Throwing Mechanics and Baseball Pitching

[Justanotherdad]

Hello All,
I have a dilemna.
My daughter has made a highly regarded 14U A team in our area. One of the best in our area in fact, mainly based on her bat and her speed.
The problem is her throwing. While sufficient, it is somewhat average...at best. The new coaches have told us that for as strong as she is she should be much much better. Admittedly, I have spent very little time on throwing with her. All of our time has been spent on hitting. The coaches have asked me to work on throwing with her. Alas, the problem...I don't know a whole lot about throwing mechanics which leads to my question.
A friend and I were talking and we were wondering if I took her to a baseball pitching coach, what would that do for her throwing mechanics? Would it be beneficial in the interest of fast tracking her throwing mechanics to a high level? Should I persue this idea? I have looked at Hodges throwing videos and the little I have had a chance to review would seem to indicate that the over hand throw is universal. My thoughts are that a good baseball pitching coach should be able to square her away in a winters worth of work. Am I wrong in this thought process?
Thoughts? While I take great pride in acting as my childrens personal coaches, I would really like to have her work with an experienced coach in this regard. She just turned 14 and I don't feel we have the time for me to learn what I need to teach her.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

See if there is any help, here. Jaeger Sports Allen Jaeger (pronounced Jager) will talk to you on the phone, which helps a lot.

 

[Justanotherdad]

Amy thanks for the response.

What specifically should I look at on that website?
The website looks more geared toward conditioning. I guess, I should have been more clear. It is the coaches understanding that there is a mechanical deficiency, not a lack of strength. They are telling me that she more pushes the ball than creates a good whipping action. In fact, if you ever watched Hodges videos, she is a prototypical kid in that she starts her throws from a weak position, ie, she forms a W with her hands and elbows when she throws rather than the correct seperation created when you seperate hand from glove, palms down and internally rotate.

I guess, I know what should happen, just not the most efficient means to get there, thus my curiousity in getting her hooked up with a baseball pitching coach.

Good idea or bad?

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I just taught overhand throw last night. I show the grip, the wrist release and the high elbow. We step and throw, lead with the glove (making certain that the elbow is higher than the shoulder.) Then, we pull the hip through, with the throw.

I teach the little ones to exaggerate the throw, by bringing the ball down and making a big circle.

We begin the lesson on one knee, facing sideways, no glove, hand on our throwing wrist and just flipping the ball to our partner.

 

[CPSBDad]

My DD goes to a Baseball coach for several things, throwing being one of them. DD used to throw with glove hand folded back elbow pointing down, throwing arm bent with elbow below shoulder and the wrist would be slightly bent away from the body. Accuracy and velocity was there because she adjusted to the way she threw. But what I was told was that she would have shoulder and elbow problems if she didn't adjust her throw to proper mechanics. Intererestingly, I never thought much about her throw, and for years no coach on her rec teams mentioned anytlhing about it. It took a TB coach to bring it to my attention and we started from there. The baseball coach is telling her basically what her TB coaches are telling her.

She basically is learning how to throw again, and it's been tough for her. But she is getting the idea and I see her repeating the proper throwing motion while in warmups prior to practice and games. I do spend time with her too--I have a bucket of 36 softballs and we do different drills to keep working on her throwing. It's much better now, but once in a while when she's rushed to throw the ball she goes back to the old way of throwing--you'll hear her coaches yelling, "keep your elbow up."

 

[starsnuffer]

There are probably a lot of softball specific instructors who can give your daughter private lessons on throwing as well. I know my daughter was a very weak thrower at 10 until she went to a college clinic (St. Mary's college, a D1 school believe it or not), and she came out of there with a cannon. Often times, girls learn better from young women and older girls who know how to do a technique and who do a lot of "showing", more then they learn from a coach with a fist full of "credentials"

-W

 

[Greenmonsters]

The weight transfer necessary for proper throwing mechanics (as well as hitting) doesn't seem to come as readily to girls as it does boys. Practicing pitching from the BB full wind up, and pausing at the balance point (i.e., on back foot), helped my DD get the right feel. BB or SB coach/instructor/parent doesn't matter - any can teach it right or wrong. If the other kids the coach teaches have good mechanics, you'll be good to go.

 

[Ken Krause]

When I attended the NFCA Coaches College defensive position play course, they started with throwing. The instructors (I think it was Hofstra's Bill Edwards specifically) said that the method they came to accept as the way to do it is based on how a baseball pitcher throws. The reasoning was who gets paid more to throw than a baseball pitcher -- and who does it more? So yes, a baseball pitching coach might be a good option.

The key takeaway for me was to point the glove hand elbow at the target rather than the glove. You then pull back hard with that elbow, like you're trying to elbow someone behind you in the stomach. A lot of girls will swing the elbow around. Instead, they should drive it backwards, which pulls the shoulders through. The rest was pretty much the standard -- start with the hands together, chin high, separate the hands, thumb to thigh, lift to the sky, wave bye-bye and then throw. Elbow on the throwing hand is shoulder-high or slightly higher.

 

[PAcoach]

After my daughter rehabed a shoulder injury, i had to basically teach her how to throw again. We used the baseball pitcher throwing too. But something that really helped, was i bought a football at 5 and below ( not a full size and not a mini) and had her throwing a football. I could not beleive the difference. It gave her an instant visual. It not only helped with her throwing a softball, but she throws quite the spiral on a football now. I find us throwing football now more then a softball in the back yard. Now she thinks she is Peyton Manning....A friend of mine is the offensive cord. for our HS team. He happened to stop by one day while we were throwing, he is now trying to recuit her for the football team... her mother will have no part of that..lol

 

[CPSBDad]

The fear of an injury and not playing is what really got into my DD's head. She can be stubborn sometimes.

I'll have to try the football throw sometime.

After my daughter rehabed a shoulder injury, i had to basically teach her how to throw again. We used the baseball pitcher throwing too. But something that really helped, was i bought a football at 5 and below ( not a full size and not a mini) and had her throwing a football. I could not beleive the difference. It gave her an instant visual. It not only helped with her throwing a softball, but she throws quite the spiral on a football now. I find us throwing football now more then a softball in the back yard. Now she thinks she is Peyton Manning....A friend of mine is the offensive cord. for our HS team. He happened to stop by one day while we were throwing, he is now trying to recuit her for the football team... her mother will have no part of that..lol