New Video Camera 11 Yr Old Video

[ArmWhip]

She doesn't really push off and open her hips as much as she should. Her arm action is very good. I would think about having her do some long toss. The idea of throwing the ball higher and as far as you can will often lead to changes that happen organically, this is much better than filling her head with a bunch of directions. When I do long toss I like have an area large enough so that they can try to throw the ball as far as possible. I bring a bucket of balls and tell her to heave it as far she can, I encourage her to set a 'new record' by getting the ball she is throwing past the furthest one out there.

 

[Mike]

have her shorten her stride to maybe five of her shoe lengths instead of the seven she appears to have. bucketrider

I was thinking the opposite. Stop the video when her stride foot plants and her hand is still at 12 oclock, it needs to be at or closer to 9 oclock (behind the back). She needs to either, stride further to allow her arm to be at nine when the stride foot plants or, her arm just needs to move faster. A farther stride will also help keep her weight back.

As is, she is not utilizing armwhip properly, she is closer to bowling. Look at the model pitchers thread and take notice of arm position at stride foot plant. Boardmember has stressed this in his posts as being important to accelerate arm whip. The front side needs to firm up, (like in hitting) to allow the arm to accelerate.

Someone mentioned the stork drill, it is a good one.

Have her stand like a stork with her left leg up on the rubber facing the catcher,

lean forward until she feels like she is going to fall on her nose,

at this time she should stride and start her pitch,

after the stride foot plants and after release, her pivot foot should have come in contact with her planted stride foot,

the ball should be on the way to the catcher and she should be standing on her left leg and her right leg should be of the ground in the stork position,

have her stand in the stork position until the ball is returned from the catcher,

if she falls over forward then she has lost her balance.

I hope that discription make sense, if not i'm sure someone will help out.

 

[Mike]

look at side view 2 of jennie finch in the model pitchers thread. I know it sounds simplistic but it shows what position a pitcher needs to be in to be successful.

 

[curiousgeorge]

come on Mike. You cannot compare this girl to a 6'2 Finch!! Finch has bad mechanics IMO, she's on the team for other reasons not for being one of the 3 best in the USA. I'd take Tincher anyday. And her size allows her to get away with a lot of things I wouldn't want my DD doing.

 

[Mike]

Fine, replace the name Finch with Tincher. Everything else still applies. Btw Finches height has nothing to do with what I'm talking about.
On another note, please detail Finches bad mechanics, and what you would do differently?

 

[starsnuffer]

Mike, I believe there is some discussion about it in the "model pitchers" thread. Obviously Finch is a very successful pitcher, however her size and freakishly long arms/fingers allow her to get away with some bad mechanics that would best be avoided by new pitchers starting out.

I can't comment one way or another about lenghtening or shortening the stride for the pitcher in the OP, because there are just too many issues with the way this pitcher is landing to determine the next steps for stride. I would fix the angle of the front foot (45 degrees) and focus on keeping this leg strong (fixing the knee bend on stride foot landing) and then make a call on where to work the stride from here. Also, if you notice the release around :11 in the video, her pivot foot is way behind her, and this is probably because she's pitching on grass and it's nearly impossible to drag properly. All of this is throwing things off so much that, again, I think with the data available it's difficult to accurately assess some of the distance and timing notes you mentioned, but you very well may be correct.

-W

 

[Mike]

I'm aware of the Finch haters, I dont care. Finch does a ton of things right. The girl in question is not whipping the ball, she is throwing it. IMO you dont full pitch to work on mechanics, you do 9 oclock 3 oclocks, show it and throw it, windmills etc.......

 

[Mike]

I watched the video again and re-read the posts, starsnuffer and others did give some good advice. I was just trying to give some diffenent advice. That being said I would not be overly concerned about her stride foot landing, at least its not coming down sideways. Hip angle at release should be between 45 and 52 degrees per the 96' olympic games study. Her foot is not pointed directly at the catcher nor is it at 45 degrees, somewhere in between but not a horrible concern IMO.

Again I was trying to offer some DIFFERENT advice, not argue whether or not Jennie Finch is a mechanically sound pitcher or not. For the advice I offered Finch is a great study.

 

[joemcq51]

Best advice I can give you is:
1. Read the comments on this thread. The people who post on here, know their stuff.
2. Get a scoop of clay from your local garden center. I paid $70 for a scoop. Was enough to make a nice mound and catchers area. Best $70 I have ever spent.

 

[knightsb]

DB1's DD and my DD have very similar pitching styles. I did notice that DB1's DD has her stride leg bent at the beginning of her motion. When my DD starts her motion by rocking back, her stride leg is locked when the weight is going back. Once my DD brings her glove to her side and back, she loads over her pivot foot that leg is flexed for the explosion off of the rubber.
1. What are the opinions on what type of flex the legs have during the beginning of the pitch?
2. During the explosion off the rubber are they pushing off with both legs or primarily the pivot leg (I am envisioning the crane drill)?