Transcription
Hey guys, welcome back! Today, I'm going to do a quick video to see if you're really whipping correctly.
This is a common issue for pitchers who are just starting to learn pitching in general or for those transitioning from techniques like the "hello elbow" or pushing the ball. They are trying to learn whipping for the first time.
When we talk about whip, we start in a palm-up, elbow-down position at the back side of the arm circle. The elbow's going to get to the hip. Once the elbow gets to the hip, the hand starts to turn to the side. We snap and let that hand relax out quickly and loosely to our target.
When we first start teaching girls to whip, you might hear a lot of coaches talk about palm up, palm down. So, palm up at the back side of the arm circle, palm down when you finish. However, there's a big part in the middle that's missing, and it's really critical to good whip and snap.
This is one of the most common issues I see when girls first start learning to whip. They get to a beautiful palm-up, elbow-down position at the back side of the arm circle. They have separation, nice and tall, stacked. But then, what they do from here is just stick their hand out.
Yes, you're at a palm-up, elbow-down position at the back side of the arm circle. Yes, your palm is technically down at the front side of the arm circle, but that's not whip. You've missed a big part in the middle where there is elbow extension and, most importantly, wrist and finger action.
People don't like to think of the fastball as a movement pitch because it's not; it's a fastball. But it still has spin on it—it's got fastball spin. What creates spin? We've talked about this a lot when it comes to movement pitches. What creates spin? Wrist and fingers.
So, even if you're at a palm-up, elbow-down position at the back side of the arm circle, if you're just pulling down and then sticking your hand out, that's still a push and a muscle movement from the shoulder. I don't care that your palm is finishing down; you've lost that snap that makes the whip and creates good fastball spin.
What needs to happen again is that the elbow needs to get to the hip. We get elbow extension where the hand starts to turn, and then as soon as that elbow gets to the hip, we snap. After we snap, that's when the hand relaxes out.
Now, this happens in one continuous, fluid motion. So, when you're pitching in a game, you're not going to go, "Okay." But that snap needs to happen. You can't leave it out; otherwise, you're not getting true whip or true fastball spin.
This is one of the reasons I love to do self-snap drills with my girls. You can see a whole bunch of self-snapping whip drills on Fast Pitch Power Plus. Essentially, what I like to do is have my girls either get into a forearm fire position and just practice snapping into their own glove as hard as they can.
You see how when I pull down, I get that snap? You can have them start by freezing in this position, but you don't really want to encourage stopping here. You want to encourage that fluid motion of the snap and then the extension.
So, get that elbow to the hip, snap, snap. Really work on the wrist and fingers. And again, just because you're snapping into your own glove, you shouldn't be going super slow. Snap it hard; see if you can make a loud pop into that glove.
Once you've stopped in this position a few times, have your pitcher do it followed by extension. So, that same kind of loud pop and extend the hand. You can do it with an arm circle: come up, snap, come up, snap.
If you have a pitcher who likes to push, you're going to see it either not make a loud noise in the glove or miss the glove. Because again, even if you're in a nice palm-up, elbow-down position here, if you're not snapping, it's not going to make a loud noise in the glove.
You have to really snap to get that loud noise into the glove.
The other big thing I've seen with girls learning whip for the first time, especially those taught a peel drop or a flip change-up, is that they'll get to a nice palm-up, elbow-down position. But instead of getting that elbow to the hip and then snapping forward and extending out, they'll try to force the hand to turn over too soon.
So, they'll get to this position and then go like this, and that's how they'll snap for their fastball too. You're going to see weird spin and slower speeds when that happens.
Correct wrist and finger movement for any pitch you throw is critical for speed, specifically and for movement, obviously, when you get to the movement pitches.
So again, you want to see forward snap, forward snap, and then extension. You don't want to have the shoulder turn the hand over too quickly, so you're snapping like a flip change or a peel drop.
Not snapping at all or forcing the hand to turn over too soon is really common because a lot of coaches place such a big focus on palm up, palm down. They say, "Make sure your palm is down at the end of the throw zone after you've delivered."
Girls start to engage the shoulder and force the hand to turn over instead of letting it happen naturally. If I stand with my palms up here and then just let my arms drop using gravity—not forcing at all—can you see how my hands turned over all by themselves?
That's because that's the position our bodies naturally want to be in when we're just standing and talking to someone. We don't stand like this; we stand like this.
So, when you go to a palm-up stretch from a palm-up position, if you're truly relaxed and whipping correctly, you shouldn't even have to focus on that hand turning over as you deliver. It should happen naturally by itself.
But a lot of girls get into trouble because they engage the shoulder and try to force the hand to turn over. Then again, we get that funky spin and slower speed.
It's really critical to have that extension and that snap in there. If you're just palm up, elbow down, and then palm down, you're not truly whipping or snapping.
I hope you guys have found this helpful. I've got a lot more videos coming your way, and I'll talk to you soon!