Curveball Release Point

Seeler, welcome. With time and plenty of pen work, he can learn to better control his curve. A good pitch to add would be a change. This would give him an off speed option should he struggle with the cb. One point to note, at the high school level, its not always necessary to throw a cb for strikes. It would be good if it came close to the plate, but the changing of planes, the different look the batter has, and the change of speeds can all work against the batter. More importantly the fastball must be one he can control and get ahead with so that any off speed pitches will keep the hitter off balance and change his eye perception. A 2 strike cb in the dirt has often resulted in strike 3.

Thanks Coach. My nephew has a change he continues to work on. I agree with you in regard to learning to control his fastball. That is something he needs to work on as well.

The problem with his curve is that when he misses, he tends to miss by a lot - well short of the plate. So, even as a 2 stike pitch, it has been largely ineffective. The frustrating part with him is how accurate he used to be with his "slow" curve.

Perhaps with a little more practice he will develop some more confidence and things will work out.

quote:

Originally posted by Seeler:
... is it just a matter of needing more time to practice and develop it?

Probably.

A few points...

(1) Although your nephew is accurate with the slow curve, he may throw that pitch in a way that tips off the batter. For example, he might throw it with a slower arm speed or a different release point than his fastball. Of course, this is just speculation. But, if this is the case, then his slow curve will become less effective as he gets older and the batters get smarter. The high school coach may just be trying to remedy the situation. I agree with Texan that your nephew probably just needs more practice with the "new" curve.

(2) Tom House and the NPA teach having the same release point and arm speed for fastball, curveball and change-up as this increases the deception factor.

(3) You should understand that release point is not arbitrarily changeable. Instead, it is determined by the mechanics leading up to it. Coaches who tell their pitchers to "release out front" fail to understand this. If your nephew's coach is trying to match the curveball release point to the fastball release point, then what really has to happen is the curveball mechanics need to be matched to the fastball mechanics.

(4) Your nephew must be a pretty smart kid to be a high school senior at age 16.

Some good points there, RT.

Thanks Roger. Actually he is just a young senior. His birthday is coming soon. He's still a smart kid though

Our plan right now with fall ball wrapping up is to give him a couple months off. Perhaps in January we will get him thowing again in his team's indoor facility. During this time, are there any specific drills or tips we can employ in his bullpen sessions that can aid in developing better control, not just with his curve, but other pitches as well?

While I try to avoid all threads involving the curve, I'd like to point out that a curve is learned in the pen and should start, imo, at 30 feet working on grip and spin. We do a series of these and then work back. The curve is a "feel pitch" since it comes off of the fingers differently. However, the previous post on mechanics are spot on!

quote:

Originally posted by Seeler:
During this time, are there any specific drills or tips we can employ in his bullpen sessions that can aid in developing better control, not just with his curve, but other pitches as well?

Work on improving mechanics to not only make them good but also repeatable. And don't forget to work on the functional strength and flexibility required to perform the mechanics well. These things should lead to better control/consistency.

Great stuff Roger. More important than some know is to improve the mechanics to be repeatable and consistant. Then to work on the delivery and release points to match with each other is equally important. Then lots of pen work as has been suggested.
Roger, great contributions here.

Seeler, Make sure that he has a visual target to release the ball to. Example, the catchers shoulder to let the ball curve over for a strike. Or, the catchers mask in order to let the ball curve off the plate. I think often kids don't have a consistent point on which to focus the release. Also, a mental point that helps my players is to tell them to "let" the ball curve as opposed to "make" the ball curve. If you relax and focus on that release point and let things happen it usually helps. That, and a ton of bullpen work!

I've found the best way to help locate my cb was by doing drills that demand you to have the same mechanics. I recently had a video made, and despite the flight of the ball, everything looked the same. This is key as others have said. Also, sometimes kids think that they must "speed up" there arm in order to throw a harder cb. This may lead them to speed their arm up earlier than usual (before it's coming forward). Whenever I did/do this, my cb is either way low or way high. Focus on accellerating the arm at the same time as any pitch. That was my main problem and since corrected, my cb is a pitch I have 100% confidence in no-matter where it needs to be thrown in the zone. Of course, this is given other mechanics are sound.

Considering I'm a player, not a pitching coach... this strategy may be my personal preference