Finch Age/Speed Chart

I'm not believing that gun is properly tuned! I just don't believe it!

Also, I saw Finch and Amanda Freed pitch at 14. They threw the same speed basically, and it wasn't 63. I'm not buying it! If I was to guess, I would say 58 for both at 14. Now let me say, these are pitch speeds, trying to throw a strike. I can't say what they could throw into a screen; but screen speed is irrelevant! Also, max speed is seldom what pitcher's pitch at. Michele Smith could throw 71, but seldom let it go at that speed. She sat around 67 in games. I mentioned before about Lisa Fernandez sudden increase from 61 to 67mph in one year Maybe Barry and her had the same doctor! Michele Granger was the only girl who threw consistently 70 that I saw. I think that Monica Abbot may have as well, but you would have to be the judge on that.

Kudos to the umpire for hanging in there! That would have made quite an inner thigh bruise.

Ueno has been clocked at 74+ mph. Not a lady with large levers either.

FiveFrameSwing said:

Ueno has been clocked at 74+ mph. Not a lady with large levers either.

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I don't believe that is game speed. I have only seen her pitching live one time. She had an oblique strain in Oklahoma City so I didn't see her there. But I just don't believe she can throw 73-74 game speed trying to throw a strike. I might also mention that the guns vary 3mph in speed even when tuned. I am not talking about a particular Stalker or Jugs, because I think each brand can be tuned within +-1mph. I am talking about the differences between different guns. If you use the high speed gun, a pitcher might really be throwing someone else's 71mph. I am not taking anything away from Finch or Ueno, but I am not buying the myth of the 14 year old farm girl in West Virginia throwing 69mph. If I see it with my own eyes, I will believe it. But I can say one thing. If you saw a 15 year old throwing 63, that is almost world class (65 is an ASA, ISF standard for speed), and I didn't see it. I also saw Nancy Evans as a teenager but I think she was 17 at the time. She also wasn't throwing that hard.

Actually, Ueno has been clocked at 75+ mph.

Amy in AZ. said:

Most 8 YOs throw 30mph.

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Amy I know you work with a lot of kids but 30 MPH seems pretty low. Are you talking about 8YO slowpitch?

Mine was one of the early bloomers we talk about on here. Threw harder than 90% of the TB pitchers we faced at 8-9-10-11. I thought we'd be hitting 80 at HS, lol . By 11-12 DD was about average with the TB scene speed. At 13-14 speed was still about average but but we saw some 14u's hitting 60+.

Last year at the HS state championships I saw a senior ( 17/18?? ) cruising at 65, and hit 68 twice while I was watching. She was throwing some serious heat. Someone said she was going to UTK.

Speed is great, it's fun to compare especially when they are young and a FB is all they got and sometimes all they need. As they get older my interests go more for the win/loss records and ERA numbers.

Also you have to remember that a youngs girl's physique changes as she comes out of puberty. Hips widen. Thighs get larger typically. Mechanics have to adjust somewhat for their body changes. That can affect speed. Not saying that it will, only that it can. I have seen it myself. A couple girls could not make the change so became less effective as they threw "around" their hips. Too bad, they were decent pitchers.

The other night I had my Jugs set at 55 from 35'. I just started to laugh when I thought about the many 12u players throwing 55. All I can say is the Jugs set at 55 seems a whole lot faster than the girls 55. If you have a Jugs see what you think and if you have a pitcher throwing that hard and a radar gun compare the two in the same environment.

Let me say that I agree with Steve's point that practice speed and game speed are two different issues. That being said, there is a local HS freshman who I have personally seen hit 68 on multiple pitches - in a non-game situation. To the earlier point, she has control issues and still has work to do. The speeds were on a gun that I know personally was tuned accurately. I understand she has been "clocked" at 70.
All that is just top say that numerous top schools are interested in her, so apparently some very good coaches believe that speed is important and control can be taught.

I teach control first, speed second. They can't pitch in LL, if they can't throw strikes. When a beginning 8yo hits 30 mph, we celebrate and make a big deal of it. We celebrate each milestone, like 35. Then, while still throwing the 11 inch ball, they eventually reach 40. That is pretty good in rec ball, here.

After they move back to 40 feet and the bigger ball, we start all over by trying to reach 40mph. I use a glove radar to measure each pitch. I have 3 7th graders that have completed 4 years with me. They routinely hit 52mph using my glove radar. Another new 7th grader has hit 53, top end. Now, she is striving to stay there. It isn't easy.

Screwball said:

This is an old-fashioned stereotype, and I consider it as much a myth as the West VA pitcher nearing 70 mph. Open mechanics are taught these days and the hip is not in the way.

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Maybe where you are, but I still get kids coming to me from other instructors who have been taught to "slam the door shut" or even walk through the pitch. I just started with a couple a few weeks ago -- high school girls. Both have seen an immediate increase in speed and accuracy by staying open and driving straight in rather than trying to close or walk through. But it's been tough because they've spent their whole pitching careers learning to do the other stuff. Two different instructors, by the way.

Then again, I've lost a few because they decided they didn't want to make those changes. It's funny. They decide to change instructors because they're not making progress, but when you tell them they need to do something different they don't want to do it. Guess they just want me to pull some pixie dust out of my bag and make their bad mechanics work better.

Can't remember whose signature it is here, but it's true: If you do what you always did, you get what you always got.