Thread: moving from 12U to 14U

I have a very talented group of girls who just completed 12U season and next year move up to 14U. I've not coached at this level yet, and I'm wondering (1) how big of a jump is it, talentwise, (2) how is the game played differently in 14U as compared to 12U?

Depends on where you are playing and the overall level. Here a highly successful 12UA team that ages up together is competitive with most of the 14UA teams because players (especially pitchers) at this age who are high performers start trickling up to 16U teams or 14U Club teams. So there probably won't be a bunch of dominant 2nd year 14U pitchers playing at 14U. It will be first years like your team and some second years that were good, but didn't make the cut a the next level.

Biggest difference I've noticed is that I would say that at 14U you better have a good outfield because by 14U most girls have learned to hit the ball with power. In general hitting skill seems to outpace pitching skill so unless you've got a truely dominant pitcher better expect to field lots of outs.

Second biggest difference is that your pitcher better start learning to pitch not just try to throw fastballs past people. At 12U if your throwing mid 50's only 2-3 kids on the other team will consistantly hit so you can throw 99% strikes. At 14U you can throw high 50's and if it's over the plate every kid will put the bat on the ball. You have to be able to fool batters with changing speeds, locations and movement to earn strike outs at this age.

I've played with a pitcher that was a dominant 12U pitcher moved up to 14U and had some success, but when she pitched HS against better teams she was getting pounded. Well her go to pitch was top speed fastball between the bellybutton and the armpits. She blew kids away with this at 12U and had some success at 14U but against older batters this was a home run ball. The real downside is umpires rarely call anything over the belt a strike so not only is this pitch poundable, but it's not a strike if they don't swing. Needless to say she's adjusted her go to pitch since that time.

I've watched DD play 10u, 12u and now 14u. The thing i have noticed the most is the skill of the batters. It seems the number of players and teams drop as you move up each age group but those girls that remain are very well schooled. In the early age groups pitching dominates, as the girls get older and more experienced the bats catch up. Just throwing fastballs will not suffice at 14u. The game is played at a faster pace at 14u, let's face it, some of these girls are grown women at 14 or 15.

Originally Posted by sluggers

Well, many 14 and 15 YOA girls have a body that is the size of a woman's. The brain, however, is the size of a gnat's.

That's just mean. What's smaller than a gnat?

Originally Posted by alexander58

That's just mean. What's smaller than a gnat?

Mean to the gnats, right?

The big difference I saw when we did the 12u to 14u move was the speed of play. I saw girls who did fine at 12u, i.e. shortstops could handle infield plays just fine, but at 14u, if that shortstop didnt attack the ball, the 14u runners were standing on first fixing their hair.