I have 5 pitches

My DD had 5 pitche locations for the longest time low/high in and low/high out and what the #$&*. Fun part was guessing which one you would get regardless of what was called.

10 year olds at most might have three pitches and that would be fastball changeup then maybe a peeldrop. I give lessons and I will not teach my girls location until their form is perfect. Some it take two months. Others 6 months. It usually takes about 6 months to master a new pitch and be able to throw it consistently nine out of ten times. So once my girls master their fast ball I will reward them by teaching them inside and outside. Once they practice that and master it then I teach the changeup. They shouldn't be learning new pitches until the previously taught pitch is mastered. So if they are struggling with their four pitches. Talk to their parents about talking to their pitching coach about consistenly hitting location and offspeed before moving onto the moving pitched. I hope this is helpful!


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canyonjoe said:

We had a 10U pitcher a few years ago who claimed to have 4 pitchers. I was skeptical until I saw her pitch in a game.

Ball 1,Ball 2, Ball 3 and Ball 4.

A question to pitching coaches (a subject I know little about), It seems like every pitcher I know that takes lessons keeps talking
about all the pitchers they are learning. Many can't even spot a fastball. Is it just something the coaches throw out to make parents
happy, or is it just as easy to learn control with many pitches?

Click to expand...

Here is my take on this, I instruct alongside others instructors that will teach every pitch to a 9yr old.

I have had students leave me to go to these instructors just so they can learn all the pitches.

Why does the instructor do this?
1.--Obviously it gets them students.
2.--It makes the instructor seem to be a better instructor, because already that instructor tells you, your DD has it all-together and is now ready for 2 more pitches.
3.--Since the instructor isn't taking any time on working on mechanics or correct spin, class time gets a little boring if you are not adding new pitches.

I've had young students tell me they've been passed up in try-outs or placed under in the rotation of another pitcher all because that pitcher claimed to have 5 pitches.
Coaches equate # of pitches to skill level of the pitcher, whether those pitches work or not.

Jojo said:

Here is my take on this, I instruct alongside others instructors that will teach every pitch to a 9yr old.

I have had students leave me to go to these instructors just so they can learn all the pitches.

Why does the instructor do this?
1.--Obviously it gets them students.
2.--It makes the instructor seem to be a better instructor, because already that instructor tells you, your DD has it all-together and is now ready for 2 more pitches.
3.--Since the instructor isn't taking any time on working on mechanics or correct spin, class time gets a little boring if you are not adding new pitches.

I've had young students tell me they've been passed up in try-outs or placed under in the rotation of another pitcher all because that pitcher claimed to have 5 pitches.
Coaches equate # of pitches to skill level of the pitcher, whether those pitches work or not.

Click to expand...

Jojo - so true! I purposely waited 5 years (7-11YO) for my DD to learn any pitch other than the 4-seam fastball and change-up. When DD was 9YO, one instructor who I specifically told not to introduce any movement pitches, was showing my DD the curve ball grip when I went to the car to get something. That was the last time she attended one of his lessons. Maybe I'm a hard axx but if I am paying $35 bucks for a half an hour lesson and I specifically told you numerous times not to teach a particular pitch, you better listen.

When she was 11YO, I finally felt comfortable having her learn movement pitches and she took to them fairly easily. She will be 13YO this summer and has generally the correct spin and movement on a curve, screwball, rise, and drop ball. They are by no means perfect and are always a work in progress but by waiting I think her learning curve (so to speak) was accelerated.

I will never forget the time I asked one of DD's teammates who was a year younger than her and probably 10YO how many pitches she had and she told me 7: drop, drop curve, rise ball, screwball, epheus pitch, change-up, and fastball. I thought she was kidding.....she wasn't! My DD "only" had 2 pitches and pitched circles around her.

I will tell you though, when you fill out the paperwork at travel ball tryouts they will ask you, among other things, how many pitches you have so be prepared for that answer....

I am a little bit bias because DD pitches and we are over the bucket of balls days, 1 ball is enough.

I told DD not to try out for pitching for her MS Team and just try to make the team. She comes home and tells me that she thought she looked OK pitching, all the other pitchers threw a bunch of different pitches. I asked her about her CU and she said she never throw it. She decided on her own to play catch with the catcher and see where it got her. Worked out OK for her.

canyonjoe said:

We had a 10U pitcher a few years ago who claimed to have 4 pitchers. I was skeptical until I saw her pitch in a game.

Ball 1,Ball 2, Ball 3 and Ball 4.

A question to pitching coaches (a subject I know little about), It seems like every pitcher I know that takes lessons keeps talking
about all the pitchers they are learning. Many can't even spot a fastball. Is it just something the coaches throw out to make parents
happy, or is it just as easy to learn control with many pitches?

Click to expand...

I'm not a pitching coach but DD used to pitch. She went to one of the top pitching coaches in the country IMO and she was pretty good at the time. At the age of 13, she had 3 pitches; cutter, drop and one heck of a change-up. Could she spot it? Anywhere you called them. Did she have more than 3 pitches? It depends upon who you talk to. Her PC, her realistic parents....no. Her...she had 5.

To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln "She has 5 pitches. One is a fastball, the others......aren't."

I beg the girls to throw another pitch. Nothing doing. In their minds (8 -12yo), they got where they are by throwing it down the middle and that is what they are going to do.

I introduce the CUs, as soon as possible. But, I can't make them throw it.

I still remember a couple of tryouts at 12U when a pitcher would show up with 5 pitches and all 5 of them would hit a 10" pizza pan when she threw them.....good times!!! Also loved the pitchers parents who claimed their DD threw 55 MPH and when we gunned her she struggled to hit 48 MPH....

Isn't a 10" pizza pan pretty small?