Missouri vs Arkansas

RubberBiscuit said:

the Ole Miss vs Miss State game where a pitcher there was bending at the waist on every pitch at the speed of a Whooping Crane in full mating dance.

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LOL, what a great mental picture you paint!

I really liked what I saw of Vann S, the Mississippi State head coach. She seemed very positive and enthusiastic. I'm glad she ended up in a good place after being shown the door at Alabama.

I can't tell you what the ARK. pitcher looks like, or I will have to give myself a time out.

Pdiddy said:

Maybe that pitcher who left him had enough....

My daughter, and several girls went to the Missouri's three day summer camp last year....and according to several girls on our team and other teams whom I know, said the coach has to be one of the most egotistical and meanest coaches ever. Of the 300+ kids that were there, he told them in his closing speech that "maybe 4-5 of them" had a chance to play in his program and for the rest of them.... "don't come back"....this same message was confirmed by several different girls in attendence. One girl, who is a pitcher and I know quite well, was throwing and her top speed is 61 / 62....when he came by to observe, the dude asked her "why are you here?"...."we are only looking for pitchers who can throw 65 and over"....too many different girls, form different teams told the same story so it would hard not to believe it....

However, I will say the winter before, I took my DD to one of his hitting clinics (in which I stayed and watched) and I actually spoke to him and the HC was nothing but a gentlemen....and his speeches to the players was fine....maybe when parents are around he "rolls" a little different....

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That's interesting; thanks for sharing, Pdiddy! DD has been to two of the Tiger Junior camps and loved them and Coach "Earl," but perhaps they're warm and fuzzy with the younger ones and save the blunt tough talk for the older girls. I know that a former teammate's older sister went to last summer's camp. From what I heard secondhand, she was really happy with the experience and got a lot of attention from the pitching instructors. Well...maybe she was one of the 4-5... ;-)

18 walks in that game yesterday, that was ridiculous.

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There would have been 40+ walks had the girls went up there and not swung their bats. I thought that the strike zone was very small. At 40' a pitcher would have a chance of throwing it down the middle and hoping that the batter wouldn't catch up with the pitch. At 43' it is a whole new game. Squeeze the strike zone, there will be a boat load of walks and homers.

Anyone that knows Mike Larabee knew it was just a matter of time at Ark. He did one heck of a job at WSU before he left. Team BA is now up to 290 with 49 HR's.

Great… thanks for the reference..

RubberBiscuit said:

I find it completely befuddling that a BIG D1 school. like Mizzou, (and there are others I am seeing - MI State another example), have such a "shortage" of pitchers that can get it above 60mph (with multiple pitch movement).

Are we just seeing a nationally "weak" crop of underclassmen pitchers in college right now? On a cycle or something?

Cuz I have been to way too many 16U/18U exposure events this year that have a plentitude of 60+ movement pitchers....

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So I see several things here...

- You only get 4 years to play college ball. As a player, I'd rather be the starter at a different school than sit behind a Chelsea Thomas especially since it is clear college coaches are absolutely not going to use more than two pitchers if they can absolutely avoid it. Choice of starting for 4 years for a mid-Major versus sitting behind someone for 2 of the 4 years seems like an easy choice to me.

- Because travel teams ALSO do this - most teams are only really developing one true pitcher. And because most travel coaches are 'speed' versus 'movement' we lose a lot of girls who can really spin the ball with decent speed over someone who can only throw hard.

- I'd transfer or stop being a pitcher as well if I felt I could be a starter elsewhere or if I had no shot of being the starter no matter what I do.

- Hot bats and better batting are also hurting pitchers. A half swing shouldn't regularly provide a home run - yet you see it way too often. Bigger fields or dead balls - it is going to happen.

- There are simply not that many girls who start pitching after 13 or 14 who make it to college as a pitcher. That means the pool just gets smaller and smaller year after year. Not saying it doesn't happen - but it doesn't happen often. So that group of second year 12U pitchers - that is where colleges are pulling from for their recruiting year.

- There REALLY are lots of colleges out there. And softball is becoming bigger so a lot more colleges are fighting over the top talent. You may see a lot of excellent pitchers out there but the depth just doesn't exist. When you actually add up the number of good pitchers you are actually seeing in HS/Travel the numbers are surprisingly small.

And this leads to some very good pitchers just not doing it any more. It is a lot of work to be just average and there isn't a lot of opportunity for average pitchers on good teams. I was talking to a local pitching coach who says every girl he has coached who has stuck with it has played in college - some not because they were great but because college teams struggle to find depth once you get past the big name schools. He right now is looking for pitchers for 2013 opportunities in all college divisions for his contacts.