HE Coach

And I have to wonder how many times have you received that answer?

GunnerShotgun said:

As a coach when a pitcher comes into a tryout and I ask her what pitches she throws the magical answer I am looking for is always "one pitch". Whether thats a curve, change, screw, riser or drop if she answers with "one pitch" she has my interest.

If she has 3 or 4 pitches she really doesn't have one (almost 95% of the time). I assume everyone can throw a fastball and change.

Jack of all trades, master of none...

If she has mastered "one pitch" she can throw that pitch to different locations at different speeds 95% of the time so it's actually 9 variations of the same "one pitch".

I can win a lot of games with that "one pitch". Just my observations...

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Big Daddy Michigan said:

I've seen a damn lot of pitchers who throw 5 pitches... none for strikes but their parents shelled out lots of coin for some joker PC to show them grips. Knowing a grip isn't the same as "having a pitch."

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True! We throw three in the game but are working on the others. DD strength is that she throws strikes. 06 that throws somewhere around 50. Most of the time a little below.

He works with around 20 girls in our area and all are at different levels. One 12 year old is a good bit ahead of my DD. Three HS girls a behind her. He works with around 60 total.

Elk Grove Hurricane said:

I've heard this often but I respectfully disagree. If you ask a young, smart pitcher to do the same thing over and over again because they are not perfect with another pitch she is eventually going to get so bored that her effort will drop off.

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I agree with you.

A kid should work on her fastball, changeup and either a drop or a rise (depending upon which one she picks up quicker).

A kid should not work on a fastball, changeup, drop, rise, screw and curve.

but when you ask a young pitcher to throw a fast ball to the outside corner, then to the inside corner, then a couple of inches off the plate 15 times in a row and everyone in the other dugout is going to eventually figure out what's coming next.

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A good pitcher varies the speed, the horizontal location, and vertical location of each pitch.

If a pitcher with some velocity and a changeup and can consistently hit the four corners of the strike zone, the batters are going to have a very long day.

Good batters get almost all their hits off mistakes when the pitcher leaves the ball over the middle of the plate, not off pitches at the edge of the zone.

Teaching pitches is akin to a guitar teacher teaching songs instead of theory or notation. It makes the parents go oooh and ahhhh but it's completely worthless

He is very good at seeing things. The other girl that works with my DD is 12 also and a little ahead of my DD. She started the same day with the PC and works just as hard. A little older and bigger.

DD doesn't have a swing back, other girl swings back. DD throws turnover drop, other girl peel drop. DD wraps her change, other girl normal flip. DD has small hands and uses different grips than the other girl.

DD at pitching lessons today threw a curve that she got under a little and it looked like a rise curve. This is about the third time in the last 2 months that he stopped her and said that was a great pitch. How did you make it break like that? She will give him some stupid answer like I'm just good like that. He sees that she can throw a great rise curve by accident so the ability is there to throw it later. He doesn't say anything else to her about it. He wants her to feel it but she's not ready.

Tango said:

True! We throw three in the game but are working on the others. DD strength is that she throws strikes. 06 that throws somewhere around 50. Most of the time a little below.

He works with around 20 girls in our area and all are at different levels. One 12 year old is a good bit ahead of my DD. Three HS girls a behind her. He works with around 60 total.

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I didn't mean your DD or her coach. I was generalizing. In my experience the more pitches a girl/parent tells you she has the worse pitcher she is. I watched the LL World Series and the relief pitcher that came in had 5 pitches according to her bio. She walked 7 of the first 9 batters she faced. I guess strike wasn't one of her 5 pitches.

Big Daddy Michigan said:

I didn't mean your DD or her coach. I was generalizing. In my experience the more pitches a girl/parent tells you she has the worse pitcher she is. I watched the LL World Series and the relief pitcher that came in had 5 pitches according to her bio. She walked 7 of the first 9 batters she faced. I guess strike wasn't one of her 5 pitches.

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I agree also. We have a girl on our TB team that has more potential than anybody I have seen around. Tall and great arm speed but doesn't work at it very hard. It kills her dad that she want commit to it. Throws around 55 effortless. He will tell you she has to pitches a ball and a strike. LOL.

My question that I was trying to ask is- If you aren't throwing a fastball much and are throwing movement pitches does it really matter if you are HE or IR? Because the hand work doesn't finish HE.

Again my DD PC is kinda between both. Lots of experience with some of the greats but nobody that talks IR. He wouldn't know what IR means.

Hello Elbow as a style of pitching is more than just the way you finish (long arm, pushing the ball down thru the circle, etc.) IR (Internal Rotation) has caught on as a term but is still not that commonly used (credit our DFP folks for such full descriptions and explanations of it on this forum) in the general softball world.

Tango - in my opinion the answer to your question about does it matter is....yes it does. Of course, that's my opinion and it's probably not worth the paper it's written on. There are pitchers who achieve a high level of success (at varying stages) throwing an HE style. Costs and benefits may vary.

Tatonka said:

Hello Elbow as a style of pitching is more than just the way you finish (long arm, pushing the ball down thru the circle, etc.) IR (Internal Rotation) has caught on as a term but is still not that commonly used (credit our DFP folks for such full descriptions and explanations of it on this forum) in the general softball world.

Tango - in my opinion the answer to your question about does it matter is....yes it does. Of course, that's my opinion and it's probably not worth the paper it's written on. There are pitchers who achieve a high level of success (at varying stages) throwing an HE style. Costs and benefits may vary.

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Since I've never been around a true HE coach, I'm not sure how they teach movement pitches. It seems almost impossible to throw some without the ball pointing towards third base or skyward.

I know that a couple of the girls in our league were throwing IR but their PC and dad called it forearm fire. This was North County San Diego. Maybe they are using a similar term where you are.

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