Time for another video...IR, the finish, and more questions from a confused dad

[GunnerShotgun]

^^^All of what KenB said.
Take her size into account when you compare her to those mph tables. How often do you see a sub 5-foot 12yo throwing faster? It is too bad that the tables are age based. When you have a kid who is smaller than most pitchers her age, her velocity would be better compared to the age group that best matches her physical size, not the one that matches her age in years.

I don't see any amount of mechanical tinkering that will get her 5mph right away. I'd wager that she is very near her current mph ceiling. Yes, there is always room to improve mechanically, but she looks pretty darn good as is. She will gain many more mph as she gains inches, pounds, and maturity. That may be in 2 months or 3 years, but it WILL happen. Be realistic now and let her have fun.

Nice job!
VW

5-foot-11 Pedro Martinez, and 5-foot-10 Billy Wagner disagree with your assertion that taller/bigger people throw harder.

If two levers move at the same speed, the ball released from the longer lever will have more velocity. But as a lever becomes larger, it requires more torque to move.

There is no correlation between the size of the pitcher and velocity.

 

[drc9805]

Definitely get BM to look at this clip if you can contact him but I think she looks awesome! The side by side MTS posted pretty much confirms that.

 

[Alan Snedeker]

The only thing I can think of is that when I am catching it does sometimes look like "bullet spin" to me. I am wondering if we are having problems with the snap. From a personal perspective, I can see how it is very hard to get the fingers all the way underneath the ball pointing straight down at the ground while still using IR. To me, a "rolling of the hand over the ball" feels the most natural when I try to throw with IR and I think that is what she is doing. If I tell a person to go from palm up to palm down, they are going to IR and the fingers are going to naturally point away from the body as they do it and NOT straight down at the ground which is what is needed to get a good spin, right?

This is just a guess, because it is hard to see in the video. Is she using her fingers? Maybe she is just using IR without fingers and rotating her hand before the release, with her fingers on the side of the ball when she releases. Kind of like the the Sarah Pauly change up video. Maybe this could explain you are seeing bullet spins.



Now look at the Scarborough video at the 27 second mark. The release happens mid IR and off the fingers. Maybe someone can make this a gif. I don't know how. Sorry can only embed 1 video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO9wG8o9q-A&list=PLEE6F8EDC1E43ED47&index=2

 

[halskinner]

Your daughter is strong, but, she is NOT an adult College or Olympic calibur pitcher. At least not yet.

Olympic calibur pitchers can stride out to 120% of their height and even a little farther depending on what association rulebook and umpires they are playing under.

Increasing the stride length DOES place you closer to the batter. However, the main reason to increase stride length IF IT IS NOT ENOUGH is to increase ball speed and everything that goes along with that. TThe amount of ball speed increase with the best stride length will dwarf the less time of ball travel being closer to the batter will give .


However again, extending the stride length TOO FAR, you slow everything down, including ball speed.

Drop her stride length by 10 inches in her case should be optimal.

Doing that will probably make a few other issues disappear. She will pick up a few more mph in the process.

 

[Rooster's Dad]

Give her time to grow. Keep working hard and keep it fun.

 

[cuzmail]

For comparison

No good!!!!!!!! The pony tails are at different angles implying different forces to counter gravity.

 

[leerph]

LOL. I'll definitely work on the ponytail thing. I have noticed that Scarborough does drag the top of her back foot and not the side of it. However, she seems to be one of the very few girls that do it. In my opinion, you are really asking for trouble if the girl isn't super flexible b/c it is going to promote her closing her hips early when she turns that foot forward like that, but maybe I am wrong. I do see that most college level pitchers drag the side of the foot like mine does. I definitely think that the problem is coming from not snapping her wrist. I bought this camera that shoots at 240fps to try and get some good images but even that is too slow to get very clear shots and the resolution has to be set to a low level as well to capture at that speed. It does seem to me though that she keeps her wrist relatively straight the entire time and simply lets the ball roll off her fingertips without actually ever snapping her wrist. In the other slow mo videos on the net you can really see the girls snap that wrist fully and I don't think my DD is doing that. When we tried to force it she started to hello elbow in her finish position so I got scared and told her to stop. Now I'm kinda stuck about what to do. As stated in the OP I noticed that Bill Hillhouse doesn't turn his hand over with palm facing down after release and instead keeps it skyward and just finishes across his body on the other shoulder. However, all the top college pitchers that we scrutinize on here all seem to turn the hand downward after release. Maybe Boardmember could chime in on this. Is the finish more of a style choice as long as we use IR or is it impossible to get good IR if the palm remains facing skyward after the snap and release of the ball. Again, thanks for all the comments guys. Keep them coming. I know my little DD has more speed that is being robbed somewhere when I see her good form and how strong she is. In our local area, if she could just get from 42 to 45 MPH it would put her from being near the bottom to being near the top. There is another player on her middle school team that is about her size and throws with zero IR and she is at 45MPH. Her and my DD both have pretty good accuracy and a great change up, so this is the difference between being the starter and the backup. I know all you guys have been right there where I'm at with this, so again, thanks for all the advice.

 

[leerph]

I created a still frame of her right after the ball has come out of her hand. It seems to verify what I have been thinking. The wrist is still flat after the ball has left the hand and the palm is already facing in toward the thigh. I see no snap of the wrist as far as I can tell. Can someone please comment. Thanks.

 

[vdubya]

5-foot-11 Pedro Martinez, and 5-foot-10 Billy Wagner disagree with your assertion that taller/bigger people throw harder.

If two levers move at the same speed, the ball released from the longer lever will have more velocity. But as a lever becomes larger, it requires more torque to move.

There is no correlation between the size of the pitcher and velocity.

I'm sure Bill and Pete threw harder when they were 4'11" than they did at 5'11". Riiiight buddy!

 

[GunnerShotgun]

I'm sure Bill and Pete threw harder when they were 4'11" than they did at 5'11". Riiiight buddy!

Yes that's exactly what I am saying. You sir are brilliant.

http://sabr.org/research/does-pitcher-s-height-matter