badly bruised on side

[Amy in AZ.]

I don't believe in weighted balls at all. The first day, that I had the entire set - and when I didn't know any better, DD took the 9 ounce one, threw a drop ball to me and broke the ring finger on my glove hand.

Now, if I want a little weight - I put a few finishing nails into the seams of the ball and I weigh them. It only increases the weight by .1 of an ounce.

But, distance work seems the best for strengthening.

 

[halskinner]

Hello All, first time poster and thanks for great info...i have a 12u player\pitcher on my squad that has been taking lessons 2+years, she is a fine pitcher with good control and throws around 49-51 mph...here is a NEW issue that has came up over the last month or so...her side bruises and swells from I assume her arm hitting it on pitches, the lone new in her routine has been her pitching coach beginning her on weighted balls, the problem has been severe enough where we haven't used her in fall ball at all to see if time off will help, does anyone have any input or experience with this ...thanks for any help or replys...Coach W.

I am guessing this is either a slender pitcher, or one more towrds the other end of the weight scale.

One of the forces created while making the windmill arm circle is the 'Distraction Force', not the medical distraction force measured against a shoulder joint as example. Same name but not the same.

A right hand pitcher will be pulled slightly to the right. Imagine it as a propeler on a plane but obviously not that strong a force. However, if the force used in the forward drive (Forward momentum) is fast and strong enough, that force is not affected by the distraction force pulling the pitcher sideways, it overpowers it and the distraction force is not noticed by the pitcher.

Now, if the arm circle is quick and strong but the forward momentum is not as strong as it could or should be, the distraction force can pull the pitcher way off course and they feel/sense that, even if they dont know why it is happening.

When that happens, one of the body's way of fixing that is to lean slightly, to keep good balance, just like walking a beam.

RH pitcher getting pulled to the right, gonna lean to the left and stick her hip into what was the arm circle before she started throwing faster.

Same thing can be said for a pitcher that is NOT a pixie.

It might also be a simple case ofthearmcircle being a little too close tothe body. Bring it out about 2 inches and see what happens. Imagine it as a hula hoop and move the hula hoop arm circle out a tiny bit.

If she is a step style pitcher, she might need to extend the stride length so the forward momentum force will overpower the distraction force.

Good luck. This IS a common thing by the way.

Hal

 

[jimginas]

I don't believe in weighted balls at all. The first day, that I had the entire set - and when I didn't know any better, DD took the 9 ounce one, threw a drop ball to me and broke the ring finger on my glove hand.

Now, if I want a little weight - I put a few finishing nails into the seams of the ball and I weigh them. It only increases the weight by .1 of an ounce.

But, distance work seems the best for strengthening.

I forgot about the nails in the ball! Its been YEARS since I've done that...... 11-12 years! Yup we used to do that too! and you are right, not too significant addition in weight.