It seems like these days for me the “eyes” have it. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

Over the past few weeks I have talked about the use of the shoulder eye and the hip eye for hitting. But now I have a new one – this time for pitchers.

Unfortunately, given the nature of pitching my little stickers don’t work so well, I had to resort to a hand-drawn eye using a Sharpie. But it still got the point across. Here’s the story behind it.

Makayla is working on developing a curve ball, but was having trouble getting the proper spin orientation. (For those who don’t know, the spin axis should be on top, with the seams revolving around the ball horizontally, like a globe.)

Both the spin she was getting and the video I shot showed the palm of her hand was pointed out toward third base going into release rather than being cupped under the ball and pointing to the sky. She would try to get her hand into the proper position right before release but by then it was too late, and the ball would either have a bullet spin or the spin axis would be severely tilted. Either way, not good.

So, I brought out my trusty Sharpie, drew the eye on her hand, and told her to make sure as she approached release that the eye was pointed to the sky.

This is going to sound like I am making it up for the sake of the story, but I swear the very next pitch not only had the proper spin direction but a much faster, tighter rotation that it had previously. She proceeded to throw several in a row that were in the right range before I had to remind her again to keep the eye pointed toward the sky.

The smile on her face was beaming as she got good spin. I then asked her if the palm eye had helped and she said yes, absolutely. She didn’t know why (and neither did I), but that simple cue registered in her brain and helped her get into the position she needed to get the right spin.

The curve is still a work in progress for Makayla, but it took a giant leap forward that evening. So if you have a pitcher struggling to her hand under the ball, give your artistic skills a try and draw a palm eye. It just may work for her too.