Category Archives: Pitching
Learning spins with the TightSpin Trainer
A little while ago I received a very interesting product — the TightSpin Trainer from Spintech. It looks like a softball on the end of the handle of a paint roller handle, but it’s a lot more than that. There is actually a braking wheel that allows you to adjust the tension to go from free spinning to very difficult to turn.
The manufacturer says that the TightSpin Trainer was originally developed to help pitchers build wrist strength. I can see where it would. The idea is you turn the ball 20 times in a row, quickly and powerfully. As the pitcher finds it easier to turn, you increase the tension. In that aspect it’s like any other weight lifting program. In conversations with George at Spintech, he says a pitcher can add 3-4 mph by training regularly with it.
I have not been able to confirm that part yet. But what I have discovered is that it’s excellent for helping pitchers learn the wrist snap for the curve ball. I have used it with several pitchers, and every single one was able to improve the spin on the ball after 10-20 turns of the unit.
This is important because true curve ball spin can be difficult to learn (as detailed in my post Getting Proper Spin on the Curveball). You have to be able to get the hand under the ball, palm up and fingers pointed to the side. And you have to be able to snap the wrist sharply from side to side rather than upwards as with a fastball or peel drop.
When pitchers are struggling with the curve ball, both of those aspects become a problem. The TightSpin Trainer helps them learn it quickly. Here’s how to make it happen.
Start by having a coach, parent or friend hold the handle straight up and down, with the ball at the bottom. The pitcher then grasps the ball palm-up. Don’t worry about getting the proper grip relative to the seams. Any grip will do. Then instruct the pitcher to snap the wrist quickly. Odds are she will turn it slowly and/or just a little bit. Encourage her to snap it quickly. Watch out for the elbow flying out — make sure it stays tucked in. Once she has the feel of turning it properly, go back to pitching. 
The TightSpin Trainer can also be very effective for training the rollover drop. It is another pitch that requires the wrist to move in a direction that is other than the standard up-snap.
One of the nice things with the TightSpin Trainer is that it comes with an instructional DVD if you catch it at the right time. Otherwise the DVD is $14.95. The DVD is helpful for learning how to use it — especially for me, who thought it should always spin freely.
Cost for the TightSpin Trainer is $39.95. In my opinion it’s well worth the price. Especially with its “guarantee with teeth” — if you haven’t increased your strikeouts in 90 days after following the program, call them and you’ll get your money back. Can’t beat that.
If you’re looking to improve the spin of various pitches, or just want to increase wrist strength, check out the TightSpin Trainer.
Motionview! video analysis software
This is a reprint of a product review I wrote last year for Softball Magazine. The product is definitely worth checking out, so I thought I would post the review up here. Hope you find it helpful.
One of the best and most popular tools for helping player development is video. With a simple camera and playback device (such as a TV), players have the opportunity to see themselves in action and perhaps gain a better understanding of what their coaches mean. After all, it’s one thing for a coach to say “you’re dropping your elbow when you throw.” The player may think the coach means the elbow is dropping to a point just above the shoulder. But when watching the video, he/she can see the coach means it’s dropping to a point just above the bottom of the rib cage.
The camera/TV combination is fine for basic viewing, but it makes it difficult to really get into the topic. Downloading the video to a computer and watching it on Windows Media Player, Apple QuickTime, or RealPlayer is somewhat of an improvement, but those applications are still very limited in their ability to show and explain exactly what’s happening.
Recently I downloaded such a product. It is called MotionView!, a software application from AllSportsSystems. It is a feature-packed program that allows a coach to provide a thorough, multi-point analysis of a student’s performance, either from live or previously captured video.
The version I downloaded is called MotionView! Coach. It is their mid-level product, but it provides everything I (and most coaches or parents) will need.
The drawing toolbar is robust but easy to use. The basic drawing tools include the ability to draw lines, circles, and squares. An extended toolbar adds the ability to draw angles, arrows, freehand shapes and more. You can choose from six different colors, and even change the thickness of the lines as needed.
One interesting tool, especially when working with pitchers, is the ability to add an analog clock face. When you’re telling a pitcher that the hand should be between 10 and 11 o’clock when the stride foot toe touches it helps to be able to draw that clock. Keep in mind a lot of kids these days rely solely on digital clocks, which means they aren’t really sure where 11 o’clock is. But they’ll never tell you. They’ll just nod as if they understand. 
Another handy tool is called the “kite tail.” This one is a bit more complicated because it first requires you to carve out a brief section (called a canister) of your video. Once you have the small clip, though, you can mark each point of a moving object to create a continuous line. MotionView! advances the frames for you automatically. Once all the frames have been marked and you hit the “play” button, the video traces the line, showing the motion. For example, if you mark the tip of the bat during a swing, you can see the whole path the bat takes. The only problem is it doesn’t give you the smooth curving line that’s shown on the Web site. It’s more of a polygon – a series of straight lines that create a shape, Still, you can gain a lot of insight regarding the path of moving object with this tool.
There’s more to MotionView! than drawing tools, though. You can run the video backward and forward, adjusting the speed from regular to slow to frame-by-frame. You can also reverse the view, turning a left hander into a right hander or vice versa. You can open two videos at once for side-by-side comparison, say between your student and a top-level player or a before-and-after comparison, and even synch them together. With the Coach version you can overlay one video on top of another, and export still shots to pass along to the students.
Sounds like a lot for just $85 (with the online coupon). But as they say on all the Popeil commercials, wait! There’s more! There is a built-in timer that shows the elapsed time in the video. You can convert a section of the video into a film strip so you can see the entire movement at once. You can zoom in on sections of the video and adjust the display to different sizes – including full screen mode. You can even type in titles or instructions that can then be exported along with the video.
The download itself is a little kluge. No matter what version you want, you have to start by downloading the free “Lite” version. Once you have done that, if you have purchased a higher level version you have to send an e-mail or go online to request the code to unlock your version. AllSportsSystems is pretty responsive but you still may have to wait a few hours to get your key code depending on the day and time you make your purchase. After I did the download the application started looking for a file that didn’t exist, and would give me an error message. But an e-mail to AllSportsSystems solved the problem quickly. They responded within 12 hours on a weekend, so I give them an A for customer service.
This is an outstanding, feature-packed application that allows you to perform an unbelievable variety of analysis. If you’re a coach looking for a better way to show students what they’re doing, or a knowledgeable player who wants to improve his/her game, check out the MotionView! family of products. You won’t be disappointed.
Getting proper spin on the curve ball
The basics of pitching dictate that there are two things that make a ball move — the direction of the spin and the speed of the spin. In other words the ball has to be spinning in the right direction to move as it’s supposed to, and it has to be spinning fast enough for the Magnus effect to work in order for the ball to change directions.
The fastpitch curve ball presents a particular challenge in both aspects because it requires the wrist to move in a way that’s different from other pitches — especially the core fastball and peel drop. Rather than snapping up, it has to snap sideways. It’s often described as sliding the back of the hand across a table. While I’m not a believer in the muscle-driven wrist snap on the fastball/peel drop — I see it as more of the end of a chain of events than event in and of itself — with the curve, you do have to make a strong and powerful snap across.
Easier said than done, however. It can be challenging to get under the ball and snap the wrist sideways. Here are a few tips to make it happen:
- The throwing side shoulder has to get lower than the glove side shoulder. That’s an absolute. If the throwing side shoulder comes up, you’ll have a tendency to pull over the ball rather than snap under it.
- Try to bring the throwing side elbow to your bellybutton. You probably won’t actually get it that far forward, but it’s a definite destination. The reason is if the elbow gets far forward, it will cause the arm to snap across toward the outside corner rather than straight forward. It will also make it easier to get underneath the ball.
- Keep the ball in the fingers and use the fingers to propel the ball forward as well as sideways. I just discovered this explanation tonight. I had a pitcher who was having trouble getting the spin right, so we went all the way back to the basic spin, just popping it up into her glove. What we found was she was getting it out too soon, which resulted in a riseball back spin instead of a side spin. By keeping it in her fingers a little longer she was able to get the side spin.
- Start cupping you hand under the ball just past the top of the circle. If you wait until the bottom of the circle you will likely be late, and will wind up snapping the wrist up instead of sideways.
Remember, just because you have a curve ball grip doesn’t mean you have a curve ball. If it ain’t got that spin, it ain’t a curve ball.
Bill Hillhouse and the PCM
I admit I’m a little behind on my softball reading, but I just read a great article on Bill Hillhouse’s House of Pitching Web site. It’s a rant about what he calls the Pitching Coach Mafia (PCM) and how it’s ruining the chances of pitchers to have a great career. He couldn’t be more right on.
Bill is a somewhat controversial guy because he calls it like he sees it, and doesn’t mind it if people don’t like that. As I read the article, though, all I could think was “right on!” He is constantly crusading against some of the bad techniques that are being taught by various instructors who may mean well but shouldn’t be teaching.
One example Bill mentioned is locking the elbow while pitching. I have stood in gyms where kids I knew were taking lessons extended their arms out as far as they would go, locked their elbows, and pushed the ball through the circle. They tend not to continue pitching by the time they’re about 15. Other examples are “closing the door” (slamming the hips closed), exaggeration of the wrist snap, and slapping the leg with the glove. Ouch!
One I’d like to add to that list is touching the shoulder with the hand after the pitch. The reason given for doing it is to make sure the pitcher follows through. But she doesn’t really. A follow through involves bringing the elbow through, not just the hand. Trying to touch the shoulder with the hand is a proven way to develop elbow problems, and it will actually make you throw slower, not faster. It will also prevent you from learning other pitches.
In the article, Bill also talks about the folks who know nothing about hitting but teach it anyway — which is why this post is also classified under hitting. Things like slapping the back with the bat make no sense at all, yet enough girls do it that somebody has to be teaching it. Bill says he thinks the hitting problems are worse because while not everyone feels qualified to talk about pitching a softball, everyone thinks they know how to swing a bat.
Be sure to check out this article, as well as others on the site. He’s a great resource to tap into.
Strength of the arms v. the legs
Last week my friend (and former assistant) John Parssinen sent a link to an article from the NY Times (I think) that explained an important consideration in both hitting and pitching. The article was about some advice that new Cub Kosuke Fukudome was giving to players in the Japanese industrial league as part of his farewell tour.
He was talking about how important it is to use the legs instead of the arms alone. He was talking about hitting, but it applies to pitching and throwing as well. Fukudome told them to imagine someone told them to stand on their hands. How long do they think their arms would support them? Then he said think about standing on your legs. You can do that all day, because they’re much stronger.
Hitters develop more power when they get their legs and torsos involved than when they just swing with their arms. I’ve never understood why anyone would think arm swinging is a good idea, but there are still plenty of fastpitch coaches who teach it.
It’s even worse for pitchers. It frustrates me to watch an otherwise good pitcher throw all arm. Some can throw hard for a little while, but they tend to tire easily. The arms are just not made to carry that kind of load. Pitchers’ arms need to be fast and loose, not tight and muscled up. That’s not to say they don’t need to be strong – they do — but the arm’s strength is needed to transfer power, not create it. That’s basic physiology. At best they can only add to power over the long term.
One last thing to keep in mind: Fukudome was talking to a group of men. Men’s upper bodies are far stronger than women’s. So if men need to use their legs to create power, it’s even more important for women.
Take a cue from Fukudome. Use the strongest parts of the body to create power and you’ll throw/hit harder and last longer. That’s the way Nature planned it.
Knuckles to nose
One of the challenges of throwing the backhand change is getting rid of the hump in the pitch — the tendency for the ball to go up slightly before dropping down on its way to the plate. The hump causes two big problems — it hangs it up high, where it’s easier to hit, and it also makes it easier to see.
The basic cure is to not let the ball go all the way to the bottom of the circle. Instead you want to finish flat, or parallel to the ground. Easier said than done.
Once cue I’ve found that works pretty well is to tell the pitcher to take her knuckles to the catcher’s nose, or knuckles to nose for short. As she comes into the last part of the pitch she should take her knocking knuckles in a straight line as though she’s trying to punch the catcher in the nose. The nose is generally about the height the hand will come through if it raises slightly above the bottom of the circle. You can even bring her up close to the catcher and show the difference between a straight in “punch” and an uppercut to the chin, which would require the hand to go all the way to the bottom of the circle.
It seems to be pretty effective, and is fun for the pitcher too.
Driving off the back foot
Lately I’ve been putting a lot of emphasis on driving the front knee out and up at launch. As well as that has been working, it’s important not to forget pushing off the back foot too.
The key thing is getting the timing right. You don’t want the feet to get too far apart from each other. That means the push off the back foot needs to come as the front knee is driving out.
Again, the object of all of it is to get the body/center of gravity moving forward effectively. This seems to be more difficult for some than others. I’ve observed some pitchers can push off strongly without much thought. Others will drive the front knee out, but just straight out or lock the back leg, which acts more as an anchor than an outboard engine when trying to get off the pitching rubber.
A good indicator is where the back foot is by the time the arm gets up to 12:00. By that point the back foot should already be dragging forward off the pitching rubber. A camera phone will show that. If it’s not coming forward the pitcher is not getting good back leg drive. You will need to correct that in order to maximize pitch speed and effectiveness.
Video is one of the best allies in this one. Show the pitcher what she’s doing, explain how to change it, and work on that foot work. You should see an improvement in speed in a short period of time.
The Law of Opposites
While that is just a bit in the movie, it definitely has an application in pitching. I call it the Law of Opposites. Essentially, it states that in order to perform any movement pitch, you need to take your body in the opposite direction from the way you want the ball to move.
There’s nothing new per se in this idea. For example, pretty much everyone teaches that to throw a curve ball the pitcher should step across the power line. What’s new here is a way of explaining it so it makes more sense, especially to youth players. In my experience they seem to be able to grasp the concept better as a universal law rather than a separate set of instructions for each pitch.
According to the Law of Opposites:
- To make the ball go left (as in a curve ball from a right handed pitcher) you must first go right.
- To make the ball go right, (as in a screwball from a right handed pitcher) you must first go left.
- To make the ball go down, you must first go up (get on top of the drop ball).
- To make the ball go up, you must first go down (get under the rise ball).
I’ve been getting good results with the Law of Opposites. And it allows me to walk around like the Mystery Men guru, sounding wise. What could be better?
Leaning into the drop ball
Getting the proper lean, however, is tougher than it might seem. Often times instead of leaning out the pitcher will bend at the waist. She feels like she is forward and over the front foot, but really her weight is more centered. A cue I’ve found that works is to tell the pitcher to look down at her T-shirt. If there’s something written on it, tell her to get the first word or words out over her front foot.
The effect is to help her get her upper chest out over the front. If she does that it will set up the proper angle. Then (if she hits the release point) she will be able to get the sharp downward break.
Making the curve ball work
We’ve been putting a lot of emphasis on leading the elbow, and getting it in front of the hip. It’s that getting it in front of the hip thing that has been the key.
When the elbow gets in front, it sets up the proper angle to cut not only under the ball but across the body from right to left. It helps get better side spin on the ball.
When the elbow stays on the side, or behind the hip, it tends to make the ball go straight. You may get the correct spin on the ball, but it won’t get the right to left angle that will help it break.
When you get in front of the hip, though, and get the hand underneath the ball of course, you can get the nice, tight side spin that leads to great ball movement. It’s a thing of beauty.
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 