pitching help

[thewire]

Thanks to everyone who's watched the video. Most have a description of the problem but, I've tried most of y'all's solutions. Slowing down in front of a mirror, etc. For the poster who asked, she's 16, pitching 5 years. Also, we asked, Hillhouse doesn't do Zoom lessons. We asked last year during the lockdowns. He had said his lessons didn't stop during lockdown and was still doing in persons nightly (in Omaha, I think).

So, as I said, I think we've tried everything. When she pitches into her own glove, she keeps the arm close. Take her glove away and put a catcher there, the arm shoots right back out away from her body. HELP guys.

 

[wheresmycar]

I think you are focused on the wrong problem.

The ball is behind her head, and her front foot is left of the power line. The only way she can get the ball close to the plate from this position, is to come around her body, so it's no wonder as soon as a catcher is involved, the forearm comes away from the body.

You get the front foot on the power line, I think everything else will correct itself. If she was able to bring her arm close into her body from this position, the ball is going to head towards that black bucket left of the catcher.

 

[fanboi22]

The first thing I notice is she opens up (turns sideways) way too early. When her push off detaches and her pitching arm is horizontal her shoulders are completely sideways, that is way too early. The shoulders need to stay square until the arm gets to horizontal or close to it.

And at the time her stride foot plants her arm looks to be locked out, not bent/flexed, although the camera angle makes it tough to be sure about this. Try keeping more flex in the arm over the top and down the backside.

I think i agree with most all of this, except i dont necessarily think she opens up too soon, just that she stays open too long. With my DD she would also stay sideways and remain open to 3rd as a RHP and the arm would just whoosh thru. We worked on trying to stay square with a directly straight out stride. We worked something like the sprinter start. Drive out like you were on the starting blocks. No sprinter turns sideways. we then tried to incorporate the pitch into that feel and kept at it. That helped not get too open thru the pitch Then we also worked on the IR of the back leg. At front foot plant, we worked on driving the rear leg forward which requires it to internally rotate to get there. This then brought the hips into a good spot for the brush of the arm.

The one cue i always use with her is to crack a nut in her butt cheeks. This cue makes her clench her butt and not release at all during the pitch. This helps keep her straight and have the thought and feel of bringing the rear leg back thru.

I also agree on the arm needing to be bent. I have worked this with DD as well, and not sure the easiest fix, but we over corrected to require a fully bent arm thru the pitch, then had to talk her back to being a little longer and straighter as she would pull the bent arm around her body. eventually it was corrected, but took a total undue to redo.

good luck.

 

[Gags]

Have her try a few pitches where she brushes her ear with her upper arm. If she's opening too soon, her head will be turned too far already. It may keep her shoulders facing the plate a little longer, and keep the arm circle more aligned with the power line (i.e. not behind her). Correcting where her foot lands in relation to the powerline should also improve things.

 

[uncdrew]

I think you are focused on the wrong problem.

The ball is behind her head, and her front foot is left of the power line. The only way she can get the ball close to the plate from this position, is to come around her body, so it's no wonder as soon as a catcher is involved, the forearm comes away from the body.

You get the front foot on the power line, I think everything else will correct itself. If she was able to bring her arm close into her body from this position, the ball is going to head towards that black bucket left of the catcher.

View attachment 22081

That was my immediate observation as well. She throws a nice, hard pitch exactly where she was aiming. Which is outside.

 

[texasheat]

I third that thought as it was the first thing that I noticed. She threw it exactly where she aimed. Looks good to me! Just fix the aim!


Fix her powerline first and then reassess.

 

[Hillhouse]

wire, check your PM's. I sent you one. I'm not saying a correction of the "power line" isn't in order, she is clearly going over it. But I don't think merely stepping on the power line is going to fix her arm going away from the body. As it's been pointed out by others, the real problem is not the arm away from the body, instead it's the cause of that. And that cause is the ball going behind the body at the 12:00 position. I'm curious what others do to correct the arm circle going behind the body.

 

[HunterMO]

wire, check your PM's. I sent you one. I'm not saying a correction of the "power line" isn't in order, she is clearly going over it. But I don't think merely stepping on the power line is going to fix her arm going away from the body. As it's been pointed out by others, the real problem is not the arm away from the body, instead it's the cause of that. And that cause is the ball going behind the body at the 12:00 position. I'm curious what others do to correct the arm circle going behind the body.

For DD she had zero idea she was pulling the ball behind her head. I’d tell her and tell her but she couldn’t “feel” it.

I put her in front of a mirror, gave her DS’s T-Ball bat and put her into a “K” position. Asked her to do 3-5 loose arm circles on her own. Sure enough she pulled it behind her head. Once we worked through what it should be she did that 5-10 times to find that feel.

Once she could identify the differences in the feels she able to work on it. Still not perfect but a lot better. Some times we will go back to the t-ball as a refresher.

 

[wheresmycar]

I'm curious what others do to correct the arm circle going behind the body.

The first thing I would do is stop stepping over the power line. The foot/leg go left, something must go right, to keep balanced, in this case the arm/ball/drag foot are going right to offset the leg/foot moving left. And when you really look at where her feet start, and where they end up, it is a pretty extreme step to the left.

 

[Hoyer5060]

I think it doesn´t make sense to pitch full motion, with step or jump- as long her Circle is wrong. That is a
beginner mistake from pitchers. Speed does not show the right or wrong motion.
So i would stabilize the body, without turning hips or shoulders. Take a weightet ball to give her a feel of the extendet arm. I took 1, 7 lbs...try some weight. Beginn in Power Position, let the Elbow lead the arm to the body, and then brushing the hips/leg. Take patience, she needs to be patience. Then:
2. practice an the stride
3. #on the the backfoot
So step for step.