10U TB and #3/4 Pitcher?

My daughter is playing her last year of 10U in 2016. She played for a different club last year where she was the #2 pitcher and saw a lot of innings. She dominates rec and town travel, so she's pretty good, but on her new team she's probably around #3 or #4. She has a more spin on the ball and control compared to the other girls, but they throw it a little harder. She hasn't dedicated herself as much to pitching as they have either.

That being said, she is also a good field player, fast, smart and a very dominant hitter. My thinking is that down the road there is really only one spot for a pitcher in high school, but there wil always be room for someone who can crush the ball, run the bases and play any position on the field. So in switching her to this team, she is getting more of an opportunity to learn the game (and also less of a chance of her burning out on pitching prematurely.)

I've poked around here a little and feel like the general sentiment is that if you aren't the #1 or #2 pitcher, you should look elsewhere. Do you think that still applies to 10U? I am thinking that being a one-game-on-Saturday pitcher is just fine at this age, especially when you consider she would have the opportunity to pitch for her rec and town travel team at the same time. Or do you think by riding the brake on the pitching, I'm holding her back and she is going to miss the opportunity to really develop? Or are the girls throwing the hardest at 10U the same girls dominating at 12U and 14U, and maybe she doesn't really have a chance to move up to #1 or #2 on this team regardless of the time she puts in to improve.


Just looking for a take on this from those who have been through several years of club ball and know how things generally play out over the years. Many thanks!

I can give you my perspective from a very similar place. My dd is first year 10U and just started pitching. She's been in lessons since Jan. We knew when looking for a team that she had a talent for it, but we had no idea if she'd like being in the circle. Sometimes she gets in her head, and it's a lot of pressure there. She was an extremely dominant hitter in 8U (catching up in 10U pretty quickly at this point but not what I'd call dominant yet) and she's a very, very strong fielder. We wanted to play A ball because we were didn't want to be in a situation again where she was miles ahead of the rest of the team. It was that way on our 8U TB team, 8U rec teams, and every B team we picked up with. So that lead us to choose an A team where she'd be the #3 pitcher.

We just finished fall season w/ this team, and I have crazy mixed feelings. We all love the team. That she is not the dominant player is what we were going for. She's still one of the strongest fielders but it's not by miles. She's pitching far fewer innings than the other pitchers. As it turns out, she absolutely loves pitching, and is cool as a cucumber in the circle. It's almost eerie when you know how emotional she is normally. Only now, we love the team. Her location is also fabulous but her speed not quite as much as the other 2 girls. We wouldn't have much trouble finding her a #1 pitcher spot on another team. Except we don't want to leave our team. Soooo. After a lot of agonized discussion we decided to stay in the spring and pick up for extra circle time. And of course, work hard to try to move up the ranks. People here have told me that pitching is really different at 12U and 14U so I don't think there are any guarantees on that. I have a feeling that by 14U my DD will be #1 wherever she is. We shall see I do have mommy colored glasses.

All that said, had we known going in how much she'd love pitching in games and how she would seem to be almost made for it, I think we might have chosen a different team. We wouldn't have been attached yet so it wouldn't have been this agonizing to think of going elsewhere. I know she's only 9 but we have weighed her opinion very heavily in our choice. Her #1 desire is to pitch more but her path to that is by picking up, and staying on the team she loves. Have you asked your DD what she wants to do?

IMO, pitching works itself out at the younger ages. Those who want to continue to pitch and work at it eventually end up being a pitcher. Those who don't really want to work at it get weeded out. On my DD's 10u team she was like the 5th pitcher on her TB team and never even pitched in a TB game. We never worried about it. She just practiced on the side and pitched in little league/rec. I think it was good for her. She learned how to be a team player and play where she was needed. By the time she was 12U her A level TB team was comprised of 9 girls who pitched but only 3 of those girls actually really pitched in TB games. She made that top 3 in a very good rotation (the other 2 are now D1 committed pitchers) and played CF (DD is now a D1 verbal commit as an OF) when not pitching. Of the other 6 pitchers who didnt pitch, two left to find teams they could pitch on. Both those kids jumped team to team for a few years and eventually just quit competitive softball altogether and only played rec. The rest sort of settled in at other positions and didnt really want to work at pitching at a competitive level.

Because of her hard work my DD had a nice youth pitching career and was considered a top pitcher for her age in our area. She would have been an ok HS pitcher but ended up quitting pitching once she entered HS as she knew she wouldn't really be able to pitch at the level she eventually wanted to play at. Since pitching used to take so much time she could now focus on hitting and fielding.

So what I'm saying is... if she isnt the top pitcher yet she can still be if she works at it...and if she learns another position along the way all the better. It goes so fast... just enjoy the ride.

I wouldn't worry so much about how she might end up down the road. It's a game not a career. At 10U your role should be fueling her passion, not figuring out how to make the Varsity. If pitching is what she's most passionate about put her in a position to be able to pitch. If she likes it but can take it or leave it (which is what it sounds like since you said she isn't as dedicated as the others) then maybe she's in a perfect situation since she gets to pitch some in TB tournaments and pitches for all these other teams (sounds like a lot of teams)!

My DD just moved up to 12U. She wants to pitch, she wants the ball in her hand every chance she gets. Sounds like you may be in a different place.

I've watched girls that couldn't pitch or looked like they would never be able to come close to being a decent pitcher become a teams #1 and I've watched a #1 become the #4. The difference was practice and coaching. If your DD has a love for pitching then she should work at it to be the #1. My youngest DD is usually a #1 or #2. She's thin as a sheet of paper. She pitches 3-4 nights per week. She wants to stay pitching. She needs as much time as possible since many of the girls her own age are 30lbs-50lbs heavier and physically stronger. The only way she gets an edge is through hard work.

Unless it is daddy ball it can change quick.

The only thing I would like is for the coach to communicate to us what their plans are for DD. If she is not going to pitch or pitch very little we will practice more and I would not hesitate to make a larger change that I would normally save for the off season.

If she is stuck not pitching, she might need to move to a different Team but 1 year with a little or no pitching will not hurt her.

If she is getting plenty of innings across all these games then you are probably fine for the moment...

However at some point you will realize that playing both travel and rec/town league starts to become too much with all the games and practices. At that point if you commit to the travel path, then you will want to be as high in the pitching depth chart as you can if she really wants to be a pitcher. Everything gets more intense but there is less games to play in.

You can't project who will be the pitchers in 14U from those who pitch in 10U - it is the ones who put in the work that tend to make it, but even then some do and some don't and others emerge and so on.

And at 10U stop worrying about HS. That will take care of itself.

At 10, I don't know if you have to rely on getting #1/2 circle time to key DD's development. I think the key is getting consistent time where she can be challenged in the circle to show where her strengths and weaknesses are. Take that info, and motivation, to practice or rec games.

If there are two "better" pitchers ahead of her she can let it motivate her to continue to work, or see exactly why they are perceived to be better, and work on that.

When DD started 10u she had 7 pitchers ahead of her. Now, she gets the most innings and we are down to just five pitchers on the team.

I didn't see it as a competition with the other girls. More a competition with herself. She has thrown around 3,000 pitches in games this year but, another 20,000+ in practice. The games are great to show where she needs work, and practice is where she improves. When she first started pitching this spring she was fast for a 9 yo. Her biggest challenge was throwing strikes since kids weren't swinging and she had to rely on Blue. She HATES walks and worked her tail off in practice to become more consistent and accurate in games.

She just turned 10 but her team is aging to 12u next year so they played 12u fall ball. At 10yo, with a 12" ball and 40', her speed advantage is gone against kids that routinely face 2003, 2002 pitchers so it is back to practice to become more of a pitcher than a chucker.

As long as she is being challenged in games she can still develop as a #3 if you like the team and are willing to put in the time.

tortuga said:

She hasn't dedicated herself as much to pitching as they have either.

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This statement would concern me if she is the #3 or #4 pitcher and she isn't working just as hard or more than the competition ahead of her. IMO, you (she) has to have a 6 month, 12 month goals and plan and stick to that routine to achieve those goals. For example, "we will practice 3X a week, every week for the next 6 months and work on gaining 3 mph and throw the fastball consistently for a strike 65% of the time..." It doesn't really matter what the goal is, just that you have a short-term and long-tern plan and stick with it. Becoming a solid, consistent pitcher is difficult and when you combine it with all the other skills a softball player must "master" like hitting, fielding, throwing, catching, it can be overwhelming. I would have a heart to heart conversation with her to see if she wants to dedicate herself to be a good pitcher. Otherwise the time and energy can be used to excel at another position(s) and skills. I know my DD would be a much better hitter if she wasn't a pitcher. She just doesn't have the time to devote to it like some of the better hitters on her team.

If your DD is not "all in" on becoming a pitcher, my suggestion would be to cut bait and work on learning other positions and concentrating on hitting. Rarely does pitching work out when the player and her parents are not 100% committed.