DD lost 12-6 rotation on drop ball

[dentedshins]

My 13yo daughter has lost 12:6 rotation on her Drop. From the beginning of her pitching, up until January, she used to have perfect 12:6. It was phenomenal and natural. As she increased velocity from 48 to 53 mph, she completely lost the rotation. The ball now rotates in near bullet spin. It's not just a tilted axis, but the axis has rotated laterally (CW from overhead view) perhaps up to 80 degrees. Often I do not even see the tape of her taped ball.

Our pitching instructor is at a loss and pretty much useless at this point. I noticed tonight that DD's thumb is not positioned opposite the middle finger, but rather opposite the index finger, but we haven't thrown since. She has always thrown using IR motion (though sometimes she finishes higher than desired), so there has been no change in release motion.

I can't help thinking it's a simple fix. Perhaps the thumb position, perhaps the position of the ball during the arm circle. (I'm not sure what the expected ball position should be throughout the arm circle). Has anyone seen a similar transition, from near perfect drop rotation to near bullet spin? Any ideas on what to check.

Thanks!

 

[obbay]

I don't have your answer, but I can confirm that you are not alone. I find that anytime something works great without a lot of work to get there (like when something comes naturally), it disappears and you have to go back to the basics. Incorrect habits creep in while everything seems to be working and then one day it stops working and you and your kid dont know why.
If your PC is no help, try another one with the intent to diagnose the drop ball problem.
Good luck!

 

[Ade's Dad]

Sounds like she needs to release the ball a little sooner if you are trying to achieve 12 to 6 spin.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Which drop ball is she throwing?

 

[Madsdad]

If it is in the grip, that is easy to fix with a bit of experimentation. My dd has very true spin. She throws with 2 fingers. Her pc asked her to try 3 for a bit and was not able to get good spin. I wise instructor once told me that this issue was caused by a bent wrist in the circle. Is she now bending her wrist to help hang on to the ball better with the increase of speed? Should be easy to see.

 

[Sparky Guy]

She is late at two points in her arm circle with her hand. Four things. First make sure her grip is correct. You seem to have found that already. Second, make sure she has the palm of her hand hand facing 3rd base (RHP) at 12:00. Third, make sure she has her thumb pointing down at 9:00. (If she has no ball in her hand and spreads her fingers the thumb should be pointing down) That allows her to lead with the thumb through the bottom of the circle putting her fingers behind the ball helping her to pull on the seams and putting a better spin axis on the ball. Fourth, make sure she is not cutting her arm circle. Girls who are struggling will tend to want to make their circle smaller.

Use a ball with stripe and that will give her instant feedback without any arguments.

 

[dentedshins]

Thanks for the responses. I'm not entirely sure which drop she is throwing. The only changes she makes for the drop is to cock the wrist back at about 3 o'clock, and throw downhill. This is exactly like the Amanda Scarborough drop video. So by cocking the wrist back, I would say peel, but she also releases 'snap left', which I equate to rollover. Probably I don't really understand the two releases.

Thanks for the grip and release tips, and the hand position cues. I'll record and try to verify.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Have her watch the Bill Hillhouse info on YouTube, concerning the peel drop. He makes it seem easy. Then, take a flurry of pics of her release, so she can see what she is doing. I use an app on my iphone, for that.

 

[dentedshins]

Great, thanks Amy. Can you tell me what app(s) you suggest?

 

[Ken B]

The only changes she makes for the drop is to cock the wrist back at about 3 o'clock, and throw downhill. This is exactly like the Amanda Scarborough drop video.

Please watch Scarborough's dropball video frame by frame as she demonstrates at full speed. (Pause the video then use the arrow keys to scrub frame by frame.) What you will find is that she does not pitch the way she teaches.