New member looking for advice

[sluggers]

here it is:

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[Bjones80]

Thank you!

 

[Gags]

The way her front foot lands looks like a knee injury waiting to happen.

I was helping clean up after a winter clinic, and one pitching lesson was still going on. The student (14YO?) would land with her foot sideways like that - pointing straight across to 3B (RHP). I asked the PC if her foot was supposed to land like that, and was told yes.

So don’t know if that’s a key component of an HE delivery, or just a preference. Everything I’ve read indicates that a more forward pointing foot helps firm up the front side, and also (though it sounds contradictory) allows the front leg to better absorb the shock of landing (ie less jolting to the lower back).


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[Bjones80]

I agree, after reading about front side resistance and brush interference we are working on the stride foot being closer to 45 degrees. I also feel like she has too much weight out over her front side causing her to bend over some.

 

[shaker1]

 

[DNeeld]

I agree, after reading about front side resistance and brush interference we are working on the stride foot being closer to 45 degrees. I also feel like she has too much weight out over her front side causing her to bend over some.

She does need to land at about 45 degrees. She'll find her personal comfort zone from there.

Aside from that I love the effort she is putting into the pitch. Pay attention to her release. She still has a pushing release motion and does a forced IR action at the end, after the ball has left. Aside from being able to see it in the gif Shaker posted, the elbow and shoulder action are tell-tale signs. Personally, I would isolate whip drills until that disappears and worry about the other problems later.

For the lean, however, you are looking too far downstream. The problem originates in her drive. Her hips never thrust forward and she doesn't grow tall for lack of a better term. In other words, she is leading with her head the entire way. If she concentrates on leading with her hips that forward bend will disappear. Contrast her to Tatum Edwards (very similar camera angle) to see the difference between leading with the head and leading with the hips. [video]https://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/5208-model-pitchers-20.html#post290862[/video]

 

[marriard]

She does need to land at about 45 degrees. She'll find her personal comfort zone from there.

Aside from that I love the effort she is putting into the pitch. Pay attention to her release. She still has a pushing release motion and does a forced IR action at the end, after the ball has left. Aside from being able to see it in the gif Shaker posted, the elbow and shoulder action are tell-tale signs. Personally, I would isolate whip drills until that disappears and worry about the other problems later.

For the lean, however, you are looking too far downstream. The problem originates in her drive. Her hips never thrust forward and she doesn't grow tall for lack of a better term. In other words, she is leading with her head the entire way. If she concentrates on leading with her hips that forward bend will disappear. Contrast her to Tatum Edwards (very similar camera angle) to see the difference between leading with the head and leading with the hips. [video]https://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/5208-model-pitchers-20.html#post290862[/video]

First - she looks athletic. She could do with simplifying her pre-motion before going into the pitch - it does nothing for the pitch, it wastes energy and I am not sure it is helping her get into a good position for the actual pitch. I have a feeling she is naturally compensating for some inefficiencies.

Agree with the above... If you look you can see that her center of gravity is so far forward she almost pivots over her leg rather than resists against it. You can see that Tatum has a similar lean forward to start her pitch but comes up tall as she strides out - and that there is a lot less to Tatum's pitch. Your DD stays leaning way forward through the whole motion.

And that front leg has to be fixed. That is a bad angle for the leg to be landing at once you do start really resisting against it. It may be that she is striding out too far as well and may have to shorten it a bit - there is a weird twisting motion of the leg as gets out there. It may also be fixed naturally with getting taller early in the pitch as it may be compensating for the body knowing how it wants to deal with the body weight coming forward.

 

[STRIKE3]

The beauty of this site is you get feedback from all directions and quite frankly it is how we all continue to learn. I think we should add a CASE STUDY thread on a weekly/monthly basis to say what would you do to fix whatever it is you see wrong. I think it would help us all but that is just my random thought. Anyway......

Here is what I see and most of it is very good!!

1. She is Athletic and would guess extremely limber
2. Seems like already throwing at a pretty fast clip for her age??
3. Agree with some of the above posts. Take out the pre-pitch motions. No need to do the "lean back" IMHO although I know many men do it. I just don't think it is an adder as mentioned above and more of a waste of energy.
4. The foot landing at 45 has always intrigued me. I agree to shoot for a 45 and that would be my recommendation although I have seen plenty land like your DD and they are just fine. She actually moves more to a 45 after she lands if you watch in slow mo but I am good with the recommendation and tend to agree.
5. The lforward lean......I see this as the #1 thing to focus on and IMHO it is caused by 1 thing and was also stated above. She is over striding/leaping in my opinion which can cause all this. I have said this before and will say again....Drive is incredibly important! Right up to the point where you over drive/stride and then it hurts you much more than it helps. Take a look at the pic below:

She is doing the dreaded scissor with both feet off the ground. This leads to the forward lean and creates numerous problems. Focus on keeping the drag foot on the ground. She has good drag foot positioning but leaps instead of drag. I could care less at this point of the "legality" of the leap and more concerned how it creates an imbalance and causes her to lean forward. I have always said the leap only hurts you but the illegal replant can help. Again, this is not a legality question, her leap hurts her and causes problems. It is likely caused by too much focus on getting out there, way out there. If you look at the video in slow-mo you can see where the drag foot starts to kick up dirt. It is about a foot or 2 away from the plate which means she is airborne prior too and the photo above shows that as well. Again, usually caused by trying to get way out there and leaping to get there is the way many will do it. Not needed and only causes problems including loss of speed do to poor resistance.

IMHO, focus on 5 above. Don't worry about getting way out there! Drive is important but remember, a pitcher can throw 90% of their top speed from the K position or K drill.

6. Lastly, I like her brush. See her upper arm getting brush in the pic below:


Good stuff IMHO.

Simply work on keeping the back foot down and dragging which will limit the leap and the distance she gets too. BUT it will cause her to be more balanced, more upright, etc. etc.

Again, just my 2 cents and hope it helps!

 

[Doug Romrell]

The favorite thing to me is her arm circle. I believe this kid has a lot of potential!

 

[_MIA_]

Hey guys, new member her looking for some critiquing of my DD. She’s currently pitching 10u and throws in the upper 40’s. Right now I’m trying to reverse a lot of HE mechanics her last PC taught her. https://youtu.be/fbSyKDNyfKY

My DD plays 10U in OK (actually her team is 9U). If you don't mind me asking, who does she play for (you can PM me if you like)?