How to get 'junk' ball pitcher some respect?

[JAD]

we are in upstate NY.. pretty big district. and like I said she has hit 60 but most of her stuff is low 50s.. The other 2 are more consistently upper 50s.

When she hit 60 was she pitching with a 30MPH tailwind?

 

[halskinner]

The effect of Junkers is not to be K queens like Finch, Abbott, etc. Their skill set is tuned more towards keeping the fat of the bat off the ball with unpredictability. They usually induce high numbers of fly and ground outs. Those not blessed with height, long limbs, and above average speed have to compensate somewhere.

Easy on the old baseball guys, we got feelings too!!

You are so full of crap! Which means yoiu are so full of yourself. If all you have is speed, you are a TGHROWER not a pitchjer and that is a stupid pitcher.

Unpredictable? You are very correct there. Unpredictable pitching is SMARTSOFTBALL.

Having great speed is a tremendous asset only because it makes the OTHER speeds you can pitch at so very effective. If all you have is a fasdtball grip but you can throw it at 4 or 5 different speeds on command, you will destroy every line up you face.

You baseball coaches can believe it or not, it doesnt matter what you think anyway because YOU HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT WHAT IT REALLY TAKES TO BE A FASTPITCH PITCHER. Take that back to your 'Mound' and sit on it.

I will take a good junkballer over a fireballer anyday.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

"but I would find it difficult nee impossible to get on a college team if you can't get on a high school team."

There are growing cases of very good TB players not, in many cases, waisting their time in HS ball. Your DD shows up at an exposure game in TB and lights it up,..... your DD could be home-schooled in Tibet and still get a scholarship....

 

[RubberBiscuit]

I will take a good junkballer over a ffireballer anyday.

Then why are all the BIG D1's all lined up with the "fireballers"? Why does reality go in contrast to your opinion here in this specific level of girls SB play?

Every 57mph-max pitcher I think I have seen, and you see this when the smaller D1's play the big D1's in the early rounds of the world series, gets rocked out of the house.

"Junk-balling" does not get any team into the later rounds of the world series. (from what I have seen)

Now don't get me wrong, a "Junk-balling" 57mph pitcher can stand out big verus a non-junk 57mph pitcher all day long. Like your are saying Hal it can give a very noticeable advantage. But in the end the best potential, and I think the big D1's know this, is to take a fireballer and develop the rest.

(Unless you are calling a "fire-baller" a 60+mph pitcher that just has never thrown an off-speed pitch in her life....? But this profile is something I have not seen too much of past 14U)

 

[JAD]

It is a lot easier to teach a flame thrower how to throw junk than it is to teach a junk ball pitcher how to throw harder........

 

[GOINGDEEP]

You are so full of crap! Which means yoiu are so full of yourself. If all you have is speed, you are a TGHROWER not a pitchjer and that is a stupid pitcher.

Unpredictable? You are very correct there. Unpredictable pitching is SMARTSOFTBALL.

Having great speed is a tremenbdous asset only because it makes the OTHER speeds you can pitch at so very effective. If all you have is a fasdtball grip but you can throw it at 4 or 5 different speeds on command, you will destroy every line up you face.

You baseball coaches can believe it or not, it doesnt matter what you think anyway because YOU HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT WHAT IT REALLY TAKES TO BE A FASTPITCH PITCHER. Take that back to your 'Mound' and sit on it.

I will take a good junkballer over a ffireballer anyday.

Ummmmm, Hal you do realize I was agreeing that a Junkers style of mixing speeds is very effective? Maybe it was late last night and you just misinterpreted my post?

I've never pitched in FP, hopefully never will. I "try" to adapt what Ive learned from many years on the BB side and apply that to my DD's approach in the circle.

My DD is short like her dang mom, she throws average speed for the "class" she plays. She mixes speeds probably more than most, changes breaking ( inches ) by mixing revs/speed/or running the ball. These are things we had to do to make her into a decent pitcher, she wasn't going to be 6'2 and throw 70+.

 

[marriard]

Then why are all the BIG D1's all lined up with the "fireballers"? Why does reality go in contrast to your opinion here in this specific level of girls SB play?

Every 57mph-max pitcher I think I have seen, and you see this when the smaller D1's play the big D1's in the early rounds of the world series, gets rocked out of the house.

"Junk-balling" does not get any team into the later rounds of the world series. (from what I have seen)

I've always wondered how many potentially great pitchers coaches have been chased away from pitching because coaches only want to play 'fireballers' in travel in the younger age groups. It is a lot of work and practice to pitch and if you are not going to get a chance to play I can certainly see them giving up and concentrating on something else.

My DD played the second half of a travel season last year and ran into this. The #1 was faster and wild - had a 'no-hitter' that we lost by 6 because she would strike out every other girl but also walk/hit by pitch & wild pitch every other batter all the way home. She ended the season with a 8.00 ERA with close to a 1:1 Strike Out ratio - my DD had a 1.75 ERA with half the work and a 3.75:1 Strike Out to Walk ratio.

Now part of this was that the #1 was older and they knew she was going to play for them again this season when they aged up in the fall (and my DD was not). Also the #1 was pitching generally against the better teams so that clearly also effected the ERA of both pitchers. In the end I believe it may have cost us a state championship.

This season my DD is lucky. She is playing on a team that she no-hit and 1-hit in fall and they picked her up partially because they were sick of not being able to hit her.

I actually also wonder how many great pitchers we lose because we don't have pitching limits and teams will ride 1 pitcher so much over being forced to give a 2nd or 3rd pitcher circle time. Travel teams are killing arms and college teams are finishing them off. I just looked at a three of the top baseball college programs stats - one has used 16 pitchers this season, one had used 15 and one had use 13. Of course they are also carrying 30+ players on a roster as well.

 

[halskinner]

Marriard

just so you are aware. Some teams will pick up an opposing pitcher JUST SO they dont have to face them. Many times they will see little actionThen, right before the cut off date for nationals they get cut, oir right after the cut off date. It happens.

 

[halskinner]

They usually induce high numbers of fly and ground outs. Those not blessed with height, long limbs, and above average speed have to compensate somewhere. l:

I misinterpreted nothing. Why is it that a good junkball pitcher will average 14 or more K per game? And, any contact made (as you did mention) rarely make it out of thne infield.

 

[marriard]

Marriard

just so you are aware. Some teams will pick up an opposing pitcher JUST SO they dont have to face them. Many times they will see little actionThen, right before the cut off date for nationals they get cut, oir right after the cut off date. It happens.

Fortunately not my current situation and not the situation the previous season I mentioned (which was still a good experience). DD is getting plenty of circle time and having a great time playing. (and since she is still a 10U player you would hope this doesn't happen much until she gets older).