Nardi wrote:
The Hawk wrote:
Regular Reader wrote:
The Hawk wrote:
Regular Reader wrote:
Hawk's on his couch pissed.
I didn't watch the game. I was helping a buddy out with a pitcher on his team who is struggling. The kid is teachable so I love doing this stuff.
I was just telling a friend how much I love kind of the exact same thing . Watching a kid struggle then grind his ass off to succeed is as good as it gets.
Yeah. One of my key messages to kids is to try different things in order to get movement on pitches. This includes different grips and pressure points, moving the ball back in their grip, cutting the ball and moving around on the rubber to go with their release point and wrist action. If a ball moves, then try the same thing again and again and again until it becomes a part of your "stuff".
I think that way too many pitching coaches try and mold young pitchers into a set motion and technique. And I have had some kids so brainwashed by some of their teachers that they really resist trying to break away from their programmed instruction and so do their parents. One of the first things that I always asked these guys is who taught them how to pitch and then adjusted accordingly. I always then follow up with, how did that work out for you? Getting hitters out?
That's because repetitive motion means more consistent strikes. You must be very lucky to have kids who throw strikes at will. Most coaches aren't that lucky.
I think that for most kids, that they have their own way of delivering a ball based on their natural motion. 99% of kids learn how to throw the ball straight at a target before they ever learn to pitch. So it is that throwing motion that I work with. I am talking about coaches who try and reinvent a kid's throwing motion and I do not do that. First thing that I do is teach balance, landing spot, and release point. The next usually is for the kid to work backwards, namely that where a ball goes after thrown is due to those three things, balance, landing spot and release point.
But in very few instances do I try and drastically change a kid's natural delivery. I had a kid once who loved to throw almost submarine. When I got him he was 13 years old and was cut from his high school team because the coach didn't like his motion and tried to change him. So I worked with the kid and changed a couple of things including to go more side-arm than submarine which improved his ability to throw strikes and he ended up making a travel ball team and the varsity of his school the next year as a reliever.