Coach pitch for 10u

djcarter1966 said:

Rec parents always ask me...I don't really have much time but want to help what should we do...my number one answer is always play catch with your kid. The thing is kids just don't get out like we use to when I grew up, I remember my brother and I playing catch in our big back yard by 9 or 10 we must have thrown and caught tens of thousands of grounders and pop flies and could not drop a ball thrown within our reach if we wanted to it was just instinct to catch it.

Funny thing is it probably would not hurt most girls to just play in a quality LL baseball program through 12U (blasphemy I know). I had one girl play rec 14U with me for one year who had never played softball before, her dad wanted her to play for the HS varsity softball program her Freshman year and figured she should at least have played the game before trying out. She had only played baseball with her brothers previously in LL that way dad (who coached) did not have to split his time between kids, so we talked he trusted me enough and off we went. She was easily one of the best players on the team and did make Varsity as a freshman (but that's another story).

As much as I want girls to pitch the 10U rec walk fests I endured are nightmares seared in my mind that I try so hard to forget....thanks to this thread for drudging them up.

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Baseball and softball skill development need reps...lots and lots of reps. Pitching, throwing, fielding and hitting. There are no shortcuts.

Regarding girls playing baseball, I had a girl on my LL baseball all star team when I was 11 and 12. One of the better hitters on the team. Ended up being the best softball player on her HS team and played in college. My sister who ended up being a very good softball player, and could have played in college had
she not played college volleyball, played on my baseball team when I was 8 (she was 7). I think Kelly Kretschman played baseball first as well.

And yes, as I have complained about in other posts here on DFP, 10U kid pitch can be torture. I suggest you put those memories back in the recesses
of your brain where they resided until this thread popped up

pattar said:

When the coach pitches, how do they throw it? Windmill? Just underhand? How fast is it? While this may make the game a bit more exciting and will get the fielders some work, it probably isn't helping the hitters much at all. To give them
some marginal benefit, imo, you would have to set up a screen from 20 feet and have the coach throw windmill to them.

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We used a blue flame pitching machine for backup in 8U, some of the coaches can not throw either.

Eric F said:

Our rec league...
8U - Modified coach pitch for first half of season. Player pitch for second half (prep for All-Stars).
10U and up - All player pitch

This is pretty typical in CA. 8U league games can be a little rough to watch sometimes, but pitchers do get better. 8U All-Stars often includes some pretty darn amazing little players.

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This is how DD's league is as well. DD just started in 10U and it's surprising how few walkfests there are. There are a handful of pitchers who just can't find the plate, but most of the girls are pretty solid. DD has fewer than one walk per inning pitched.

pattar said:

When the coach pitches, how do they throw it? Windmill? Just underhand? How fast is it? While this may make the game a bit more exciting and will get the fielders some work, it probably isn't helping the hitters much at all. To give them
some marginal benefit, imo, you would have to set up a screen from 20 feet and have the coach throw windmill to them.

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In 8U, coach pitchers just tossed the ball underhand. One of DD's former coaches used to throw hard (as hard as the fastest 8U pitchers the girls would see) - when the parents would complain, he'd tell them that they need to learn to hit a ball at that speed. But he was definitely the exception. Most of them lobbed gentle meatballs so the girls learned very little about hitting live pitching.

quincy said:

We used a blue flame pitching machine for backup in 8U, some of the coaches can not throw either.

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For 8U that is a good solution. My DD only played machine pitch at 8U. She could have played another year, but after 2 years of MP, I figured she
had gotten all she needed from MP and she is playing up to 10U now.

At least for DD and I think most the other pitchers they did not start paying attention to pitching until they were on thier own. For us it was 10U and pitching for the most part got better as year went on. With the backup she did not practice very much.

No pitcher likes walking in the run limit and giving up no hits.

I am not sure what age you throw them out there but IMO they will not get better until you do. If they are not on thier own at 8U, it becomes a 10U issue. If not on thier own in 10U it becomes a 12U issue.

For our leagues:
- Spring of their 3rd grade year: Season starts w/ coach pitch. 1/2 way through season - some form of kid pitch is introduced (this is "in flux" with our league as well, as we try to balance pitcher development with overall player development / pace of play)
- 4th and 5th Grade - Kid pitch, but only 3 walks per inning. Once a fourth "ball" is called on any subsequent batters, the coach comes in to finish. What I do like is that while the coach can't walk anyone, they do inherit the strike count. So the batter can still strike out swinging OR looking.

I think this method is a good balance. Gives enough time for the pitcher to try and "figure things out", but keeps the game moving. Was still a little frustrating, though, when the coach would come in, and STILL (at the 10U level) be throwing lobs to the batters. I'm convinced slow pitching is a hindrance at ALL levels of hitting ability - even our weaker hitters ended up being way too early on their swings.

This year in our 8u rec league (coach pitch) they tried something new to try to improve pitching at the 10u level. They had the girls pitch 3 pitches, and then the coach come in and pitch 2. Basically, the girls would get one "free" kid pitch to swing at since they only got two from the coach. We encouraged the girls on our team to take at least one swing at the kid pitches if they saw a good one. Swinging strikes counted, so a girl could strike out if they swung and missed all 3 pitches. A large portion of that time was spent with the batter watching the three pitches go by. Most of these weren't even close to the zone. There were a few exceptions that could have dominated at the 10u level. Those girls had been taking lessons. One exceptional girl's father had been a dominant fastpitch pitcher in his day. He also did the coach pitching for that team. I saw some teams that never took a swing at the kid pitches and just waited for the coach. Our coach pitcher was doing so poorly one game, I actually told our girls to swing more at the kid pitches because they were the best pitches we were seeing. We did award first on hits by pitch while the girls where pitching if the ball hadn't touched the ground prior to making contact with the batter.

I have mixed feelings about how the season went. With the girls only throwing 3 pitches per batter, it didn't slow the games down. They did get some experience pitching. Mechanics were abysmal, but we did spot some diamonds in the rough that really loved the position, and we encouraged them to get lessons in the off season. I was afraid that the batters would get used to watching 3 pitches go by, and carry that on with them, but post season all-star play (district, state, world series), which was all coach pitch, showed that the girls were still hitting good pitches well. The exceptional pitchers intimidated the batters, but at least now they've seen live pitching. For the most part, the pitching was terrible. There were rollers to the plate. High and outside was a favorite. I had really dreaded the execution of the system before we started, but it turned out "okay." The girls actually really enjoyed it. They didn't get down on themselves because no one was any better, they lit up anytime they actually threw the ball in the strike zone, and we let anyone pitch who wanted to.

DD started travel ball at 10 yrs old. started pitching lessons during the fall and pitched a game or so in about 6 or 7 tournaments. She improved and pitched 3-4 games in her last 10u tournament. Her pitching improved, but she was behind the curve on her general game awareness and defensive skills. The defensive skills was my fault because we spent ALL our time learning to pitch. I still believe that pitching lessons that year coupled with machine pitch games would have benefited her most as an all around player. I think it would have helped most of the girls besides just the most advanced. Learning to field and throw can be done on your own, but the game awareness that would come with more balls being put in play in very valuable.

riseball said:

The harsh reality is that very little before 14U makes a bit of difference in the long term development of pitchers. IMO developing pitchers at 8U-10U is simply not necessary and a waste of time for all but those in the circle. You are developing players at one position at the expense of the other 8 players on the field. 8U-10U players would be much better served if they learned to hit, field, and throw properly. Skills that are sorely lacking at all ages and all locations all the way through 18U. This is painfully evident even in the alleged softball center of the universe in Southern California. If it were up to me it would be machine pitch up to 12U and then start developing pitchers. The end result would be significantly better overall hitting, fielding, throwing, and pitching at 14U-18U. Instead of developing 8U and 10U pitchers with crap mechanics just to indulge the few it is better to defer these activities until they are a bit older and better suited to learn proper mechanics. You know that skippie HS pitcher that never gets called for an IP? Most if not all picked up those poor mechanics learning to throw screwballs at 8U-10U.

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I respectfully disagree with your assessment. I'm a proponent of developing all players - hitters, pitchers, catchers, and fielders - together. Waiting until 14U to start developing pitchers also delays the development of hitters, as well as catchers.

pattar said:

90% of hitting and fielding are developed, for the most part, outside of a game setting IMO.

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I find that hard to believe that in 8U-10U there are 7-9 hours of practice and individual instruction for every hour of game time. Typically in 8U-10U 90% of the development is in a team setting. That is unless you play for the DFP Super Elite Platinum All Star 8U team who practice several hours every day in Ray Ray's pole barn or those that play PGF in California.