Pitchers With Less Than Perfect Mechanics

[Bonesaw]

I searched and searched,but I could not find Cat as a stepper. Dom’t know where it went.

Not seeing the spirals but here you go.

 

[Vertigo]

DD started to land to the left this season. With that came an increase in speed. She was throwing 64-65 in a game last weekend but her curve was flat and running on the plate. Her "screw" was the best its been but she struggled to control her change up. I told her to look at the video and this past weekend she was throwing 63-64 but landing more conventionally. Curve was back as was change. I think it's a bad habit and at least in my DDs case comes from bad posture and poor core stability. She does gain a little velo but the cost is great.

It’s very interesting to read this because as my dd worked with her college PC to start throwing a screw again this season, I have seen her stepping way more left than she used to. Unlike how Joe taught her to throw it (more like an inside FB) she is back to “turning the doorknob” like she learned with her first PC at 12U. However, it works and she’s getting a lot of KO’s looking with that pitch.

She always relied heavily on her curve and change up until this year when they added in the screw. Her change seems to still be ok but her curve doesn’t seem quite as sharp as it used to be. I’m wondering if she’s stepping out to the left too much now with the curve? I’ll have to watch this weekend to see. I bet you that’s her issue! Thanks for posting this - I’ll have to let her know to be more cognizant of where she’s landing when she throws the curve during bullpens.

 

[Shawn]

Not seeing the spirals but here you go.

Not using the body as well. The one I had she was more advanced. However this is the start.

 

[Shawn]

Not seeing the spirals but here you go.

She looks the same to me. We have two different follow throughs
, drop and perhaps rise. I can do one with both rises.






Doing the stepping style with a step forward of the drive foot. Looks the same as when she was 14 and stepping.

 

[Hillhouse]

She looks the same to me. We have two different follow throughs
, drop and perhaps rise. I can do one with both rises.


View attachment 29567

View attachment 29568

Doing the stepping style with a step forward of the drive foot. Looks the same as when she was 14 and stepping.

Interesting. Thank you for that. I still don't fully understand but that's ok. If I'm being honest, I don't understand 1/2 of the things people on this board say. There's probably a few reasons for that but, they don't matter. During any given month, I have 1 or 2 families that fly to Omaha for pitching over a weekend or a long weekend if the kids are off school. A good majority of them are people who read this board but never post anything, some say they don't even have an actual account. But they all know the terminology that so many on here write each day. It's not uncommon for a Dad to ask me, "Do you think she's "stacked" enough?" And I literally don't know what to say. Stacked? WTF? (and you could insert a lot of words and interchange any word for stacked and I'm equally as puzzled). I've still never even read the whole IR thread stickies.

From the videos of Cat, the top one (not when she was the kid) looks like she's playing an international competition and is trying VERY hard not to leap, knowing she'd be called illegal if she did.

It's funny, in all 3 of those videos, she is pitching the same way she was at the very end of her career. I said to her once at one of the Olympic team camps that even though she's not a "power pitcher" she's leaving a ton of velocity in her body in each pitch. She never uses her top half to load her bottom half. There's never a bend at the waist to load more weight onto her front leg which would ultimately give her a stronger push. It's like telling a kid to jump forward like a broad jump. The first thing they do is bend the waist, bend their knees, swing their arms backward all in an effort to create more push and more momentum. Cat is so erect as she swings her arm back that she leaves a ton of power out of the pitch. She looked at me when I said this, cocked her head and said something like "Yea, I can see that. But I'm 38 years old and the Olympics is the last time she'll be pitching. It's a bit late to reinvent the wheel." Fair enough I said. And we chuckled. Monica Abbott is the opposite, her lean is toooooo far forward for my liking but, there's no doubt she throws harder because of it.

I think the lack of load on the push off leg is the #1 thing I see pitchers doing that frustrates me. And some that are close to, or even touching 70mph would be throwing even harder if they did load their push off better.

 

[Shawn]

Interesting. Thank you for that. I still don't fully understand but that's ok. If I'm being honest, I don't understand 1/2 of the things people on this board say. There's probably a few reasons for that but, they don't matter. During any given month, I have 1 or 2 families that fly to Omaha for pitching over a weekend or a long weekend if the kids are off school. A good majority of them are people who read this board but never post anything, some say they don't even have an actual account. But they all know the terminology that so many on here write each day. It's not uncommon for a Dad to ask me, "Do you think she's "stacked" enough?" And I literally don't know what to say. Stacked? WTF? (and you could insert a lot of words and interchange any word for stacked and I'm equally as puzzled). I've still never even read the whole IR thread stickies.

From the videos of Cat, the top one (not when she was the kid) looks like she's playing an international competition and is trying VERY hard not to leap, knowing she'd be called illegal if she did.

It's funny, in all 3 of those videos, she is pitching the same way she was at the very end of her career. I said to her once at one of the Olympic team camps that even though she's not a "power pitcher" she's leaving a ton of velocity in her body in each pitch. She never uses her top half to load her bottom half. There's never a bend at the waist to load more weight onto her front leg which would ultimately give her a stronger push. It's like telling a kid to jump forward like a broad jump. The first thing they do is bend the waist, bend their knees, swing their arms backward all in an effort to create more push and more momentum. Cat is so erect as she swings her arm back that she leaves a ton of power out of the pitch. She looked at me when I said this, cocked her head and said something like "Yea, I can see that. But I'm 38 years old and the Olympics is the last time she'll be pitching. It's a bit late to reinvent the wheel." Fair enough I said. And we chuckled. Monica Abbott is the opposite, her lean is toooooo far forward for my liking but, there's no doubt she throws harder because of it.

I think the lack of load on the push off leg is the #1 thing I see pitchers doing that frustrates me. And some that are close to, or even touching 70mph would be throwing even harder if they did load their push off better.

I can show you the difference between stacked and not stacked.

Agree most do not load correctly. Yes I took the footage at the 2002 Canada cup. She is warming up and pitching against Team USA white and she was on Team USA blue. She won.

Thank you for the post.

 

[Shawn]

Bill

I did this really fast because I’m in a hurry. Not being stacked is poor hip abduction. Monica has poor hip abduction and Cat has excellent hip abduction.

 

[Hillhouse]

Bill

I did this really fast because I’m in a hurry. Not being stacked is poor hip abduction. Monica has poor hip abduction and Cat has excellent hip abduction.

I swear on the life of my son that I'm not being difficult. But, every answer you offer to me will probably just lead to more questions. I have no idea what "hip abduction" means. But, I sincerely thank you for offering your help. I just think that I view pitching the same way a 10 yr old does, and I stay away from terms, verbiage, and phrases that would confuse them. My philosophy is, right or wrong, if I don't understand what I'm saying then I don't say it. It's also the same reason I stay away from hitting instruction. While I was a decent hitter in my years, I have zero idea on how to teach it or make corrections. Now, there's a lot I can tell a hitter about how I would pitch to them based off their feet in the box, stance, their swing, etc. But, As for corrections to those things, I stay in my own lane. Obviously I can tell a girl she's pulling her head out, or stepping "out of the bucket" when I throw live BP. But that's the extent of it for me.

With my students, I catch for them during lessons. Everyone from the 10yr old beginner to Ruby Meylan throwing 72 mph, I would catch for them. I see more catching than I do standing next to them, because 99% of what I say to them is based off what I see from the ball rotation. And it's based off that rotation of the ball that I give the instruction to what I see right and wrong or what could be done better. But that's just me and the way I do it. I know everyone has their own system. And I am often told that I make this seem simple. I don't know about that. But I do know I don't over complicate it.

I learned pitching from 2 things: asking questions and imitation of the best pitchers I could see. The same way that many kids my own age tried to imitate Michael Jordan. I was trying to imitate Mike White (Texas) or Peter Meredith (BYU). And no, I didn't even come close to achieving their levels of greatness.

 

[Shawn]

I swear on the life of my son that I'm not being difficult. But, every answer you offer to me will probably just lead to more questions. I have no idea what "hip abduction" means. But, I sincerely thank you for offering your help. I just think that I view pitching the same way a 10 yr old does, and I stay away from terms, verbiage, and phrases that would confuse them. My philosophy is, right or wrong, if I don't understand what I'm saying then I don't say it. It's also the same reason I stay away from hitting instruction. While I was a decent hitter in my years, I have zero idea on how to teach it or make corrections. Now, there's a lot I can tell a hitter about how I would pitch to them based off their feet in the box, stance, their swing, etc. But, As for corrections to those things, I stay in my own lane. Obviously I can tell a girl she's pulling her head out, or stepping "out of the bucket" when I throw live BP. But that's the extent of it for me.

With my students, I catch for them during lessons. Everyone from the 10yr old beginner to Ruby Meylan throwing 72 mph, I would catch for them. I see more catching than I do standing next to them, because 99% of what I say to them is based off what I see from the ball rotation. And it's based off that rotation of the ball that I give the instruction to what I see right and wrong or what could be done better. But that's just me and the way I do it. I know everyone has their own system. And I am often told that I make this seem simple. I don't know about that. But I do know I don't over complicate it.

I learned pitching from 2 things: asking questions and imitation of the best pitchers I could see. The same way that many kids my own age tried to imitate Michael Jordan. I was trying to imitate Mike White (Texas) or Peter Meredith (BYU). And no, I didn't even come close to achieving their levels of greatness.

lol, just look at it as good and poor use of the lowerbody. That is what is happening between Monica,who I caught many times and Cat.