- Apr 24, 2017
- 1
- 0
I have a 12yr old daughter who plays and she's decent. I'm always trying to get her out there for more practice and training. When batting practice time comes I throw to her. I grew up playing baseball year around all the way through high school and was a decent pitcher in my earlier years. Because of my years of playing I think it's allowed me to be athletic enough and adapt and throw to her underhand just like in a game. My form may be a bit funky but I'm good enough to get the ball over the plate at a decent enough pace where it's ideal for light easy BP. When I try to crank it up I'll lose accuracy and it defeats the purpose of BP. My question here for fastpitch softball coaches and players would be this: Picking up the ball as early as possible in the pitchers hand is extremely important for a batter. This is the reason I throw underhand like a normal fastpitch pitcher would when throwing to my daughter. However, if I were to throw her BP overhand, as a BASEball P would throw, for the purpose of being able to get the ball over the plate in the strike zone at a much faster pace and requiring batter to react faster and gain the eye & experience of a higher velocity pitch coming at her WOULD I BE DOING MORE HARM THAN GOOD? Would throwing overhand,although seeing more strikes, throw off her timing and ability to pick up the ball in pitchers hand before released? Last thing I want to do is ruin any timing or rhythm developed. I'm just thinking more strikes and less shagging ball 4's from backstop. How might this effect a batter when in a game and she sees underhand pitching? Any thoughts? Other than of course spend $ I don't have on pitching machines or bp pitchers needing work in the circle. Thanks for reading.