How do you fix an airborne pitcher?

[Rotatorcuff]

Any drills on fixing this problem?

airborne_5173_smaller.jpg

It's slight, but enough to get noticed once in awhile. When I tell her to drag her toe, she doesn't explode off the rubber and there is a definite loss of velocity.[attachment=0]

[2bucketdad]

To be honest, I have never seen a pitcher called for an IP with her toe turned down in effort to keep contact with the ground. Turn the foot sideways with the toe up like in the other post about and I've seen it called a bunch...

[Rotatorcuff]

She usually doesn't get called for it. But once in awhile an ump will come out and talk to her. That seems to get into her head and she starts stepping instead of exploding and then it becomes batting practice for the other team. I've discussed with her pitching coach but she didn't think it was a problem (at least at our lesson). But in a tourney, it can be a huge problem once she's been called on it.

Sorry about the oversized picture. I cropped it but forgot to set the image size. If Number1 wants to delete, I'll resize and repost.

[Sam]

She usually doesn't get called for it. But once in awhile an ump will come out and talk to her. That seems to get into her head and she starts stepping instead of exploding and then it becomes batting practice for the other team. I've discussed with her pitching coach but she didn't think it was a problem (at least at our lesson). But in a tourney, it can be a huge problem once she's been called on it.

Sorry about the oversized picture. I cropped it but forgot to set the image size. If Number1 wants to delete, I'll resize and repost.

Ignore it. Everybody knows that pitchers are allowed to cheat....Brignac was illegal on every pitch....Nelson on most....and Mowatt was blatantly obvious...Brignac even got called for IPs at least 3 times at the WCWS...I won't even bring up Osterman.

[anonlooker]

What Sam said is true, and sound, if your kid is in college or playing 18G. It takes a lot more than an IP call to faze those girls.

If she younger and learning, and the calls but her as you said, here's what my DD is doing with the same situation:

First, we don't approach it as a problem, but rather simply another step in the learning process.

We work awhile on the explosive leap.
Then we work on keeping the toe down.
Then we alternate the two each pitch.
Then we work on combining them.

She should steadily improve, and knowing her limits will help her in games, so if she occasionally wants to go all out and gets airborne, it's not likely it will be called the very first time. So she can get away with it once in a while.

And by the time she gets it perfected, hopefully she'll be in 18G, and (as Sam said) it won't matter nearly as much, and getting called for it won't bother her in the least.

[jofus]

This pitcher pitched at least 9 or 10 innings this past weekend and every pitch looked like this...





It got called one time, on her first strike of the first game. This was after the base ump overheard us talking about it in the dugout and told me that he had already noticed it when she was warming up and was going to take care of it.

[TulsaEliteGold]

This is what we use to break our pitchers' leaping habits. It works great!!
You can order one by calling 1-800-4NO-LEAP

[Rotatorcuff]

Tulsa,
That's funny. We tried the Rizor cleats - pitching model/rubber toe. Things must weigh a pound each. No wonder we got a deal. They didn't help - must need to go up to the higher weight with the lead toe.

[pdj]

Try the toe over drag, push foot show laces toward the catcher. First time I saw this move I did not like it. Now I wish I had been taught this motion when first starting. In addition I have never seen a replant using this movement.

Also try to get the pitcher to elevate the front foot as if to "step up and over" an object onto the target line. Some younger (and older) pitchers keep the stride foot too low and elevate the back foot. You can get some long rubber bands and make an adjustable barrier to teach this movement. Beware of the stride that lands on the heel of the foot.

Good example of the toe over can be seen at http://www.houseofpitching.com in the video library of House's pitching motion. Andrew Kirkpatrick's motion is another good example to follow.