What constitutes a A,B or C Level Pitcher at the 14/13U Age Group?

MNDad said:

14U A - Mid 50’s to low 60’s with ability to hit spots more often than not OR mid 50’s and hits corners consistently. Moderately effective changeup and developing movement pitch.
14U B – Low to mid 50’s. Ability to throw strikes without consistently throwing over middle of the plate.
14U C – Lucky to hit the broad side of a barn.

This would go for our area and also what we saw nationally. We saw VERY few pitchers that could throw 60 or that had much movement at that age. For most girls different pitches were simply different grips.

FWIW using the three definitions above the two D1 commits from DD’s 14U team at the time would both be B level pitchers and we placed top 5 at ASA Nationals.

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I dunno-it seems if I used your definition then 30% of the pitchers would be A, 65% would be B and only 5% would be C. I never see pitchers at 14s out here that cant hit the broad side of a barn. Everyone I have seen in the circle is either accurate or fast. I have not seen a truly wild pitcher at all. The average 14u girl I see is 55 MPH and is not giving up a lot of walks.

Jojo said:

14u C = Can get it over the plate, 40mph will place you high C.
14u B = 45mph+, can move the ball around and have a change-up.
14u A = High 40's, has control of 3 good pitches+

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This is waayyy too low speed wise for my area, these descriptions would describe 12s maybe but even there there are girls throwing 54-58 with a deadly change up. I classify my 12 year old as a top 20% pitcher at 12s and she is 52-55, accurate with a vicious change a decent rise and drop.

cuzmail said:

So three pitch innings means the pitcher isn't good?

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Well, if the 14U pitchers in my area were as good as the ones listed here, they'd be striking everyone out! So, instead of three pitch innings they'd be three pitches per hitter.

JJsqueeze said:

For my Region:
A = 59+, Fastball, Changeup, great accuracy and at least one good Breaking pitch (drop, curve, rise, etc) OR B but can really bend it
B = 55+, Fastball, Changeup, great accuracy OR A but with just good accuracy
C = 50+, Fastball, good accuracy or A but pretty wild and gets into trouble but strikes her way out of it sometimes or B but with ok accuracy


Basically a top level pitcher has great speed, two good pitches and great accuracy. A second level pitcher has 1 or 2 out of three of these things, the average pitchers have 1 or none of these things

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Generally agree with your analysis as we play in the same sand box but the talent at 14U travel ball varies greatly. This weekend our 12U team played up in a 14U, 4 game Firecracker friendly, and the pitching talent was all over the place. One team had a lefty flamethrower (around 60mph) that shut us down; another team used 3 pitchers and they probably threw mid-40s at best (speeds our girls hadn't seen since rec ball). Quite a contrast. The other two teams had pitchers that threw mid-50's and were fairly effective. The bottom-line is it doesn't matter what TB org you are playing, the individual team's talent at pitching is all over the map. I will tell you, there are some monster 14U girls that look like adults!

By the way, lots of rise balls and outside curve balls were used liberally (The extra 3 feet of distance (43ft) helps with the break). Not too many drop balls, change-ups, or hard inside pitches. I think my DD is going to have some fun next year when she moves up to 14U. Her PC has been trying to get her to be a smart "pitcher" not just throwing to the spots called by her team coaches. Too many 0-2 base hits that have prematurely grayed my hair

JJsqueeze said:

For my Region:
A = 59+, Fastball, Changeup, great accuracy and at least one good Breaking pitch (drop, curve, rise, etc) OR B but can really bend it
B = 55+, Fastball, Changeup, great accuracy OR A but with just good accuracy
C = 50+, Fastball, good accuracy or A but pretty wild and gets into trouble but strikes her way out of it sometimes or B but with ok accuracy


Basically a top level pitcher has great speed, two good pitches and great accuracy. A second level pitcher has 1 or 2 out of three of these things, the average pitchers have 1 or none of these things

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If a girl hits 60mph the summer before her freshman year she is considered a "10 percenter". She is in the top 10% of pitchers nationally for her age/level.

JJS said:

If a girl hits 60mph the summer before her freshman year she is considered a "10 percenter". She is in the top 10% of pitchers nationally for her age/level.

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I agree. I guess that is what consider to be an A level pitcher-someone who is in the top 10 per cent. Bs would be the next 20 percent and then Cs are everyone else. I've always been a hard grader.

JJsqueeze said:

I agree. I guess that is what consider to be an A level pitcher-someone who is in the top 10 per cent. Bs would be the next 20 percent and then Cs are everyone else. I've always been a hard grader.

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So, your contention is that there are many B level pitchers that are pitching for A level teams? I could see that. Many teams we play don't really have an A level pitcher on the team. The teams that do tend to play late on Sundays

I'm glad we live in the midwest, otherwise my 16 yo would only be qualified to play 10u.

JJS said:

So, your contention is that there are many B level pitchers that are pitching for A level teams? I could see that. Many teams we play don't really have an A level pitcher on the team. The teams that do tend to play late on Sundays

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Pretty much. I know my DDs orgs 14U team is really good and can contend with anyone but they do not have a dominant pitcher. Strikeouts are rare but the D is a vacuum and they can hit the snot out of the ball.

Also as far as A level goes, we supposedly only play A level teams and about 20% of them are actually good teams. In fact i don't even know if there is a single team that calls themselves B in travel out here. So I kind of have my own rating system for teams- there are about 10 really good teams and they will all the tournaments and usually play each other in the finals, I consider these A teams, there are about 20 good teams that can beat each other on any given day but have to get lucky to beat a top 10 team, these are Bs and then there is everyone else and they have a lot to improve to get near the others these are my Cs. The fact that all 100 or so teams out here classify themselves as A means little to me when I look at their skill levels.

By way of explanation- I have one DD on a top notch 10U team so I see it from that top 10 percent angle on some Sundays and another on a C level 12U team so i see it from that side on other days. Both are supposedly A teams classification wise, but one team is like 21-0 in the games I have seen and the other is 11-10 in friendlies against teams that are pretty weak.