When to teach drop ball

[Troy Risser]

At what age is is "safe" to begin teaching my daughter to throw a drop ball? She is 15, freshman in high school. I think now is the time, her coaches think it is too early.

 

[Mark H]

I think it's way late. How has she survived without a drop unless she has a rise and a change?

 

[CoachFP]

Safe? What does that mean? The peel drop is the most natural pitch there is. Start throwing it from day 1.

 

[Mark H]

Well yeah but whatever your definition of drop and whatever mechanics you use the time to learn a drop was years ago. Get with it and find better coaches too.

 

[jofus13]

My DD started taking lessons at 11 (which was probably too late, but she showed no interest until then), and sometime within the first few months, her coach had her try a few different changeups and a peel and a turn-over drop. She pitched the peel for a couple years, but pitches the turn-over now (it drops better for her, and is actually a little faster).

How long has she been pitching, and is this high school coaches, travel coaches, rec coaches, or?

Not to hijack a thread, but Mark, I have a question concerning the drop...a few days ago, I read a post from you about a drop ball that moves inside to righties (rh pitcher) is a great pitch, which makes perfect sense to me...just curious, assuming you know girls that can pitch that, how exactly do they pitch it? I assume it's probably a modified peel drop? I was having my daughter experiment with a few things the other night, changing her grip and bringing the peel out of retirement, etc., but we didn't have much time to work on it....

 

[SoCalASABlue]

I wish I would have purchased Bill Hillhouse's basics DVD when my DD first started pitching...he believes (and I agree) the first pitch to be taught should be a (peel) drop instead of the usual flat fastball that is normally taught...but since I have bought the DVD and started incorporating his methods into DD's practice, her peel drop is much better than it was before...

 

[Mark H]

My DD started taking lessons at 11 (which was probably too late, but she showed no interest until then), and sometime within the first few months, her coach had her try a few different changeups and a peel and a turn-over drop. She pitched the peel for a couple years, but pitches the turn-over now (it drops better for her, and is actually a little faster).

How long has she been pitching, and is this high school coaches, travel coaches, rec coaches, or?

Not to hijack a thread, but Mark, I have a question concerning the drop...a few days ago, I read a post from you about a drop ball that moves inside to righties (rh pitcher) is a great pitch, which makes perfect sense to me...just curious, assuming you know girls that can pitch that, how exactly do they pitch it? I assume it's probably a modified peel drop? I was having my daughter experiment with a few things the other night, changing her grip and bringing the peel out of retirement, etc., but we didn't have much time to work on it....

I'm very sure Bill, Hal and others can do a better job of teaching that than me but yeah, I think it's likely a peel variation would be best though Fernandez did it with a roll follow through. Thanks for noticing my thoughts on that. I bring it up from time to time that I think the break of the ball relative to swing plane and the eyes is more relevant than break of the ball relative to the ground/up and down. Usually no one seems to think enough of the idea to bother telling me I'm wrong.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Drop Ball II - The Snapover Drop Great softball pitching hints and recommendations for girl softball pitchers It is the drop curve. Very good pitch to throw to slappers. But it is not the peel drop method.

 

[Mark H]

I thought we were talking about a pitch from a rh pitcher that broke down and in to a rh hitter? I do really really like a drop curve from a rh pitcher breaking down and in to a slapper but I thought we were talking about something else.

 

[jofus13]

I was talking about exactly what you said, Mark, and it makes perfect sense to me. For example, a drop ball that breaks away from the batter would actually help her possibly hit the ball, since the ball is breaking towards the end of the bat. My DD's roll-over drop (or turn-over, whatever it's called) normally breaks down and doesn't curve, but if she could get it to break into the right handers, that would be great. I'm gonna have her experiment with the peel drop a little more.

I wonder....she pitches a 2-seam fastball that breaks away from righties...I wonder if she could mess with her grip pressure a little, and pitch it more like a "peel drop" and see what happens? I know it shouldn't drop as much, but maybe she can get it to "cut" into righties, and drop some?

Heh....in case anyone wants to point out how stupid I am, I've never claimed to know anything about pitching, I normally just sit on my bucket and keep my mouth shut and my glove open

She was messing around with her drop curve the other night,which she hadn't pitched for a while, and it was looking pretty good, I'll have to try to remember to pull that out on slappers Heck, it would probably be a good pitch to lefties in general, for the same reason.