Please help evaluate 10U pitcher after injury (The Football Ref Jr.)

[DukeK]

Just to be clear - I am posting this for "The Football Ref". It's his kid originally mentioned in this thread:
Original thread: http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=89184

(My kid turns 15 in a week, doesn't pitch, and is 5'8" :) )

The Football Ref said on 06/01/2009:
Well the boy finally got back on the mound this weekend.

I have no idea how to make those slow moving GIF's so if anyone can help me out I would appreciate it.

So Guru's of the cyber-baseball world, what is he doing wrong ?



http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww63/lk2500/TFRJrStretch.gif

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww63/lk2500/TFRJrWindup.gif

[devilsadvocate]

Briefly scanned your other thread and what was diagnosed sounds like an over-use injury so you need to resolve that first and foremost. But you also need to correct your son's mechanics. He drops his glove which affects his posture and causes a sequencing/timing problem - his shoulders rotate at the same time as his hips instead of after. This will put more load on the throwing arm. Watch some video of pitchers like Maddux or Johnson and see what they do with their glove arms up to ball release.

[DukeK]

The Football Ref,

Starting with the lower body. Front foot should sweep out more and stay closed until right before foot plant - and then explode before foot plant opening the hips quickly with toe pointing at the batter at plant. Your son is too linear towards the plate, he does sweep out a bit and does ok keeping the foot closed, but rotates too late and lands with his front foot closed at about 45 degrees - locking out his hips. That causes his hips and shoulders to rotate at the same time like devilsadvocate mentions.

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww63/lk2500/A_GM_CF_HS_Continuous_001.gif

Mariano also does a nice job keeping sweeping that front foot out and then exploding his hips into foot plant.

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww63/lk2500/A_MRivera2005NYY_SView.gif

Your son's lead arm sweeps out too far and continues sweeping out bringing his front shoulder with it. Lead shoulder should stay closed longer and the pitcher should bring his chest to the mitt like Clemens.

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww63/lk2500/A_Clemens_Side.gif

So, at foot plant your son's hips should have rotated through 90 degrees and his front shoulder should still be mostly closed.
http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww63/lk2500/SK_001.jpg

Your son has not rotated his hips and his front shoulder has flown open at foot plant:
http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww63/lk2500/TFRJr.jpg

What your son seems to be doing correctly:
His shoulder plane at release looks good and he keeps his throwing elbow below his shoulder plane. Shows the ball to 1st base at the high cocked position. His follow through looks good - back flattening out.

Work on keeping that front shoulder closed and bringing his chest to his mitt - and synching the upper and lower body to get proper hip rotation and separation between hips and shoulders.

[The Football Ref]

Thank you guys. Had a late night last night.

[DukeK]

Another thing with the lead arm. His glove is actually behind his leg when he finishes, putting himself in a pretty awkward postion if a ball is hit right back at him. Fixing that lead arm will put him in a better fielding position and he'll be able to protect himself from a hard line drive hit back his way.

[Skeet]

Your son's lower half is not opening up near enough. Look at DukeK's still pic of your son. He would be in decent shape if he was throwing the ball to the camera. However, he is not throwing to the camera but I would guess around 10 -15 feet to the camera's left. Second base kind of helps with the angle.

Regardless, your son needs to get his front foot in line to where he is throwing. Going back to the still photo, you can see his front shoulder starting to pull out and his back arched. This is compensating for his closed lower half. Something has to adjust for his closed lower half in order to yank the ball over enough to throw a strike.

You need to get your son to start stepping where he is throwing. Start by just playing catch and progress to the mound concentrating on stepping to the target. Again, refer to Dukek's pics, you should see both hips opening up to the catcher.

btw, forget about the wind-up for now. There are way to many moving parts all over the place. It almost looks like 2 different kids form wise. The wind-up is easy enough to build in once he is comfortable with the stretch.

[The Football Ref]

I'm going to show him this thread after the Nationals in Myrtle Beach this July. I don't want it to effect him right now because he is throwing strikes.

This site really is great for guys that love the sport but have no experience teaching it.

Thanks ............

[LAball]

If he is throwing strikes, I would mess with him , but i'll give an opinion..
It looks like he is throwing the ball and not pitching. Pitcher need to put the glove side foot down before gliding it forward. You will see the MLB pitches have a straight glove side knee before the or as the glove side leg glides forward. You can see the kid moves his glove side leg forward and the knee is still bent.

I posted this in another thread...
Make sure the ball comes out with backspin. Kids usually throw a slider spinning ball i notice. Have the proper thumb placement- its the side of the thumb not flat on the pad. start in the stretch position. Swing the glove side leg back so it crosses in front of the pitching side leg. Swing the gloves side leg forward and throw. I have 1st year 10y/o "pitching" strikes. Dont bring the knee up. Dont have a full wind up. Just crossover and pitch. Make sure you work on glove turn during every throw in warm ups (not pitching warm ups but regular warm ups) so it feels natural. Add glove turn last in the pitch if he is throwing 40% strikes.

He can throw change ups as long as he isnt walking batters.