My Daughter has been pitching for about 2.5 years and is currently on a 12u travel team as a pitcher. The issue I am having is that her consistency is all over the place. I dont mean from pitch to pitch but more like day to day. For example, this past Saturday during practice she pitched beautiful change ups that would have been strikes 25 out of 30 times. I had never seen her throw so many good change ups in a row, it was really exciting. Fastforward to yesterday and she couldn't throw a change up to save her life. Maybe 1 out of 10 were decent and she was even having issues with her fastball now. This seems to be the norm with her where she will have a really, really good day then just horrible pitching the next. Is it normal to fluctuate so wildly from day to day? I understand she is still learning and growing but I just assumed her proficiency curve would be more like a consistent, gradual incline vs these steep spikes and dips. Anything I can do to help her with this? It just makes practicing really hard because just when you feel she is good with one pitch and ready to start learning something new, she backpedals and we have to start all over again.
12u Pitching consistency
- Thread starter Vaydoe
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It's normal especially if she is growing. Second year 12's was when we started seeing issues. My daughter grew about 6" and everything went to crap. Her core was weak as well so she had issues locking in at foot plant. We fought these issues for several months. Be patient with her, I was an rear and it just made things worse. I couldn't understand how she could strike 10 kids out in one game and then walk 5 the next. We got DD a personal trainer when she turned 13. Started with strengthening the core and moved into weightlifting from there. Remember pitching is a marathon not a sprint.
lol, I caught that.
Sounds like my golf game. One day I totally figured out my driver, but my short game goes to Sh$t. Next time my short game is on point, then I start hitting hozzle rockets with my short irons. It's like spinning plates!
BUT your DD practices her craft way more than I do, and she is still learning body awareness. Just know one day it will all make sense to her and her pitching dispersion will get tighter and tighter with more consistency as she grows and practices.
As a coach who used to do the pitch calling, I would figure out within a inning or so what pitches are working and not working also with catcher feedback. Mastery of the game are fleeting like vapors.
Keep choppin' wood!!!
natural
Normal.
Change up is tricky. Until they really master it, slight changes can result in an amazing pitch or a horrible one.
I used to tell my DD quite often that her pitching will change day to day. Even game to game. She can be horrible one moment, take a break, and then be awesome. It's normal at this point in her journey. My advice is to simply stop pitching (when possible) when it's not working. Just walk away and forget, then come back soon and try again.
My DD is consistent now and we laugh about how a bad day now really isn't very bad. Because bad days a few years ago were pretty horrible.
Stick to mechanics, shrug off bad outings, and try to have fun.
Change up is tricky. Until they really master it, slight changes can result in an amazing pitch or a horrible one.
I used to tell my DD quite often that her pitching will change day to day. Even game to game. She can be horrible one moment, take a break, and then be awesome. It's normal at this point in her journey. My advice is to simply stop pitching (when possible) when it's not working. Just walk away and forget, then come back soon and try again.
My DD is consistent now and we laugh about how a bad day now really isn't very bad. Because bad days a few years ago were pretty horrible.
Stick to mechanics, shrug off bad outings, and try to have fun.
- Apr 14, 2022
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- 63
Needs to be a support group for parents 11-13.
At 11 DD grew form got all wonky.
At 12u lost change up for a few weeks.
It was not until 13 got consistent with form and pitches.
At 11 DD grew form got all wonky.
At 12u lost change up for a few weeks.
It was not until 13 got consistent with form and pitches.
My DD is 11yr and in 2nd year of 12U as well. a bit of a back story...
Earlier this year, Spring 2023 My daughter fractured her tibial and was sidelined for first 2 months of season, Was in a fixed brace, NO pitching, NO nothing, Once healthy, she came back, Her speed went from 47mph to 39-40mph. Needless to say she had so much trouble with locations so she only pitched 13 innings TOTAL all spring... At times i felt like we were just stuck, but she was hard pressed on improving.
FASTFOWARD to today, She is pitching consistently at 51-52mph. She has pitched 30 innings in the 2 tournaments we have played so far, Keep in mind we are playing very competitive A Class teams with some Bs in their ,She has faced 148 Batters and has ONLY 2 walks so far for the season. She is not the fastest on our team, Just the most consistent with her locations and control. Her pitching coach every practice has a drill he loves to do with her where he puts a Ball on a tee, He then places a nickel on the ball and he has her focusing on knocking off the nickel without touching the ball, I MEAN WOW! thats how precise he has built her up to be.
I tell you that because you have to keep challenging her with difference goals, Not just pitch to a mitt, that gets boring and kids lose interest, and that can cause them to no longer give it their all, and stay consistent IMO. Challenge her, find new ways. My daughter struggled hard for a season, but kept grinding and it pays off.
