RHP - missing to the right?

With my son, the opposite occurs, he throws to the off hand side. It usually means that he isn't getting on top of the ball and his shoulders are having to compensate to get the ball around his body. For him, just remembering to keep his fingers on top of the ball corrects the problem.

quote:

Originally posted by Pat H:
My son (9), who throws righty, is a pitcher. When he misses his spot the ball is usually inside to a righty batter and sometimes even behind him. I have noticed that when he does this his arm angle is low, almost sidearm. I believe this to be the culprit, mainly bacause when i tell him to pick his arm up (the 2:00 angle) he throws strikes. My question is, could there be another reason other than arm angle. His stride step is pretty straight, so I don't suspect that. Any info is greatly appreciated.

He could be rushing; trying to throw hard and striding forward too powerfully when he misses inside. He could also have a slight timing problem with when or how he breaks his hands.

He could be flying open with the glove. Letting the glove fly out to the side rather than pulling his glove into his GS chest.

He could also be looking at the batter and not the glove. The ball will tend to go where the eyes go. This also causes missing outside if the pitcher is afraid of hitting the batter.

It is hard to say anything definitively without seeing him, but what I have found with a number of pitchers is that they fly open with the front shoulder and that causes the arm angle to drop and the ball to go to the inside. Throwing with a low arm angle itself is not a problem if that is the natural angle from which they throw. It really sounds as though he is flying open and that is causing the low angle. Tell him to point his front shoulder at the glove until he can't point it any more. It will open properly as the hips lead and back shoulder come through. I hope this helps. Good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by hsballcoach:
It is hard to say anything definitively without seeing him, but what I have found with a number of pitchers is that they fly open with the front shoulder and that causes the arm angle to drop and the ball to go to the inside. Throwing with a low arm angle itself is not a problem if that is the natural angle from which they throw. It really sounds as though he is flying open and that is causing the low angle. Tell him to point his front shoulder at the glove until he can't point it any more. It will open properly as the hips lead and back shoulder come through. I hope this helps. Good luck.

I agree with this.

An arm angle that is lower than usual is often the result of flying open with either the glove or the front shoulder.

I like my RHPs to try to point the glove (or the Glove Side elbow) at the target or even slightly down the 3B line as long as they can.

The idea is to let the hips open and then pull the shoulders around, rather than driving the throw with the shoulders.

Could it be that he's just 9 years old?

There are a lot of things that could cause this and the suggestions above list several of the potential causes. I won't disagree with any of them, you just have to look (or have someone knowledgeable look for you) and see what can be seen.

One thing not mentioned above is that many young players simply reach back too far in the windup. Then they cannot get their arm back around into the throwing slot. One verbal cue is to "worry less about what happens behind and more about what happens out front." Cut down on the reach back, get the ball hand out front and extend towards the plate.

If you're catching and you see a pronounced arm swing, or the ball is visible behind his back and rear (i.e., to the first base side for a righty), this may be your issue. But again, you'd have to see the boy to say for sure.

I do believe that Roger is correct, to a point. What practice habits does he, or you, have? Is the environment he's practicing in as similar as possible to his game one (distance, mound/no mound, level of effort, etc.)? Specificity is a term that's thrown around a lot but I believe it has value.

Thanks all for the responses. Yesterday we had our 3rd pitching session, where he only threw 1 out of 20 pitches like this. So I think our practices have helped, by way of repition. I do believe it's because he's flying open. Unfortunately, I'm the only coach on our team that's catching him right now. So it's tough for me to tell cuz I'm keeping my eye on the ball, so I don't get hit. His mechanics are solid, but I think you guys have nailed it. Thanks for helping me out