New 9u pitcher. Timeline progression?

[FrozenRope]

Thanks Axe. It felt like the right thing at the time. The little bit of success she tasted at the end there really has her motivated. She's already talking about spring ball. I wouldn't change what we did. Even now, I notice that pitching in a game is completely different than pitching to dad in the yard. She does much better in the yard than she does in the game. Be it the distraction of the hitter, or the pressure, or the "stage", it really is different and in my opinion, the more circle time you can get, the better off you are.

For those that posted that pitching in a game before mechanics are sound is not advised... can you elaborate a bit on your reasoning? Just interested to hear what the reason may be. I saw one comment that bad habits can be developed by pitching in a game because they are too focused on throwing strikes. That can be the case, especially if the coach is telling her to slow down and just get the ball over the plate. I didn't have to worry about that since I'm the coach!! But that removed... are there any other reasons?

Coach G, based on that strike ratio and velocity, sounds like she's doing just fine for a beginner!!

 

[CoachG]

I agree with Carly that there really is no timeline in progression, and those that with Phenom pitchers that just pick it up one day to the next are just the exception and not should not be compared with. The kid just has it. However, I am glad that those that shared their experience in early months did so with some growing pains.

As for the pitching in real games, I am going to have her pitch in simulated practice games before she goes in real game.

FrozenRope, just yesterday we noticed she was opening too much to the right on her stride that was causing her to compensate her delivery to be in the release zone. If she makes that pitch as a strike in game, then maybe she will continue with that bad mechanic?

 

[quincy]

Wait until she pitches with her eyes closed.

Me: Why are your eyes closed when you are pitching?
DD: Because I tried it and it worked.
Me: OK

Lot of stress on the pitchers but you need to make the jump to games at some point.

 

[FrozenRope]

Wait until she pitches with her eyes closed.

Me: Why are your eyes closed when you are pitching?
DD: Because I tried it and it worked.
Me: OK

Lot of stress on the pitchers but you need to make the jump to games at some point.

Hysterical! DD did that at one of her first couple lessons. PC told her don't aim on the previous few throws. So when the PC asked "Are you closing your eyes?" DD replied "Can't aim if my eyes are closed"

 

[FrozenRope]

With these suggestions let me first make the disclaimer that I am NOT AN EXPERT. I didn't even sleep in a Holiday Inn express last night. Just offering up some ideas.

Obviously one measure of progress when working with your DD is the visual "Subjective" analysis of her mechanics. Is she doing what she should? For that, you may want to invest in an inexpensive 60 or bettter Frame Per Second video camera. (I bought the Kodak Play for $60 on Amazon) That will allow the 2 of you the opportunity to sit down and go over the video together and point out what you mean when you tell her she needs to "_____". We use Kinovia (Free Software) to slow down the video to really break down what she's doing.

The other measures once she's on the right track with mechanics is accuracy and velocity. For the sake of accuracy in the beginning, I'm more concerned that she's "around" the strikezone. If I can catch it without having to move from the bucket, that's pretty good. So we start out with 15 balls. When we started out, we would go through the 15 balls in 30-40 pitches. If I can't catch it, I let it go by and grab a new ball from the bucket. If she bounces it more than about 2 feet in front of the plate, I let those go by too. Now that's she's improved quite a bit, I measure her accuracy on how many balls we need to get through 75 to 100 pitches. I think her best is 8 balls to get through 100 pitches.

I measure the improvement in her velocity with one of those glove radar units that you tie to the back of your mitt. I don't know exactly how accurate it is, but it seems to be pretty good relative to itself. Not sure how it would measure up to a true radar gun. It only measures the speed at the catchers glove, so it's likely a bit lower than the top speed a gun would register. I got it about a month ago. When we first started, she was consistantly around 28-30 mph. In just that month she's up to 33-35 pretty consistantly. Just the feedback of the velocity motivates her to throw with more effort. I believe in my DD's case, her improvement is related to effort. She's aware of it so she's throwing the ball harder. One other thing we do...after we're done with the serious workout is we try to hit a MAX on the radar with 5-10 pitches. For these, accuracy doesn't count. It's all about the velocity. Her record to date is 39. The funny thing is, there are times that those pitches at the end are the best ones in terms of accuracy, mechanics and velocity.

Bottom line here is I wouldn't try to build a timeline of where she should be vs. other girls her age with her experience, but rather create your own timeline and measure her progress. And think of "Fun" ways to mix it up. If they aren't having fun with their workouts... most young kids will eventually lose interest.

 

[CoachG]

Bottom line here is I wouldn't try to build a timeline of where she should be vs. other girls her age with her experience, but rather create your own timeline and measure her progress. And think of "Fun" ways to mix it up. If they aren't having fun with their workouts... most young kids will eventually lose interest.

FrozenRope, Thanks for your input, I had been looking at the GoPro video camera they have at BestBuy but it is sold out in all the local stores. I am looking into this Kodak Play now, seems more afforable and will do they same thing.
What "Fun" things do you do to mix it up?

 

[Perfect Circle]

This is the fun-est... Have her pitch to you, and build some reaction time. You have to hold it a part, or let the string go lose, or knuckles get sore... I'm getting where I can really crack it, and shes not flinching, but I still flinch lol Great mix it uper, and tri-pod practice.

Bunt Chop & Hit Away - YouTube

 

[FrozenRope]

FrozenRope, Thanks for your input, I had been looking at the GoPro video camera they have at BestBuy but it is sold out in all the local stores. I am looking into this Kodak Play now, seems more affordable and will do they same thing. What "Fun" things do you do to mix it up?

Well, the simple "Mock Inning" is one thing we do. But instead of just going through an inning and then starting a new one. We stop and do some hitting work off the tee between innings. In another post about pitching workouts, one of the board members gave the feedback that you should break between innings, since that's how games work, why not practice that way. (Thanks chinamigarden). This lets you build some swings into pitching practice.

Her PC just recently started introducing specific locations. She broke the strike zone into quadrants, but she wants her throwing without the glove as a target. (Learning to throw to spots without the aid of the glove since in games, you don't want your catcher setting up in, out, high, or low to tip the hitter off to the location) So basically I show her which quadrant I want her to throw to with my bare hand and keep the glove centered. She's obviously not hitting those spots with any consistency, but she's getting used to throwing to a location without the glove to guide her. Give her a point for every spot she hits. Give her X number of pitches and have her try to beat last times score.

Another variation of this is to keep a ball in your throwing hand. If she misses her quadrant, and throws a strike, throw the ball back at her, pop up, grounder, line drive and have her field and throw to you as if it were first base. Teaches the defensive position as well (Thanks Perfect Circle)

Set up a coke can or a coffee can on an upside down 5 gallon bucket and see how many times she can knock the can off without knocking the bucket over. Keep Score!! When you want to work on velocity, use an unopened can of soda. They really need to wack it to bust it!!

Anything you can do to turn it into a game helps them stay motivated and striving to improve. I found that going in the yard and throwing 75-100 pitches with no goals was going to get really boring really fast and wasn’t much motivation for her to work hard.