To Pitch or Not to Pitch

Looking for opinions, maybe some parents here already went through this. My daughter is 12 and, being very honest, is a mediocre pitcher. Decent control, decent changeup, does not throw very fast. There are better pitchers in our area who, most likely, will be ahead of her on the mound when they all get together in high school. So my question is, are we wasting our time working on pitching? We could be utilizing that time on her hitting and her fielding. She is hitting well, hits left handed and is fast and on the smaller side. She plays second base and outfield pretty well. What does she want to do you ask? Well she pretty much goes with the flow and trusts her dad. If I keep encouraging her to pitch she will, if I discourage pitching, she may stop (not 100% sure about that). She is a pretty good pitcher for our rec league but very mediocre in travel ball situations.

Keep pitching!

One question and one question only:

Does she enjoy pitching?

If so, she may work out her kinks.

When I look at the girls who have been starting pitchers for some of the local high schools, those are the girls who kept on pitching when the others quit. Once, my DD's PC showed me his DD pitching for her HS team (as a senior). He pointed out 3 other seniors who had been better pitchers back in the day, but had all quit.

IMO, this needs to be a conversation with her. You can never know the journey ahead. My dd played for years with a slow, below average pitcher who had great heart. She pitched more in college than in HS and TB combined. You know what, she had a blast! She got better and better and actually started to turn that D-III around.

In terms of effort and training, pitching is the equivalent of taking on a second sport. It is an activity that requires a significant amount of dedication.

Over a decade ago I would stress this point at the start of pitching clinics. I wanted to make it clear that the activity these young girls were getting into required an effort beyond what they were likely accustomed to.

Often a pitcher puts in more time training on just their pitching, than any other non-pitching player on the team. In addition to pitching, they still need to find the time to work on their throwing, fielding, hitting and running.

Training is virtually year round. There is off-season training, pre-season training and in-season training.

Unlike many players that simply have a desire to be in the top nine, a pitcher often needs to be in the top 2 to receive sufficient circle time.

I can’t think of too many other activities where a player can sacrifice so much, to realize so little.

Many pitchers feel this pressure throughout the year. They have to continuously bust their hump, because if they come up short on their training, and land a #3 or #4 pitching spot, then the payback for their effort falls off a cliff.

This pressure isn't just felt by the player, but by her parents as well. Often a set of parents isn't 100% on the same page ... and for whatever reason one parent will tend to be a diehard that is fully engaged, while the other parent tends to desire 'balance' in the child's life. Family "discussions" take place ... that aren't really "discussions".

Many pitchers hold themselves back in terms of overall player development. Often a pitcher selects a lesser team in order to capture a spot as a pitcher. Doing this often means that the rest of their game (fielding/hitting) develops at a slower rate than would otherwise be the case.

Pitching is about putting in long monotonous practices. Again and again and again. It takes a certain type of person. And make no mistake about it ... it isn't like you need to be putting in a ton of practice because you need to develop 10 pitches ... it's because you need to "master" 3-4 pitches ... and therein lies the need to get used to monotonous repetition.

Often (but not always) it takes a parent willing to dedicate a portion of their life to the activity.

I could go on and on … but I think you get the idea.

All things being equal, people tend to do best when they have a passion for what they do. If you have the passion for the activity, then it makes sense. If the passion is elsewhere, then that’s fine also.

if your DD and you have the passion for it, i'd say go for it, but like FFS has mentioned, it takes a lot of effort on BOTH the parent(s) and DD. i've been doing this with my DD for 3 years now and at times, I have felt like giving up.
my DD had a tournament at the of june. guess what? she was great with her mechanics at practice but reverted back to her bad habits during the tourney. frustrating? yes. are we trying again? a resounding YES.
will DD and dad be frustrated again? Maybe. Will we have success this next time? Maybe. Not an easy path, but can be very rewarding.

FiveFrameSwing said:

All things being equal, people tend to do best when they have a passion for what they do. If you have the passion for the activity, then it makes sense. If the passion is elsewhere, then that’s fine also.

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FiveFrameSwing had a lot of very salient points but this is the main essential ingredient. If your DD has the passion and is willing to put in the work why not keep going?

I have two DDs that are pitchers at the 16U and 14U travel ball level. They are both the aces for their teams. In their softball lives they have spent more time pitching than on every other aspect of the game. As FFF said, this slowed down their development in other areas such and hitting and fielding. If they didn't pitch I am certain that they'd be hitting and fielding stars, but those areas have been coming along. I say this because if your DD is wish-washy about pitching, perhaps it is best to focus on other areas? However, this should be her choice and not yours.

If your DD enjoys pitching I would encourage you to continue supporting her efforts. There are a lot of 12 year olds who have a lot of growing left to do, and there are a lot of college pitchers who throw in the upper 50's with good movement. I would also continue to push her to develop her skills at other positions. A good fielder who can also pitch is a bonus for a TB team. It also helps with team unity because it is difficult to keep "pitch and sit" players and their parents happy.

FiveFrameSwing said:

Over a decade ago I would stress this point at the start of pitching clinics.

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With all due respect, where did you copy and paste this from? You have been posting here daily since 2009 (almost exclusively in the hitting forum) and only recently have shared your "wisdom" about pitching the past 1-2 years? Why were you holding out your pitching expertise until just recently?

I call BS.....

If she enjoys the circle continue to support her, The experience she gains in the circle will make her a better overall player no matter where on the diamond she winds up in the future.