Help Our Pitcher

[The Flush]

Our 10U rec team only has 2 pitchers who are relatively consistent. One of those 2 is only 8 (my son), so we don't want to pitch him too often. We really need to develop some more pitchers. The kid in this video is one of our best all around athletes. He throws hard, but lacks control. I am even less of a pitching coach than I am a hitting coach, and I am not a hitting coach. From what I can tell, he steps to the left sometimes, and often the ball goes left. What else do you see that we can work on to help him find the plate more often?

[PhilliesPhan22]

Since when did 8 year olds pitch from a mound??? And why does that look further than 46 feet?

[The Flush]

Since when did 8 year olds pitch from a mound??? And why does that look further than 46 feet?

My 8 year old turns 9 on July 1 and is in 3rd grade with mostly 9 year olds. It is not ideal for him to be pitching, buts he pitches more strikes than anyone else. They are also a lot slower pitches than anyone else. We want to develop our other pitchers so that my son does not have to pitch very often. The other pitchers are three 10 year olds and one 9 year old. All but one of the other pitchers is struggling with control. In our first scrimmage game last night, my son pitched a scoreless inning with no walks and a strikeout. Again, I'd rather the older players gain some control so my son can play catcher/SS/2B/Outfield or wherever he is needed. That is the whole point of this thread.

That mound is exactly 46 feet from the back of home plate. Must be the angle of the video.

[songtitle]

1. Have him mark his proper stride location with tape, paint, etc. every time he pitches. Then he can check himself after every few throws.

2. His arm motion looks more like a regular throwing motion (vs a pitching motion), so the timing is inconsistent when used with his lower half pitching motion. See if he can throw his hand down toward the ground, out of his glove.

[bbrages]

I'd start off by dropping the windup and going out of the stretch only...

[clayadams]

This is purely my opinion, coming from someone who also has an 8yo kid pitching in the 9-10yo league and doing very well so far. First, as bb said... drop the windup. Pitching is about balance first. The windup just adds one more thing to the scenario. Second, make sure the kid takes a deep breath and just stares at the target (as well the catcher needs to have his glove up in position) for 2 seconds before he starts his pitch. Lastly, I don't like the stride. The circular leg swing is harder to maintain a straight push towards the plate IMO. Again, balance is everything. He needs to be able to stride STRAIGHT to the plate every time. I believe he should pick his leg up (high or low leg kick doesn't matter), drop it and "slide" it towards home plate in a straight line. Make sure he's not kicking his leg out. It was taught to me to imagine dropping your leg, toe tapping the ground and then sliding the ball of your foot towards the target... only you don't touch the ground till foot strike. I record every single practice session with my kid so feel free to PM me if you want me to send you some of the stuff we've worked on.

[Ursa Major]

Have to agree with just about everything here - so the question is what you tackle first.

Part of the problem seems to be attention/focus/attitude based. (Look at his body language at the 37, 57, and 86 second marks.) As you note, he's doing lots of disparate things on different pitches, exacerbated by the straight leg motion described by ClayA, which almost guarantees a different result from pitch to pitch.

Yes to: going from the stretch, marking his foot strike spot, getting the ball out of the glove sooner, and lifting his leg with the knee bent ("lift the knee, not the foot"). Lifting the foot causes a kid to fall back toward first base and a whole host of downstream problems.

[The Flush]

Thanks guys. All your suggestions seem to make sense.

Song, when you suggest that he "throw his hand down toward the ground, out of his glove," I assume that you mean that when he takes the ball out of the glove it goes straight down instead of back. Watching a MLB game last night it looked like the pitcher took the ball down near his knee or back pocket. Is this what you are referring to?

We have practice tonight, so we will see what we can work on with him.

[songtitle]

Song, when you suggest that he "throw his hand down toward the ground, out of his glove," I assume that you mean that when he takes the ball out of the glove it goes straight down instead of back. Watching a MLB game last night it looked like the pitcher took the ball down near his knee or back pocket. Is this what you are referring to?

Yes. If he throws it down hard, it should make a nice consistent 'circular' path up to a vertical forearm at foot strike.

Now, to quibble slightly with some other comments...

exacerbated by the straight leg motion described by ClayA, which almost guarantees a different result from pitch to pitch.

Maybe. Just as in hitting, what he must do is keep his front knee even with, or behind, his front hip as long as possible as he strides forward. He may be able to do this with or without a bent knee.

First, as bb said... drop the windup. Pitching is about balance first.

Maybe drop the windup, only if you cant fix his arm motion in one lesson. Kids want to do the windup.

To me, pitching has nothing to do with balance. Stop balancing. Drive forward like a mad man.

He needs to be able to stride STRAIGHT to the plate every time.

He should land in the exact same spot every time. So have him mark an X.

[CoolHandLuke]

The young man looks he gets down on himself after a bad pitch. Give him encouragement, tell him to forget about the bad pitch and think positive. Have him visualize throwing strikes right to the mit.

As far as mechanics, he's throwing the ball instead of having a pitching motion. It's basically a step-and-throw that a position player would normally do during warmups. Have him focus on 2 things:

1. When he breaks his hands, drop and extend his throwing hand down, then around. First move from the front side needs to be up after hands break. Equal and opposite - ball down, glove up. About 11 o' clock glove side, 5 o' clock throw side. Currently he breaks his hands horizontally, and his front side doesn't stay strong. You can see the front side break down before release and his momentum is going down instead of to his target.

2. Lead with his hips. Keep his lift foot back until his hips have started toward his target. Currently he is just stepping and throwing with no hip drive. Encourage him to do the "wall drill" or "hip drill" as some call it. It will help him initiate the break with his hips and get more momentum to his target.

[Matt The Hammer]

He's an 8 year old. Try not to overload him with too many tips. Just enjoy playing.

I learned how to throw strikes playing wiffleball with my friends.

[BamaYankee]

Pitch, Pitch, Pitch. I bought a net with an inner target net for my son. We have a bag of 30 balls and I have him focus on seeing how many he can get into the target net each time. Over time, your son will teach himself about release points and what he has to do get the ball where he wants it. As far as mechanics go, pick one thing and focus on that until he has it down. If you try to correct too many things at once, it won't sink in. Make it fun!

[The Flush]

Just to be clear, the boy in the video is not my son. He is a 10 year old who is learning to pitch. Probably the best overall athlete on the team.

Again, thanks for the suggestions and keep them coming. I spoke with our head coach about this and we are putting together a practice plan for this player to begin at tonight's team practice.

[bbrages]

Pitch, Pitch, Pitch. I bought a net with an inner target net for my son.

^ IMO, you can never become a good pitcher without practicing pitching "at home" (in addition to regular team practices).

IMO, the ingredients for a good pitcher are, in order of appearance:

1) intent
2) sound mechanics
3) repetition
4) mental and emotional fortitude

These ingredients might not make every kid a dominating pitcher. But if you combine all four, odds are you'll have a kid who "can pitch". If any of the four are lacking... not so much. IMO.

[The Flush]

This boy lives with his grand parents, so I don't think he gets to work on things at home much. We have had him over to our house to work on it some. I will ask if they can get a net or tarp for him to throw into.