Arm hitting side

[mountyfan]

My daughter has been pitching for about 5 years now. She is13 years old. She seems to keep slamming her inside forearm into her hip. When I catch her I can tell when she does. Her speed goes from 56 down to about 54 when she does. Any suggestions?

 

[Ken B]

Do you happen to have any video? It's tough to suggest anything without seeing what's going on.

 

[Carly]

The hip is getting in the way, either because her arm is slowing down slightly at the very end and not getting through before her hips want to finish, or because she's bringing her hip around too early. Make sure her drive through is linear and powered from the knee, and she's not trying to pull her leg through by rotating her hip. You can also tell her to make sure the fatter part of her elbow brushes the shirt in front of her bellybutton as opposed to her side.

This is assuming she hasn't been taught to "slam the door" (bring the hips aggressively around to face the catcher at release). If that's the case, well, in my opinion that's the problem.

 

[knightsb]

You can also tell her to make sure the fatter part of her elbow brushes the shirt in front of her bellybutton as opposed to her side.

Carly, I normally agree with you, but it depends if the pitcher is opening to 45-52 degrees like Amanda, Jenny, or Monica, or if she is completely open like Baylor's Whitney Canion. This for DD and I was a slippery slope. We always that we wanted to be completely open during delivery, and have since changed to about 45 degrees which for us improved speed and acuracy. At 45 degrees she is not brushing the shirt by her bellybutton, she is brushing the shirt by her hip like these pitchers:

 

[knightsb]

[video=youtube_share;5SD8fjTqEjQ]http://youtu.be/5SD8fjTqEjQ[/video]

 

[knightsb]

Canion

 

[starsnuffer]

In my experience, it is best to teach open mechanics to a kid going through puberty. If you teach them to be partially closed, like the collegiate pitchers above, then they will constantly struggle and have to readjust as their bodies develop.

After they have finished their major body changes, then you can have them pitch partially closed. Many male PC's do not understand this and try to teach absolutes, with the assumption that a 12 year old can and should pitch like a 16 year old. It makes sense in the male logical mind, but it is a far cry from reality.

-W

 

[Rocketech1]

Canion

My question is if staying staying open is ideal, then how come outfielders throwing overhand to home plate don't stay open at release but instead close their hips and upper body to transfer the energy and velocity to the ball?

 

[knightsb]

This is similar to what I got teaching DD pure open mechanics, thats why we went to open 45 degrees:

starsnuffer, can you post any video of your DD or students using completely open mechanics?

 

[starsnuffer]

That above gif is a big problem, I've seen that backwards motion before, and in fact, I think I've brought up here before that my own DD had that issue at one point.

I'll try to get some video to post. My own DD is through her hip growing phase so she's pitching slightly more closed then she was. She had issues hitting her hip, and in fact developed the beginnings of a stress fracture in her lower arm from doing so. When her mechanics changed to be more open that problem went away.

What you have to remember is that when we talk about "open" we mean open at release, which is typically when the ball is at the back thigh (slightly earlier or later depending on the pitch). All of the pictures you posted were AFTER release. Scarborough has issues, her arm whip is great but I've never liked how closed she is, how much her glove flies, or her self mutilation with the glove slapping. Whatever happens after this point is moot, and I will concede that "closing" the hips 45 degrees or so after this is fine even for the kids going through puberty.

-W