Throwing

[wahhutch9]

Looking for a little help and guidance. I bought the Wasserman HLT book and we've been working on that. Most girls on our team took well to it. I am still struggling with one girl... just so happens she's my daughter. She's on the smaller side for her age and wants to be a catcher. Given her small frame, she needs to be as efficient as possible to get the most out of her small body... especially if she wants to be a catcher. I know she's going to continue to grow and get stronger as she gets older.. but I at least want her throwing mechanics to be solid.

I've uploaded a few clips of her throwing onto YouTube. I did regular speed and slow motion on my iphone from the front, rear, and side views. I'm
looking for some feedback on a couple of things...

Regular Speed
Front - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdPdCg4suhY
Back - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRsp-DfDsVs
Side - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IciOUTgSqmw


Slow Motion
Front - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Koi4_Dtx0Qw
Back - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCS1IJCSKvU
Side - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YgcLyOWxPA


As you'll see, she has a tendency to "fall" off to her left when she steps to throw... her weight isn't going at her target, it goes off to the left and her upper body and shoulder tend to follow. When we do the stationary HLT drills, she does OK... but when she tries to put it all together, her lower body gets out of whack and she reverts back to her "old" ways.

The last time we played catch, she told me that her elbow was starting to hurt... And I know it's related to her throwing mechanics and the stress being created on her elbow. Any advice, suggestions, or ideas that you may have would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Looking for a little help and guidance. I bought the Wasserman HLT book and we've been working on that. Most girls on our team took well to it. I am still struggling with one girl... just so happens she's my daughter. She's on the smaller side for her age and wants to be a catcher. Given her small frame, she needs to be as efficient as possible to get the most out of her small body... especially if she wants to be a catcher. I know she's going to continue to grow and get stronger as she gets older.. but I at least want her throwing mechanics to be solid.

I've uploaded a few clips of her throwing onto YouTube. I did regular speed and slow motion on my iphone from the front, rear, and side views. I'm
looking for some feedback on a couple of things...

Regular Speed
Front - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdPdCg4suhY
Back - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRsp-DfDsVs
Side - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IciOUTgSqmw


Slow Motion
Front - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Koi4_Dtx0Qw
Back - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCS1IJCSKvU
Side - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YgcLyOWxPA


As you'll see, she has a tendency to "fall" off to her left when she steps to throw... her weight isn't going at her target, it goes off to the left and her upper body and shoulder tend to follow. When we do the stationary HLT drills, she does OK... but when she tries to put it all together, her lower body gets out of whack and she reverts back to her "old" ways.

The last time we played catch, she told me that her elbow was starting to hurt... And I know it's related to her throwing mechanics and the stress being created on her elbow. Any advice, suggestions, or ideas that you may have would be greatly appreciated.

Have her practice throwing off a baseball pitching mound (or down a hill) to get the feel of everything moving toward the target.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Couple of sequence issues to consider.

1. The arm should pull back as the hip moves out toward the target. Don't pull back, then go forward.
2. The forearm should begin bringing the ball up above the shoulder as the front leg is opening up toward the target. (That's why Wasserman doesn't like the L drills. It promotes this incorrect sequence.)

 

[cvsoftball]

I don't know for sure but it looks like she is trying to compensate for physical limitations (size, strength) by overusing her shoulder and rotating left. You see pitchers do this shoulder thing, as well, trying to get extra zip on the pitch. Just an observation based on some experience.

 

[SB45]

I don't know for sure but it looks like she is trying to compensate for physical limitations (size, strength) by overusing her shoulder and rotating left. You see pitchers do this shoulder thing, as well, trying to get extra zip on the pitch. Just an observation based on some experience.

I agree there is some compensation for size...trying to throw like the bigger girls. I would suggest...don't try to have her throwing too far...as an aspiring catcher she is going to struggle to make throws to 2B and likely instill bad habits if that is what she is trying to accomplish. I would get her moving more...forward momentum towards her target will add strength to the throw. As commented by cvsoftball, it looks like she rotates left more than drives forward towards her target. I would emphasize forward movement...whenever she is throwing, have the right foot stepping towards her target before she is striding out with her left.

 

[dominik]

I feel an important Point when getting the ball behind the head is that the ball is not directly behind the head (at the ear) but about 10-15 inches behind the head (due to elbow behind the Body and thoracic Extension). many Kids if the get behind the head at all have the ball directly behind the head at the ear with the elbow already leaked Forward next to the face. that way you can Whip the forearm but the path to accelerate gets shortened.

 

[Mad4Ball]

Let's look at a another throw .....

And let's again slow it down ....

Yet another high level thrower with a similar mechanic. That is, catchers throw this way also ... and catchers make A LOT of throws during the course of a game ... go figure that they know to throw this way.


One more .....

By now it's probably getting pretty obvious what to look for ... but let's slow it down anyway ....

Even a high end Olympic caliber player throws with a similar mechanic.


You won't see much of this being taught ... there is a lot of "not so good" information demonstrated on the Internet throughout Youtube and whatnot. Review the drills shown earlier in the thread ... they work.

Five do you have these pics to post again.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Five do you have these pics to post again.

Yes ... if I get a spare moment I'll try to repost them.

 

[Ken B]

Yes ... if I get a spare moment I'll try to repost them.

Bump--hoping that things slow down in the next couple weeks and you can go back and restore the hundreds of gifs and pics you've shared...

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Bump--hoping that things slow down in the next couple weeks and you can go back and restore the hundreds of gifs and pics you've shared...

Seems that the tinyurl utility I was using no longer works well with this website.