Video of My 10 Year Old Son Pitching

Pitching Mechanics
#1

Hi Guys!

This is a video of my 10 Year old Son. He has been extremely successful in pitching. I’m very concern about his arm and want to make sure that he has a sound motion. If any of you seasoned vets see see something that is bad or room for improvement please let me know. He has not had any problems to date but going forward I want to make sure he stays healthy.

He throws 3 pitches…4 seam, 2 seam and a circle change up (nasty).
Gunned at 60-65 MPH Fastball
45-55 Change up

I appreciate and value any expert advice.

Thanks,
Jason

#2

Good is he a natral side armeer

#3

I always thought of him as a 15/16er’ :slight_smile:

#4

VERY good arm for such a young little guy

looks like hes got a soft glove side - his glove never tucks in during the hip/shoulder seperation phase

also - you might want to start him off with his feet spread shoulder width apart so he can get used to it now and not have to do this later which will help with his pickoff move and balance when he gets older and gets a higher leg kick as he gets stronger

is this from 45ft or 60’6 ?

#5

Thank you for your kind words. I really appreciate your advice and you raised a good point of getting into good habits at an early age.

The distance in the video is 46.6 feet. That is the regulation distance for his age (10U). In 11U, there are some leagues that play 50.5/75 but most 11U’s play 45.6/60. Since he just turned 10 I’ll keep him at 46.6 for his 11U season which will start in Sept.

#6

The boy appears to have a good arm. I do see some issues though they are typical for young kids.

First, I agree with Offset on the soft glove. He does a good job of extending the glove out front during the stride. Get him to keep the glove in front of his chest, turn the glove over (palm facing chest), and take the chest to the glove. This stability will not only aid consistency, it will give him timing to delay shoulder rotation as he gets older.

Sometimes he tilts his head to the side a bit. Get him to keep his head upright.

Also, sometimes he plants with his foot closed off and that seems to block off his hip and shoulder rotation. You can notice this particularly in the video from behind. His foot plants closed off and then pivots after his rotation pulls him around. This pivoting is the body trying to protect itself (the ankle, knee and hip joints). Unfortunately, cleats digging into the ground make it hard for the foot to pivot after it has planted. Get him to open the foot more into foot plant and to do so consistently. His foot doesn’t have to point directly at home plate but certainly closer than it does currently.

#7

Thank you so much for the advice. One question though, “Soft Glove”, I’ve never heard of that term before. What exactly does that mean?

#8

its a term used when your glove never tucks into your chest. its just kind of stays limp after you extend it out

#9

Hey one other question…

In the majors, are “side-armers” not as desirable as 3/4 or over the top throwers?

If so is this for fear of arm injury? Should I raise my son’s arm angle?

#10

here’s an article that may be of interest to you http://www.thecompletepitcher.com/pitching_form.htm

#11

I read the article and it made me feel better about how he throws.
Thanks again

#12

its a term used when your glove never tucks into your chest. its just kind of stays limp after you extend it out[/quote]
I like to distinguish between tucking the glove and pulling the glove. To me, tucking the glove relates to bending the wrist (or not). Some pitchers tuck the glove under the forearm - others don’t. But this tucking is different than pulling the glove back to the chest. Tucking is a non-issue while pulling the glove is an issue that can lead to early shoulder rotation. I believe leaving the glove out front and bringing the chest to the glove. It’s what I think the best pitchers in the game actually do.

As for the “soft glove” term, I use it to mean a glove that doesn’t stabilize. Instead, the glove moves around often times dropping or swinging out to the side and rear. Glove instability can affect the front shoulder by pulling it down or causing it to open early.

#13

I used to have him point with his glove (fully extended) at the plate/strike zone at the initial part of his wind up. This same arm would fold back to his chest during his release. Should I teach him to go back to that or a variation of that?

Have any opinions or thoughts on Momentum pitching? I was thinking of incorporating some of it’s aspects into my Son’s motion.

#14

I teach what the NPA teaches and that is to have the glove arm mirror the throwing arm. This is what the NPA calls “equal and opposite”. The idea is to get the arms to mirror each other - even if only momentarily - at foot plant. Mirroring means the angles of the elbows and wrists are equal but one arm can be bent up and the other down, both up, one up and one horizontal, etc. All adjustments are to be made to the glove arm - not the throwing arm.

Getting to equal and opposite has ramifications on balance - especially for young pitchers. Getting to equal and opposite at foot plant gives the pitcher timing to delay shoulder rotation until after the hips have rotated. For older pitchers, the timing aspect becomes much more important than the balance aspect, IMHO.

So, arbitrarily having your son point his glove only makes sense if that means his glove arm will then mirror his throwing arm. If your son hooks his throwing hand, then have him hook - or tuck - his glove hand. If he “points” his throwing hand back, then have him point his glove hand forward.

Regarding momentum pitching, DM can give you better insights. But my opinion is that Mills takes linear momentum to such an extreme that it sacrifices rotation.

#15

I see what you are saying and that was basically the method taught to my son. I spoke with DM last week(a wonderful man) and he told me what I should do if I was interested in having him throw with more of a momentum style. I reading a lot about MP because the believers of it claim that it is the best way to avoid arm issues while gaining velocity. What I’m trying to do is take some of the best aspects of MP and incorporate it with his current delivery. What interests me the most is the leg stride. I’m trying to get his front foot to go out a little more than his height. If he does that and leads with his front hip it might generate the body momentum so he uses his arm more for aiming.

Does that make any sense or do I sound like an idiot? :slight_smile:

I’m trying so hard to do the right thing here.

Best regards,
Jason

#16

Jason,

I understand what you are saying. My first thought is that your son is rather young so you shouldn’t go overboard with this stuff. It’s gotta’ stay fun for him or it’s all for naught.

Regarding getting your son’s stride length to be more than his height, long strides are recommended by many these days. But Mills’ recommendation to reach a specific length (even if it is specified to be equal to your height or a certain percentage thereof) is, to me, a bit absolute-ish and we all know there are no absolutes. Tom House also recommends a long stride but he specifies that the stride should be as long as possible while still maintaining good posture and balance (which, in turn, implies you’re positioned to do other things well). I think that is a much more appropriate goal because it says that you still need to do other things properly.

Understand that it takes certain functional strength and flexibility to do things like maintain proper posture and balance, stay closed, get good hip rotation, etc. while moving faster into foot plant and, subsequently, release. Young kids often lack these attributes. Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t work towards this goal. I’m only saying that you should have proper expectations in case your son can’t achieve it and that you might want to shoot for that goal in incremental steps. Also, it is good to put the focus on increasing momentum and letting the stride length happen instead of focusing on increasing stride length as focusing on increasing stride length can result in things like lunging and reaching with the front foot.

For increasing momentum, the NPA uses a technique that involves looking at the back foot drag line. The recommend focusing on getting the drag line to end two of the pitcher’s shoe lengths in front of the rubber. The only way to do this is to increase total body momentum which will pull the back foot away from the rubber.

Oh yeah, DM is a great guy!

#17

Roger, you brought up something that I noticed about MP that always concerned me and that is the fact that you wind up in a position that makes you vulnerable to a hit back to the pitcher. G-d forbid a frozen rope because the first thing sticking out is your head! Considering that he’s just turned 10, he doesn’t pitch from Early Nov. through the end of March(except for indoor practice) and he goes to sleep a way Camp for 7 weeks in the summer, I’ll just keep it fun while always trying to improve by reaching one little milestone at a time. I don’t want to burn him out or cause injury to his arm due to overuse. Hopefully I can enjoy watching him pitch for years to come.

You’re a great man!
Jason

#18

Roger:

we all know there are no absolutes.

Papibon:

The above statement is an absolute. :wink:

#19
:)
#20

Here’s another absolute:

Papibon is a wise guy. :lol: