Pitching w/ arm too close to body

[Fluid Fastpitch]

First thing that jumped out to me is that at the very beginning of her drive, her right (stride) leg, instead of driving straight to the catcher, kind of swings to the outside.

That rotational momentum carries into her landing, pulling her left hip behind her into the position we see at the finish in Ken's post.
You can see that left (drag) foot angle grooved into the turf - looks like a straight line instead of the more expected 'Nike swoosh' looking drag.

These issues are like dominoes. Start with the first one, fix that and see what's next. My first cue would be think knee the catcher straight up under the chin (as opposed to the slight roundhouse kick action). See what happens next.

I suspect though the reason she developed this roundhouse kick is because someone's telling her to get open and stay open through the throw. In which case.... I either convince you that's not correct or I can't help any further.

Her upper half looks pretty solid. It's drive issues at work here.

 

[Lemon~Lefty023]

Thanks for the feedback this is really helpful and definately something her previous pitching coaches never gave her!

 

[Lemon~Lefty023]

And does her leg kick out that far to the right when she starts also because her posture is so bad that she has to open up that far to try to avoid her hip? Sorry if someone mentioned this above and I missed it.

 

[mmeece]

And does her leg kick out that far to the right when she starts also because her posture is so bad that she has to open up that far to try to avoid her hip? Sorry if someone mentioned this above and I missed it.

I think it's the reverse. She's trying so hard to get open immediately and that leads to the poor posture and lack of drive. If she could drive straight out and let her hips and shoulders open naturally together the posture would also likely be much better.

 

[tomorrow]

And does her leg kick out that far to the right when she starts also because her posture is so bad that she has to open up that far to try to avoid her hip? Sorry if someone mentioned this above and I missed it to

Basically she is driving out using the wrong muscle group it is more than just poor posture.

Here are some references of online pitching coaches that teach aggressively driving straight out.
https://www.dr3fastpitch.com/
https://www.footdoctoresia.com/
https://www.paisleyspitching.com/

Search them on social media if you would like to see a sample.
There are plenty of other pitching coaches that stress this motion and I have not used any of the above online pitching sources.

I do not think this will be an easy change for your DD. I do think she has potential to improve in all measurable ways if she can correct this.

 

[Fluid Fastpitch]

And does her leg kick out that far to the right when she starts also because her posture is so bad that she has to open up that far to try to avoid her hip? Sorry if someone mentioned this above and I missed it.

Agree with what mmeece and tomorrow said.
Also want to add - there's no reason to intentionally avoid the hip. In fact, the opposite:

 

[ArmWhip]

What is her typical fastball velocity? The kick out doesn't bother me because her knee lift is basically in line, it's her foot that goes out. Across the board she has very unusual mechanics, so I'm wondering how fast she throws. Are these videos that have been taken since she began to have problems or are they from before?

 

[MidwestFastpitchDad]

I watched the videos before reading the whole thread and the advice here seems to be spot on with what my kids’ pitching coach would say. Both my girls use a “flapper” (link below) it’s a strap that goes around their throwing side leg and they have to hit it on the backswing, the forward swing and again on release. It really has worked well. Provided your DD keeps shoulders straight and stacked above her hips and knees.

I’ve seen many girls drop their shoulder and slide their hips out of the way to avoid their arm from hitting their hip-I’m shocked how successful they are but I’m not sure how long it will last for them.

https://a.co/d/adVVPhm

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lemon~Lefty023]

What is her typical fastball velocity? The kick out doesn't bother me because her knee lift is basically in line, it's her foot that goes out. Across the board she has very unusual mechanics, so I'm wondering how fast she throws. Are these videos that have been taken since she began to have problems or are they from before these

The last time we clocked her was clear back in January but her fastball was between 52 and 54 mph. And the videos are from a couple days ago so in them she's had the mechanics issues for a while. (Although her elbow hitting her side didn't start becoming a problem until about 18 months ago) The biggest issue with her hitting her side is that when she does it her elbow starts to hurt and then she tries to minimize the pain by compensating otherwise.

 

[Tango]

15 correct. My DD changed a lot physically around 14 and started hitting her hip with a lot of swelling. At the time we got the ball a little further away from her head/ear (two balls from her ear). At the moment the ball appears to go over her head and then away from her body and then back into her body.

I would work on swing back (brush). Swing forward (brush). Brush on the release.

Arm bend would help and down instead of back.

I would work on getting her drive leg fully extended at 4:30 and off the plate at 3 o'clock. This will allow her hips to move.

I also think she is holding onto the ball to long and therefore hitting her hip. Not sure if she is HE or IR but I would have her snap through her instep this seems to get some IR and get rid of the ball on time.