Observed pitching speeds at 14u plus Rita Lynn's posted speed numbers

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Jul 27, 2015
235
43
Two different but somewhat related subjects.

I own a Pocket Radar gun and take it to all the games. I have compared my gun against 3 other guns, and it was the same or +/-1 every time so I feel that what I am posting is pretty accurate.

I have had my gun on 14A (local and regional teams) and 14B teams. I have probably had my gun out against 70 teams this spring. We are a low level 14u A team - did not play in many huge tournaments but we saw a handful of regional teams. My observations:

*Clocked 2 girls who threw 60 mph consistently. Neither one was that impressive as a pitcher. They each threw a grand total of one change up then just threw fast balls the rest of the time. They were certainly successful against our team, but they were just hurlers. Of course, why throw a change up when you are blowing it by everyone? On the other hand, you are not growing as a pitcher if you only have one pitch.

*Clocked 3 or so girls at 58-59. One was very impressive with a variety of pitches.

*It was no shock to see a 55+ mph pitcher on a 14u A team. I would say 57 mph and up are the more unusual ones - and the ones that give our team lots of trouble.

I was always the most impressed by the real pitchers who had a variety of pitches and did not just rely on speed.

This leads me to Rita Lynn's posted speed numbers. By my account, I have clocked 8 of her pitchers this spring and generally get 4+ MPH slower readings.

First number is Rita Lynn's posted speed. Second number is what I got (from right behind the backstop. No angle)

63 57
60 57
63 58
62 54
56 52
57 53
56 51
58 53

Is Rita Lynn's the same type of gun they use for speeds on EPSN for the college games? If so, my daughter is a lot faster than I thought.

At least how my daughter works, she generally pitches no less than 2 mph off her max. She will generally hit her max a few times in a game. So if you were to gun her for 5 fast balls, you would see her pretty close or right at her max. I am assuming that the other girls work that way too. Maybe not.

One story

A few years ago, while at Home Depot, I ran into a dad of a girl we used to play with at 10u , and she was a fast, stud pitcher at 10u. She went to travel before we did so I had not seen her play in 2 years. At Home Depot, dad said maybe 1 out of 10 pitches she threw now was 60 mph. I was impressed!! Saw the same girl a few months later at a tournament - 42 to 43 mph. The first time I thought "oh a change up" - but that was not the case. Learned my lesson on that one!

Unfortunately for me, if asked, I will give the actual speed of my daughter. And in the other person's head, they will subtract 4-5 mph. Oh well!
 

ez_softball

Life at the diamond...
Apr 14, 2017
158
28
I made a point last weekend to get speeds on all the pitchers we faced at a 16U tournament (our team is 14U and played up).

I would have to look at the book again to be real accurate but this is what I remember.
We faced probably 10 pitchers:
Only (2) threw 55mph or faster in game. IIRC both hit 56mph and they were league age old 16U players.
My daughter (old 14U) threw 53-54mph in game.
Everyone else was slower than those (3) pitchers in game. IIRC there were at least (2) and maybe even as many as (4) pitchers that threw under 50mph.

I've gotten to the point where I just don't believe anybody when they start quoting pitching speeds. LOL
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
Who would have thought that a pitching coach would "put her thumb on the scale" when measuring her own students?

a) Rita Lynn is probably using the "one time max, with a wind blowing at their backs" speed, not "how fast they throw during a game".

b) The ESPN speed you see is the exit velocity of the ball out of the hand. The ball velocity drops 3 to 5 MPH by the time it gets to the plate.

c) There is very little objective evidence that even advanced pitchers (other than Osterman) have more than three pitches (a fastball, a movement pitch, and a change). The objective evidence is that most pitchers have only two pitches. In the 2017 CWS, most pitchers threw a bullet spin fastball and a change. Only two pitchers (Kelly Barnhill being one) threw a rise. There was one pitcher who threw a drop. There were no curves or screwballs.
 
Last edited:
May 16, 2016
1,024
113
Illinois
At the USSSA World Series last week in Branson Missouri there was a 9U girl who pitched 54 mph in the skills competition. She was the 2nd fastest girl in the skills competition. The fastest girl pitched 55mph she was a 10u pitcher. This 9u girl I am speaking of is the most athletically gifted child I have ever met in my life.

From my math pitching 54 mph from 35' would be the equivalent of 92 mph from a 60' 6" baseball mound. Not very confident I could even barrel the ball up against this child.
 
Jan 28, 2017
1,662
83
DD turned 11 in April. 6 months ago she was clocked at 45 and 46 on ever pitch at a college camp. She throws a lot harder now. Grown a lot in the last two months. Our pitching coach is very successful and is working with around 50 girls presently. He doesn't hand out complements very often. He looked at me today and said,your DD is throwing gas. I asked how hard do you think she is throwing. He said, I have no idea and don't care it's gas. Great answer! My DD will be vertically challenged and her future in softball will probably depend on her bat.
 
Nov 29, 2009
2,975
83
Used to get asked all the time how fast the DD threw. I would always answer "I didn't know. The last time I had a gun on her was a year ago." I was more worried about how much she could make the move and change speeds on all her pitches.

Again, that was before the proliferation of pocket radar and some of the other guns out there.
 
Nov 29, 2009
2,975
83
Is Rita Lynn's the same type of gun they use for speeds on EPSN for the college games? If so, my daughter is a lot faster than I thought.

I'm sure she's using the gun equipped with a parent goggle lens mounted on it.
 
Jul 27, 2015
235
43
a) Rita Lynn is probably using the "one time max, with a wind blowing at their backs" speed, not "how fast they throw during a game".

My daughter only broke her fastest speed record twice in practice. All the other times were in games when the competition got going. That is point I was trying to make....I can't understand how the girls recorded on RL site never come close to their posted max. Well...actually I do. I question the gun being used. On that point, I went out Saturday in the car. Set the cruise control, turned on the GPS and Waze (3 of us in the car) and then turned turned the radar gun on. It was perfect every time - from 27 mph up to 62 mph. So my gun is good.

b) The ESPN speed you see is the exit velocity of the ball out of the hand. The ball velocity drops 3 to 5 MPH by the time it gets to the plat
I am pretty sure my gun measures exit speed too.

c) There is very little objective evidence that even advanced pitchers (other than Osterman) have more than three pitches (a fastball, a movement pitch, and a change). The objective evidence is that most pitchers have only two pitches. In the 2017 CWS, most pitchers threw a bullet spin fastball and a change. Only two pitchers (Kelly Barnhill being one) threw a rise. There was one pitcher who threw a drop. There were no curves or screwballs.

Quite interesting. While I watched a lot of the WS, I had not really picked up on that. I will be sure to watch that a lot closer next year. Thanks!
 
Jul 5, 2016
652
63
DD turned 11 in April. 6 months ago she was clocked at 45 and 46 on ever pitch at a college camp. She throws a lot harder now. Grown a lot in the last two months. Our pitching coach is very successful and is working with around 50 girls presently. He doesn't hand out complements very often. He looked at me today and said,your DD is throwing gas. I asked how hard do you think she is throwing. He said, I have no idea and don't care it's gas. Great answer! My DD will be vertically challenged and her future in softball will probably depend on her bat.

Besides, the numbers that count are things like WHIP. Velocity is just one path the numbers that count.
 

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