8 year pitcher eval

[bjenkins24]

Impressive.
I would be curious what other people disagreed about?
I don't see many pitchers short arm the glove arm and the pitching arm at 3 o'clock. Was this a conscious decision to make sure she would have a bend in her pitching arm when she got to 9 o'clock?
Just a suggestion for pitching lessons and video lessons for pitchers. Get some leggings with a racing strip down the leg so everyone can see what the leg and hip is doing in video. Like these

Thank you! good advice. Yeah that was new to make sure she had more of a bend. From looking at college pitchers it seems like she's over doing it, but I don't really know. Mostly it was bend? Like before she had her arm straight up at 12. Then we were told to get it more bent by then.

 

[ArmWhip]

She looks very good to me. I know that there is a mindset that always looks at mechanics when it comes to making an improvement, but at times it helps to approach the issue from another direction. What are you doing to improve her velocity?

And there are plenty of pitchers with arm bend over the top like she has.

 

[bjenkins24]

She looks very good to me. I know that there is a mindset that always looks at mechanics when it comes to making an improvement, but at times it helps to approach the issue from another direction. What are you doing to improve her velocity?

And there are plenty of pitchers with arm bend over the top like she has.

Honestly don't know anymore! Would love to know what other directions we should look at. If it's not mechanics, it's just strength basically right? Like what else could get her faster? Pushing off harder, faster arm whip, hips legs driving harder. We talk about all that, but most people I ask basically said she's good to go, so then is it just a growing up/working out?

We work on her change up and hitting spots which she does pretty well, but if we're not working on mechanics any more I'm not really sure what else we should be working on.

Her pitching coach talks about leg drive and giving it 100% and what not. I guess my question is, if she feels like she is giving it 100%, is it just a muscle thing? More muscle will get everything working faster?

 

[ArmWhip]

Pushing off harder, faster arm whip, hips legs driving harder. We talk about all that,

but if we're not working on mechanics any more I'm not really sure what else we should be working on.

This is what I meant when I mentioned the mindset that always looks to mechanics for improvement, push off harder, faster arm whip, etc. This is the brain telling the body what to do, for a beginner it's necessary, but when you get to the stage where she is, with a solid mechanical base, a change in tactics can help. Basically you let go of working on mechanics and just pitch, but with different goals or tasks. You have to trust the body to self organize and accomplish the task or meet the goal, in this case more velocity. Long toss is the first thing to try. Generally it is thought that long toss is for increasing strength, and that is part of it. But long toss is also a task or goal and the body has to figure out how to get it done, it self organizes in subtle ways. Just keep an eye on her and make sure her mechanics don't break down.

 

[tomorrow]

I was just curious about why she was so short armed at 3o'clock. I don't think it is bad just unusually, many in the mens game do exactly what she is doing. I would not change it.

Rick Pauly with paulygirlfastpitch has a velocity section that you can buy alacarte that might be helpful for you. He goes over using light balls and other drills.

 

[PJR202]

I don't see anything significant there that is negatively affecting velocity. Overall, she looks fantastic. As others said, long toss seems to be the starting point for getting stronger. Rick Pauly has one called the perpendicular power line drill. Essentially at about 3/4 distance, she would stand perpendicular to the the power line (obviously) with legs spread about shoulder width, then throw with a full circle, twisting the torso just like it would in a full pitch. It appears to me to be isolating the upper body from what would otherwise be a full pitch.

Otherwise, time is your friend. She's just gotta get bigger/fill out. You could try some plyometric stuff for strength, but obviously at her age, heavy strength training would be a no-no.

Awesome progress, though. She's gonna throw lasers one day.

 

[Jeffrey]

Honestly...time to just keep up with her practices and have some fun. She'll get bigger and stronger and then there's that whole puberty thing to deal with so you'll have plenty to work on soon enough. Also the jump to the bigger ball - start that as soon as you can. It can be a tough one for the tiny hands!

If you MUST see a velocity gain, in my opinion her torso is vertical and then behind vertical too quickly and her right knee is too far under at release. Have her drive out with a lower torso angle and a tad farther to correct both. Think low and fast, not high and far.