10u PGF pitcher speed OMG

[grcsftbll]

While the hitters get better, the bats get hotter and the pitchers learn the corners and the river imo I believe the strike zone needs to be addressed. My experience has been and is that blue continues to squeeze the pitcher not giving the corners or black to those who have the ability and control to touch them. So if a pitcher is forced to pitch in to a "mailbox" sized strike zone the batters are going to tee off and ultimately place the pitcher in danger. I have heard that umps are instructed to squeeze the zone to create a more offense oriented showcase. C'mon blue, the corners aren't round!

YES. My pitcher's strength is location. She's great at painting the corners. There are way too many umpires who will NOT give the corners to the pitcher. Or strikes across the letters, or across the knees. It's so frustrating.

 

[_MIA_]

YES. My pitcher's strength is location. She's great at painting the corners. There are way too many umpires who will NOT give the corners to the pitcher. Or strikes across the letters, or across the knees. It's so frustrating.

Only time strikes at the letters or knees is called, from what I have seen, is at the lowest levels where if they didn't call those most every AB would end in a walk. In 35+ years of watching, I can probably count on one hand the number of times I have seen a MLB umpire call a strike at the letters..

 

[coachbubbles]

YES. My pitcher's strength is location. She's great at painting the corners. There are way too many umpires who will NOT give the corners to the pitcher. Or strikes across the letters, or across the knees. It's so frustrating.

^^ Agree with this and the comment about the mailbox size strike zone. We saw obvious tightening in NSA tournaments this year compared to any other sanction or previous year. No way you could convince me that it wasn't emphasized. We played several A level teams with multiple kids capable of hitting it out on 200' fences. Some classified as B had some phenomenal hitters as well. They were trained to sit on dead red and either it was a walk (corners/river) or a blast (too many up the middle). I swear some days it was D1 P5 tight.

When you have kids of that size and ability at 35 ft you can't squeeze the zone that tight without increasing the risk to pitchers dramatically. I've not talked to one coach that didn't like a decent sized strike zone at 10u - speeds the game along and gets kids swinging the bats and defense making plays.

 

[grcsftbll]

Recently DD just looked at DH (calling pitches) and laughed. Like, whatcha gonna do? She was throwing beautiful strikes and it was ball, ball, ball. In the fall we had one of those and she ended up in tears in the dugout. One of the only times I've seen her cry during softball for anything other than physical pain. I think laughing about it is improvement.

 

[coachbubbles]

DD hasn't quite figured out how to blow if off yet - probably because Dad is hollering from the bucket "10 years old!" when it gets ridiculous. I am guilty of having my catcher slow the game down when blue is bad....

 

[grcsftbll]

DD hasn't quite figured out how to blow if off yet - probably because Dad is hollering from the bucket "10 years old!" when it gets ridiculous. I am guilty of having my catcher slow the game down when blue is bad....

Right? There's nothing more frustrating than a 9 or 10 year old kid trying to hit a tiny strike zone. Do they want the games to be a walk fest? I'm not even talking about giving them strikes that aren't strikes. Just use the real strike zone to call them, that's all I want.

Once DD was pitching a championship game and we had an older umpire behind the plate. That guy was awesome. He told me DD was so great at hitting the corners and he was going to give it to her every time. Why can't that guy just umpire all our games? That seems reasonable to me.

 

[coachbubbles]

i'm not even talking about giving them strikes that aren't strikes. Just use the real strike zone to call them, that's all i want.

.

^^^^ this!!

 

[riseball]

If long term development of players were a priority, I do not see why pitchers would be throwing until about 12U or even 14U. Much more often than not they are just building a weak foundation that must be torn down and rebuilt at a later date for long term success.

 

[grcsftbll]

If long term development of players were a priority, I do not see why pitchers would be throwing until about 12U or even 14U. Much more often than not they are just building a weak foundation that must be torn down and rebuilt at a later date for long term success.

Except for the lucky ones who find this forum before they've been working on it for too long.

 

[mmeece]

We've seen the zone shrink at 14u this year (IMO anyway). The top of the zone was consistently mid thigh and almost always below the belt. I don't understand a strike zone that doesn't extend at least to the belly button, especially if you aren't going to extend off the plate at all and in some cases not even call the black.