12-13U pitching speed improvement/how much to expect

[jilladams8079]

I am the coach of a 12U "C" level team. My primary pitcher will be turning 12 this month. She currently averages 45-47 mph and has very good movement. We are in very big need of another pitcher. Unfortunately, the 3 girls that came to tryouts averaged about 20 mph slower than my primary pitcher with decent consistency but not much else in the way of other pitches. What do you think is a fair expectation for speed progression at this age level if they worked all winter? The very novice pitching coach that my daughter started with thinks she can increase their speeds quite a bit. I'm not that confident. Thanks for any feedback.

 

[riseball]

So you have 3 girls that are about 12 years old throwing 25-27mph. How is that possible?

 

[RetiredCoach]

If you do have girls throwing that slow then their mechanics are probably terrible. Depending on the particular athlete, it is possible that with better mechanics their speed will improve dramatically. Worth a try, maybe?

 

[sluggers]

What do you think is a fair expectation for speed progression at this age level if they worked all winter?

If (1) they were good athletes, (2) they put in the time and (3) they had a good coach, they could be as fast as your #1 pitcher. Their control wouldn't be as good as your #1 pitcher, but they would be able to compete.

The key would be to get them a good pitching coach.

 

[jilladams8079]

Yeah, I was pretty surprised by the difference in speeds. Like I said, I'm pretty nervous counting on a girl getting those kinds of gains over the winter. It's a big commitment, and girls don't always want to put the work in. We have one more tryout, so hopefully, we'll get some more interest. Thanks for the input.

 

[JJS]

So you have 3 girls that are about 12 years old throwing 25-27mph. How is that possible?

Will a 25 mph ball even make it to the plate? If so, get yourself a good shortstop and move up to A ball. The girls at A ball would never be able to hit anything but bouncers to SS.

 

[healthy obsession]

Last season (6 pitchers) averaged 6 to 15 mph improvement over the 9 months from 8/1 thru 5/1. Individual stats (these were 10U pitchers last season)

28 to 43
33 to 44
38 to 44
33 to 40
35 to 45
39 to 49

This included all throwing 300 plus pitches per week (except from Dec 25 thru Jan 25) using Boardmember's drills (lock-it in, 9 oclock, liberty, show it, underhand toss, underhand long toss, two-steps (Javasource) and pitching. This also included a heavy dose (twice a week) of Java's core strength exercises.

 

[grcsftbll]

Mine is younger, not quite 9. But her progression has been that at her very first lesson, she was at 33 mph max. Within a couple of months she was at 42. This month she hit 46 (that's the max we've clocked - if we were to clock frequently and average her out I'm guessing 42-43 would be about right). That's over 8 months and she does practice almost daily. She's my only softball player so I don't know what's typical. Her mechanics have improved by leaps and bounds since starting lessons so I assume that's mostly why she's increased her speed that much.

 

[JAD]

My DD averaged @ +5 MPH per year while she was growing (10-14). It was a combination of growth, exercise, mechanics and practice. Once she stopped growing (14-15) finding additional speed became much more difficult.

 

[xygent1]

my DD at 12 was throwning avg speed of 45-48 at 13 she jumped up to avg 54-57 our goal this off season is to try and break that 60mph. but that being said she plays one sport and practices I would say 10hrs a week in the off season during the season 12+ hours a week practice not including weekly games and weekend tourney's