Help me solve this frontside heavy issue

[HunterMO]

Couple things that might help (or did with my DD)......

1. Find some video/pictures of pitchers who are doing what you're wanting her to achieve. What she's feeling vs what she thinks she is doing are likely two different things. Let her visualize what she needs to get to.

2. Work with her getting her stride leg knee up more (think 90-degree angle) with toes straight and up. *The foot/toes being straight and up (as possible) isn't an end all/be all for everyone. This is just something that helped my DD.

3. Really work on the plant/brake leg. The brake is so important and is meant to hold everything back so the energy transfers to the ball. It could be (based on her age) that her core is weak. Often, this is something that kids ages 12-16 don't work on. And for kids who have had recent growth spurts, the core can be especially weak due to being stretched out. If she were to work on her core a couple times a week, she'd see a few things with her pitching improve.

 

[ArmWhip]

She has a drive issue, she is quad dominant and the glutes are not engaged enough. One symptom, she drives up too much and not out enough. If you slow the video down you can see that as she finishes her push-off her hips are going up, not out. Essentially she should feel like her push off is from the bottom up, not from the top down. At the start of her motion she sinks nicely into her legs, both knees are flexed, but as she drops the ball out of her glove she straightens the back leg/knee and leans in too much, this is the start of the top down, quad dominant leap. If she can move into her push off from the legs/knees flexed position it should keep her more upright and promote a better body angle at launch, which should carryover to a better landing position. A simple cue would be to keep the back leg knee flexed, as she moves into launch.

 

[lhowser]

She has a drive issue, she is quad dominant and the glutes are not engaged enough. One symptom, she drives up too much and not out enough. If you slow the video down you can see that as she finishes her push-off her hips are going up, not out. Essentially she should feel like her push off is from the bottom up, not from the top down. At the start of her motion she sinks nicely into her legs, both knees are flexed, but as she drops the ball out of her glove she straightens the back leg/knee and leans in too much, this is the start of the top down, quad dominant leap. If she can move into her push off from the legs/knees flexed position it should keep her more upright and promote a better body angle at launch, which should carryover to a better landing position. A simple cue would be to keep the back leg knee flexed, as she moves into launch.

Thanks - excellent thoughts here!

 

[ArmWhip]

Thanks - excellent thoughts here!

There is one other thing you can try, I have had some success with it for girls that get out on the front leg too much. Go to a baseball field and have her experiment with pitching onto the up slope on the back of the mound. Having that elevated landing zone will work against the tendency to lean forward and give the feeling of tilting back. Then move back to level ground and throw some pitches. Alternate between the slope and level ground and see if there's some transfer. It might not help her launch issue but sometimes they back chain it and do make changes.

 

[Hillhouse]

I don't think it's possible to leap and stay back at the same time.

huh? I don't understand. Are you saying the load? The push? Mid pitch? Landing? Or, is it a blanket statement that a leaper can't stay back?

 

[Hillhouse]

No...this is the posture that is created in the regular fastball release. Because of the hip and shoulder angle created, she is forced to release the ball later to hit the strike zone. It also creates a pull rather than a well-timed internal rotation of the arm which reduces the velocity.

you are teaching different mechanics for each pitch? specifically what is different between her dropball and this "regular fastball"?

 

[cvsoftball]

huh? I don't understand. Are you saying the load? The push? Mid pitch? Landing? Or, is it a blanket statement that a leaper can't stay back?

Hi Bill, it looked like to me that she had both feet off of the ground by leaping forward and going airborne. Referencing Ken's post, I have pitchers who are aerial and pitchers who are terrestrial. Leapers and walkers. For me, it's about finding balance twixt the two.

 

[lhowser]

you are teaching different mechanics for each pitch? specifically what is different between her dropball and this "regular fastball"?

I am not teaching different mechanics. Someone asked if this were a dropball. I replied "no" this is just a fastball. Some people teach angling the hips with a forward lean to create a drop. That must have been what they were referring to. That is not at play here.

In the case of this player - she always lands heavy on the front with a tilt forward. She is having difficulty making her body do otherwise, even when she sees it on video.

I would like to see her - upright at landing, centered or slightly back with level hips

 

[Shawn]

So my voice is still healing. I

 

[Shawn]

I have a pool noodle to extend in front. Helps with the head and the upper body getting ahead of the lower.