Pitching question

[Coachjknapp]

I am not a pitching coach but I would appreciate any advice from those of you that have developed pitchers. I have been an asst. coach for the past four years and have watched a young pitcher as she has grown to now 16 years old and has a good work ethic and lots of power, just lacks accuracy. She has sooo much potential that I believe her pitching coach is falling into the trap of putting too much on her too quickly. This girl can throw 50 without moving her legs and has been fun to watch her grow. My question is this, she has never developed consistency and I have voiced that we should limit how many different pitches she throws until she gains accuracy. My thought was a fastball with the ability to hit her spots and a change with options for grip etc. Her pitching coach has a fastball, working on a riseball, a cross over fast ball, a cross over change, a knuckle change, and many different grips for them all. The last travel game she pitched she gave nine walks in less than three innings. I would think taking her back to a fastball for location and a change up until she has confidence in herself and becomes consistent would be a good start. Am I off base on this?

 

[jsoftballcoach]

I haven't developed any pitchers, just a bucket dad with my DD. Accuracy and consistency comes with "brush contact" with the hip as a reference for release.

It doesn't matter how hard you throw if you don't know where it's going.

The experts here will probably ask for video, since mechanics are involved. I would suggest finding a pitching coach who teaches "IR" so she can get on the right track.

We switched over when my DD was 11 to a very well known pitching coach and it took about 6 months to make the change. There was a loss of speed while learning spin but it comes back pretty quickly. It was the best thing that we could have done and now she's 16 and killing it out there. And she basically has 2 pitches, rise and drop with variations of each.

Good luck

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[Coachjknapp]

Thank you, I will try and post a video later for people to see.

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[Phandle]

From my experience, as a pitcher develops she should be able to identify her 2 or 3 best pitches and work on that. I don't think a coach or bucket dad can do that for her. Pitching is a mentality and good pitchers can understand their ability and their limitations. At 16, this kid should be able to figure out why she is not able to throw strikes and seek help fixing it.
You are not off base here. Good pitchers throw 2 or 3 pitches and they can change speed and keep the ball out of the zone.

 

[BigSkyHi]

Pitching coach's initials EK?

 

[radness]

I am not a pitching coach but I would appreciate any advice from those of you that have developed pitchers. I have been an asst. coach for the past four years and have watched a young pitcher as she has grown to now 16 years old and has a good work ethic and lots of power, just lacks accuracy. She has sooo much potential that I believe her pitching coach is falling into the trap of putting too much on her too quickly. This girl can throw 50 without moving her legs and has been fun to watch her grow. My question is this, she has never developed consistency and I have voiced that we should limit how many different pitches she throws until she gains accuracy. My thought was a fastball with the ability to hit her spots and a change with options for grip etc. Her pitching coach has a fastball, working on a riseball, a cross over fast ball, a cross over change, a knuckle change, and many different grips for them all. The last travel game she pitched she gave nine walks in less than three innings. I would think taking her back to a fastball for location and a change up until she has confidence in herself and becomes consistent would be a good start. Am I off base on this?

Are you saying you have seen this pitcher for 4 years?
On your team or?
See you mentioned work ethic,
But how much is she throwing on her own weekly?

Imo
Potential is recognized at earlier ages because of better performance.
Not lack of accuracy.
At 16 if she has been pitching multiple years and has an instructor and still bad accuracy,...
There is an underlying issue.
___________________
Different grips is normal for most. Not all tho.
While there are some that may debate how many different pitches a pitcher should have or work on and some may say three is enough there are pitchers that throw 5 different pitches at different speeds in all locations with accuracy on demand.
Curve
Rise
Drop
Change
Screw
(notice no fastball)
*if were to only pick 3 pitches they would NOT be fastballs!
_______________________

This situation may have nothing to do with the instructor.
Or they dont really have a teaching resume?
Perhaps
if this instructor is a real instructor & teaches other pitchers, you may look to those other students to access performance to compare.
In either case, this is about the pitcher taking on the responsibility to improve!

 

[Traps71]

I think you are thinking about it correctly. The issue may well be mechanical and, as someone suggested above, a lack of brush contact (meat of forearm grazing hip/upper thigh at release), is probably a key factor. Poor posture and other issues can make it very difficult, if not impossible, to get brush contact.

Beyond mechanical issues, accuracy is a skill that must be practiced in the bullpen, not just hoped for in games. If the PC has her working on 6 different pitches, not sure how much time there is in a typical 45 min or 1 hour bullpen to make any of those pitches good, much less accurate.

Experience suggests most girls will not be able to control more than 3 pitches (and perhaps a 4th that is an offspeed variation of one of them). I think most would agree that fastball and change up are must haves. A fastball can be transitioned pretty easily into a drop ball because the grip and delivery are the same. I definitely think it is good to experiment with other pitches and grips to see what might work best for the girl, but eventually you will probably settle on 3 pitches. Many consider the rise, drop, and change up the holy trinity of windmill pitching.

Others might disagree, but command of location is in my mind the most important attribute for a successful pitcher to have. As you progress up the ladder, spin and movement are probably second. Speed is definitely important (less time for the batter to make a decision), but the ability to effectively change speeds is probably more important than absolute velocity (assuming you are throwing at least a competitive speed for the level of play).

 

[Coachjknapp]

Pitching coach initials MT.. He has been working with her for almost a year about twice a week. She has really improved her change up but still lots of walks, hit batters, and wild pitches. She has the most strike outs among our pitchers but all the negative stats as well. I really feel she needs to simplify and get good at the basics. Maybe even try a different pitching coach?

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[BigSkyHi]

Pitching coach initials MT.. He has been working with her for almost a year about twice a week. She has really improved her change up but still lots of walks, hit batters, and wild pitches. She has the most strike outs among our pitchers but all the negative stats as well. I really feel she needs to simplify and get good at the basics. Maybe even try a different pitching coach?

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Recommend having conversation with him about your observations. He may not be aware of the struggles.

Also it is rare for a pitcher to have all the pitches working during a game. The pitches that are working should be thrown and the ones not should be tried once in a while to see if they come back. No sense in trying to force the issue.

 

[radness]

Agree with BigSky on question is the instructor aware of control in games topic.
Have you noticed if she has better control throwing workouts without a batter?