Building a pitcher

[jtirvine]

I would imagine that there is a post for this... I’ve read a few... but I would like the most updated information and videos. All help is appreciated.

I am a high school softball coach and the biggest thing we struggle with year to year is not having pitching...at all. Many of our players have never played or have only played for a few seasons in middle school ball. In the two years I've been coaching, we have never had any players that had quality playing/pitching experience at any level. Every single girl that is wanting to learn to pitch is raw and has never do it before.

After last season, I knew that I needed to learn as much as I could about pitching in order for our team and program grow. I ordered the Bill Hillhouse DVD's a few months ago and have implemented his 3 warm up drills... Up together/Down together, pushing and the walk through.

After reading some of the I/R pitching thread, I know need to get my girls doing this.

What are some suggestions for building a brand new pitcher? I'm really just looking for basic fundamentals in order to get the ball over the plate.

 

[taylormeyer77]

let’s see how this will translate to teaching, but the last two months I’ve spent teaching myself some basics of how to pitch. My daily workout looks something like below. I do not even PRETEND to be an authority, here. Like you, though, I knew as a first year coach pitching will be out biggest liability, so I better learn something around it. at some point I’ll attach a video of what it looks like in slow-mo right now. I’m heartened to see improvement and know it’ll help the girls!!




1. 3 sets of 20 reps of lock it drill(or lock it in...forget exact name but I/R staple)
2. 3 sets of 20 reps full circle into glove snaps
3. 3 sets 10 reps stride glide and drive Fastpitch Power
4. 15 Pitching “walk-throughs” (not sure what to call them...maybe someone can help me out here; full motion windup hi delivering at about 75% speed and walking two extra steps towards catch after release )
5. 2 sets of 10 of exercise in link (this is likely something you’ll add later on but they are pretty amazing.)

6. 30 fastballs
7. 10 change-ups (when you’re there)
8. Rotating Fastbal/change

 

[AnotherSoftballDad]

Not helping you out at all here but I'm curious what area you guys live in?

I'm in the suburbs of Dallas and my kid pitches. I'll have the opposite problem.

Every high school team in my area has pitchers that have been playing travel ball since a young age.

The high school my kid will go to currently has 3 A-level travel ball pitchers.

In my kids middle school class I know of 3 good pitchers who have had weekly pitching lessons since they were young.

My kid is going to have to be special to ever sniff the circle in High School.

 

[cvsoftball]

you need to go down to your 10U level teams and start there. find an IR or Tincher coach or any open-minded pitching coach for the parents and yourself to speak with and then go to. be honest with folks. you have no pitching and you need their help. at your level, getting the ball over the plate only means your defense will gain some good experience and you may even get a win or two over a worse team. but for the long haul, if your goal is to field a competitive team you will need competitive pitching. jmo and experience. good luck!

 

[Ken Krause]

I am a pitching coach who is currently working with a high school team that is in the same boat. They don't have travel ball in their area, consequently their pitchers have little to no experience outside of their high school team. The coach brought me in specifically to address this issue. He is a member here so if he wants to comment and identify himself I will leave that up to him. I'm working with a couple of the high school girls, plus one middle school girl who will pitch at the high school in a couple of years.

We have really started with the basics. Part of the challenge is the mentality of "get the ball over the plate." If that is their goal they will do whatever it takes to make that happen, whether it's conducive to good pitching or not. I find that the more they try to get it over any old way the harder it gets to throw strikes. So...

We spent a lot of the early time working at short distance (10-15 feet) into a net. I mean like two or three lessons in a row. The first thing we did was work from what I call the W position - arms at 3:00 and 9:00, with the body at a 45 degree angle - then learn to pull the upper arm of the throwing hand into the ribcage, brush the forearm on the hip and release. Just doing that was a challenge at first. But we kept at it until they learned to relax and not try to "control" the ball but instead let it happen.

Next was doing the same thing from the K position to see if they could maintain the feeling of leading the upper arm down. As they got the hang of that we went to arms outstretched at 3:00 in front. This is a critical transition because there is a tendency to want to straighten out the arm, and for some to turn the ball backwards and push it down the back side of the circle. We worked on getting them to keep some flex in the elbow so they could get some whip.

At this point I want to mention that throughout this process, I had a Pocket Radar Smart Coach set up behind the net, and it was connected to an iPad. With every pitch the girls could see their speed in big red numbers. As they started to get the hang of a motion, I would encourage them to see if they could find one more mph. This was important because they originally had been reluctant to really go all-out, especially from a full distance, so seeing the speed helped changed that mindset. I'm not sure any of them are aware of what a good speed is, but that doesn't really matter. The key was getting one more mph better than they were on the previous pitch.

When they could get the transition over the top we moved to a full circle, arms hanging at their sides then bringing the ball up and around. Once they could do that, I had them start pitching with a full motion, face-on, again into the net that was 15 feet away. When they could do that and maintain the mechanics pretty well, we moved them back to 20 feet, then 30 feet, then probably 37 feet, then full distance. If there was a breakdown when we moved back, we moved forward again until it was corrected.

Now that they are at full distance we are working on getting more launch and more speed. They are progressing pretty well. The sessions with me have been roughly every other week since November. I believe their HS coach also brings them in to work on it between sessions, and I give them things they can do at home to address various issues.

They're not world beaters yet by any means. But I think they're better than when they started, and should be able to do much better than they have in the past. If they continue to work on it once the season is over, who knows where they can be?

Hope that helps.

 

[jtirvine]

Not helping you out at all here but I'm curious what area you guys live in?

I'm in the suburbs of Dallas and my kid pitches. I'll have the opposite problem.

Every high school team in my area has pitchers that have been playing travel ball since a young age.

The high school my kid will go to currently has 3 A-level travel ball pitchers.

In my kids middle school class I know of 3 good pitchers who have had weekly pitching lessons since they were young.

My kid is going to have to be special to ever sniff the circle in High School.

My school is a Title 1, inner city school in Phoenix.

 

[Laphoneman]

What Ken said is important teach the form into a net they have to trust the form. Once they realize where the ball crosses the plate is determined by what they did on the mound. If they have the form correct it should hit its spot. If it doesn’t you can’t aim the ball or change the form. You have to figure out what part of the form you did incorrectly. Once you have a basic form that the ball ends up where it’s supposed to its repetitions to do the exact thing every time to learn to control the pitch. If your pitching full distance to start your eyes will take over and change the form to get a result which is not the correct form. They have to trust the form and it will work.

 

[CoachJD]

Ken is talking about me, but there is one huuuuuge thing he left out. Actually, I think it's the most important thing:

You have to find girls who are willing to actually put in the work. You can do all the drills you want during your limited time with them at team practices or the occasional solo session, but they're not going to develop much unless they're super dedicated (or you have a freak of nature who can just figure it out without doing all the work).

The three girls Ken mentioned are my three most dedicated, and therefore they are/will be my best. Oh, it helps that their parents are on board, too. If they're not working directly with the girls, they're at least doing what they can to provide support. So in addition to finding girls willing to do the work, you need to find parents who understand and support the commitment required. Even better if you have a couple parents willing to check out the videos you find here and work with them on their own.

Which leads me to one silver lining in the position we're in: When working with girls who are brand new, they haven't learned all the bad stuff. Their parents haven't spend thousands of dollars on bad private instruction. So if you have a girl who's dedicated and parents who want to help, you just send them the right videos. You're immediately on the same page. And make sure you tell them to don't take any advice from well-meaning folks and don't do any YouTube research on their own!

 

[Ken Krause]

Ken is talking about me, but there is one huuuuuge thing he left out. Actually, I think it's the most important thing:

You have to find girls who are willing to actually put in the work. You can do all the drills you want during your limited time with them at team practices or the occasional solo session, but they're not going to develop much unless they're super dedicated (or you have a freak of nature who can just figure it out without doing all the work).

The three girls Ken mentioned are my three most dedicated, and therefore they are/will be my best. Oh, it helps that their parents are on board, too. If they're not working directly with the girls, they're at least doing what they can to provide support. So in addition to finding girls willing to do the work, you need to find parents who understand and support the commitment required. Even better if you have a couple parents willing to check out the videos you find here and work with them on their own.

Which leads me to one silver lining in the position we're in: When working with girls who are brand new, they haven't learned all the bad stuff. Their parents haven't spend thousands of dollars on bad private instruction. So if you have a girl who's dedicated and parents who want to help, you just send them the right videos. You're immediately on the same page. And make sure you tell them to don't take any advice from well-meaning folks and don't do any YouTube research on their own!

Everything CoachJD says here is true. All three girls are dedicated and willing to learn and work at it. Pitching is not something you can just dabble in.

I will also add you need a dedicated, caring coach who understands this is not an easy skill to learn and is willing to play the long game rather than look for quick fixes. That is CoachJD. He has a vision, and I'm pretty sure it goes beyond just getting competent pitchers for this season. He is looking to establish a culture of excellence that hasn't been there.

Every turnaround story starts with a couple of individuals getting on board. That's what he is doing here, I think.

 

[jtirvine]

So are there any YouTube videos that I can watch to see some I/r progressions?