT812]

What to hear something interesting? Move the above clip to 1:31 and listen to the phhhhit, phhhitt, as she throws underhand. That my friends is the sound of cracking the whip.

 

[Ken B]

I like catching in a quiet gym. Fastballs hiss and drop balls buzz. Love that!

 

[WillyT812]

Got to have good seams to hear the noise! Pitching indoors with softies, the seams get beat down pretty quick. We go through a lot of softies during the off season.