mike s
Pitcher's Dad
Last night at team practice DD threw BP and used her Raise Ball against a batter for the first time. On the way home she told me that she threw it and the batter was under the ball. She was so psyched. Some back ground, we have been trying to learn the RB for a few years, really me pushing her more than her wanting to, she was not getting it. I had stopped pushing her on it and decided it would never be in her repertoire. Well this summer she asked to start working on it, first time she was pushing to learn it, so I said ok. We started with just spinning the ball correctly. It took awhile for her to get the spin right then we started to back chain it. Finally she was throwing it as a full pitch, mostly over my head. We concentrated on full pitch with correct spin and did not worry about location. Then as she got stronger, we paid close attention to correct body posture, release etc... Along the way we realized how important correct mechanics are for this pitch. Any error in mechanics resulted in bullet spin. She is hoping it will be game ready by spring, she may use it as a waste pitch in the fall just to get some experience with the pitch. I would never have expected a 17 year old to work this hard, she is still on the fence about college ball. She is worried about struggling with the academics and "having a life" yet she is still working hard right now. I know to many this sounds very late to be learning a new pitch what with all the 12 year olds throwing RB and a laundry list of other pitches. All I can say is that her RB and other pitches all have great spin axis, she is having fun and learning how hard work pays off. As a dad what more could I ask for. Thanks for reading, Mike
