Are you trying to build a successful long term pitcher or a 10U pitcher? The two have relatively little in common.
10U will be dominated by pitchers that have either matured early or simply throw hard for whatever reason. 12U these start to fade and pitchers that can move the ball around the zone (not breaking pitches but location) and have developed a change up start to take over. At 14U and up, if a pitcher can't paint the corners, disrupt batter timing with a change up AND an off speed, and have one effective breaking pitch they are not going to last long as pitchers. Those flame throwing monsters from 10U? 99% of them will have washed out by now.
Can your DD hit her called spot 7 out of ten times at full speed? Can she deceive at least 70% of batters with her change up delivery? If not, continue working those things until she can. If so, than introduce a breaking pitch. Just be aware it is going to do absolutely nothing at 10U.
Great point. Yes, as long as she continues to love it, we are in it for the long haul. I’m a committed coach and love this forum to reference. I have an 8 year old who throws almost as hard, not quite as accurate. They have different skill sets. Just comes more natural to my younger DD.
Yes, she’s 70% accurate at her full speed. Not as accurate with the knuckle CU. When it hits though, its pretty neat. Maybe we continue to improve the CU but if she isn’t going to throw it in a few years, I prefer to start developing another pitch. I think long term she will need 3+ pitches to be successful. I’m probably getting ahead of myself.
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