My 12 year old daughter has an ongoing problem with turning her pitching hand over as she is releasing the ball.Every pitch looks like a change up with no velocity. I don't have a clue how to fix this. We use a striped ball in practice so she can see how the ball is spinning. She know she does it but can't fix it. Does anyone have any experience curing this problem?
pitching problem
- Thread starter kstur
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I'm not a PC but my DD does this occasionally now and she used to do it almost every pitch. She is slowly correcting it. This occurs, at least for her, when her arm circle is a off a little bit and this leads to her arm/ hand being too far away from her body at the snap. Two drills we use. First one she practices her arm circles in front of a full length mirror in the basement very slowly and works on keeping her arm circle correct as well as keeping her hand as close to her leg as possible without hitting it (arm brushhes the belly) and with her fingers pointing at the ground when she snaps. DD does this for approximately 20 minutes a day. I put a tape line on the carpet in the basement in front of the mirror so she can also practice the correct follow through by turning her toe over and dragging it along the tape.
The second drill is also in the basement with softies and a pillow. She's a RHP so she puts her right knee on the pillow and extends the other leg straight out along the power line so that she's completely open. Then I watch her as she slowly makes her arm circle and snaps the ball to me softly with her hand close to her leg, arm brushing the belly and her fingers pointing at the ground. It's a slow process but is working it's way out to the point where she only does it once in 20 pitches or so after only a few weeks of this.
The slower she goes and the harder she concentrates while praticing this, the quicker it will become "muscle memory."
The first drill is from our current PC and the second is from the former PC. I'm not saying this will correct the problem with your DD but it is certainly helping with mine.
The second drill is also in the basement with softies and a pillow. She's a RHP so she puts her right knee on the pillow and extends the other leg straight out along the power line so that she's completely open. Then I watch her as she slowly makes her arm circle and snaps the ball to me softly with her hand close to her leg, arm brushing the belly and her fingers pointing at the ground. It's a slow process but is working it's way out to the point where she only does it once in 20 pitches or so after only a few weeks of this.
The slower she goes and the harder she concentrates while praticing this, the quicker it will become "muscle memory."
The first drill is from our current PC and the second is from the former PC. I'm not saying this will correct the problem with your DD but it is certainly helping with mine.
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All of my students have tried it at one time or another. Does she know how to pitch into her own glove? I would have her do that a lot. Also, I just go up closer to them and have them slow down the arm circle and flip the ball to me. If she is ready for different pitches, start showing her the peel drop. She can't "door knob" her release on that.
Use a 3 o'clock drill with her palm facing upward.. Make sure she stays long on the back drive thru and elbow slightly touches her hip.. Tell her to stay under the ball with her fingers when she snaps.. This is caused by short rotation of her arm and shoulder pushing forward vs resistance of of the front leg and long arm behind..
That helps my students..
That helps my students..
