Danger zone speed

[CoachJD]

To put it another way, I have never asked a pitcher to throw slower because her ball was too hittable at a faster speed.

I have. And it worked. My pitcher was worried that the better hitters on the team were timing her up a couple times through the order. She was trying to figure out how to throw it harder. I told her if she couldn't, and just magically throwing harder deep in a game is not likely), then throw it slower. She struck out the 3-4-5 hitters the next inning by slowing it down.

I wouldn't tell her to throw at that slow speed all the time or for a whole game or anything, but for a few batters, it worked very well.

 

[cnardone]

Not too long ago (a year or so maybe) there was an article on ESPN about MLB pitchers that throw well under average velocity but were performing really well. It looked into this idea of pitching under the "speed" hitting zone. It came to the conclusion that all of the pitchers who were 'over performing' had dominant secondary stuff (command, change of speed, breaking stuff).

I understand MLB hitters are not 16U but I think it still holds. You might get a few hitters one time through, but just throwing really slow is not a winning formula.

 

[ArmWhip]

The speed differential is one of the reasons to bring in a relief pitcher. Good hitters will adjust but it may take a bit of time.

 

[Lance Steckler]

if a pitcher cannot keep hitters off balance (using speed, spin & location), it's going to be a rough day. Regardless.

throwing 64 MPH flat and straight will get you rocked.

 

[radness]

Danger zone is pitching the same speed repeatedly within one or two miles of each other.

 

[Hillhouse]

Question about speed progression. Assuming high level 16u travel-ball play (games against the top 25 teams in the nation), I am wondering if as a pitcher progresses in speed if there is a space where they just end up being easier to hit temporarily. For purpose of the question I am thinking of it like a scientific controlled experiment. So for example

Good movement on pitches. Rise (5-11 spin), curve, change.

The thought, and I will use fastball first as an easy example-

55mph is fairly slow for this level, with good spots might this cause timing to be off for batters and give her slightly more success
She is now 59-60mph. Did her speed increase almost put her in the perfect timing zone for hitters?
As she jumps to 63-64 she should be better off one would imagine

The same could be said for the rise maybe-

Pitcher was having tremendous success throwing the rise at 53mph average.
Pitcher is getting hit more consistently now at 57 average mph (again same spin axis, etc..)
60+ should get her over the hump.

Literally just a theory, curious everyones thoughts?

When I coached at Providence, our #1 pitcher was lucky if she hit 60mph. On her best day, she may have hit 61 or 62 but not consistently. What she did have was serious spin on her movement pitches: rise, drop and change. That's it. (her father pitched in his local area fastpitch league and taught her pitching the way he threw so she didn't have to "unlearn" a bunch of stuff to make the ball have correct spins). Now, I realize this is PROVIDENCE in the Big East conference, not UCLA in the Pac 12 but, it's still Division 1 softball in a mid major. This pitcher was a freshman when I arrived, so both of us were new to the area, the team, and college softball.

She went on to be a 20 game winner, won freshman of the year for the conference, we had the lowest ERA in conference, our team was picked to finishe 8 of 8 in the preseason polls, we finished 3rd (missing 2nd by a single game) which is important because only the top 4 go to the postseason. And we were 4-0 vs. teams in the ACC that year. Now, it's worth noting that I was there for a single season, and after I left, Providence went back to the cellar in the conference.

How did this happen with a pitcher that didn't have great velocity? It's called: knowing how to call pitches. It's not so much how much a pitcher has, it's what they have and how to use it. Throwing the wrong pitch at the wrong time is bad for any pitcher against any team, but having someone who can see things in the batter's swing, their stance, placement in the batter's box, and more than a little experience in what to throw and when is invaluable.

Please know everyone, I apologize if this sounds braggadocious. I didn't want it to be a me, me, me post. I wanted to illustrate the point that pitchers can be successful without that velocity. Yes, it can be helpful. But, knowing how to use what she has is more valuable than velocity, unless she's throwing 75mph.

 

[Hillhouse]

To put it another way, I have never asked a pitcher to throw slower because her ball was too hittable at a faster speed.

I know someone else used this quote too earlier but, I too have asked a pitcher to slow down their velocity. But, in the right context!!! Many times pitchers try throwing the ball so hard that their pitches flatten out. It's called "overthrowing". And by taking just 10% off the pitch, they'll start to see the movement again.

Overthrowing is easy to do, it happens a lot when thing start to go wrong. A homerun hit, a defensive error, having a bad umpire, etc. Pitchers start to think if they throw harder and harder that will change things. It actually (usually) makes it worse. Slowing down, understanding that trying to throw harder is the worst thing is one of the hardest things a pitcher can do in the moment. It takes a great deal of mental discipline to step back, take a deep breath and not try to throw so hard.

 

[_MIA_]

How did this happen with a pitcher that didn't have great velocity? It's called: knowing how to call pitches.

This would typically result in a response from a certain poster..wonder if he will dare to challenge you

 

[Lance Steckler]

didn't cat osterman talk about throttling back velo a little to get more movement on her pitches??? I see this with several girls on my 18u squad. Starts fresh in game 1 and drop ball isn't really dropping. 4 innings later and the ball is uncatchable

 

[Tango]

didn't cat osterman talk about throttling back velo a little to get more movement on her pitches??? I see this with several girls on my 18u squad. Starts fresh in game 1 and drop ball isn't really dropping. 4 innings later and the ball is uncatchable

Baseball but had a friend that pitched in the majors and could get up in the 90's but stayed around 87/88 for movement.