10U Confusion

Our main goal right now is her learning proper mechanics and getting reps. She's 9 and about to start 2nd year 10U. I try (often unsuccesfully) not to compare her to other kids her age. There's no telling what the next few years will bring. Our focus this year after a fairly stressful 1st year of 10U is mostly to relax and have fun. She's been in lessons since January of 2015.

Since you asked though, the highest we've clocked her (well, her PC did) is 53 running in and 47 full pitch. Her location on her fast ball is very good. She can throw a change up and a drop ball reliably (though her change up slumps sometimes, and she'll have several games where she can't throw a good one reliably). She requested recently to learn a different change up and a riseball so she's playing with those now. We won't use a riseball in games for awhile I'm sure - from everything I've read you can't get them to rise in 35' anyway. We have her practicing those from further back. I realize it's questionable to teach a new pitch at this age, but she likes to learn new things, it breaks the monotony.

I guess my input coming from a second year 12U was at 10U we really concentrated on hitting inside and out FB with max effort and learning a CU that we could show for speed difference. Her CU at 10U and first year 12U was very hit and miss. So for us this year we really worked very hard on deception of the pitch. She had trouble getting the speed drop we wanted and was getting frustrated with it. So I decided to work on the other part of the pitch that is just as important. Disguising the pitch. She still over cooks it too much so it's more of my an offspeed about half the time and a true CU speed the other half. But by the end of the year and against the best teams we played for the year it became a very good pitch. It was thrown at least once or more times nearly every at bat. The only hit on that pitch in the last 2 tournaments was when she left it flat and slowed down her motion. The batter picked it up. But against some of the best hitters we saw all year it was very effective because she has started to really disguise it pretty well. She also went to a college camp and they gave her confidence in the pitch by just verbally letting her know that it was really a good pitch and should throw it more. Now we are deliberately making it a CU and Offspeed which actually has good back door movement late with a strong emphasis of commanding that pitch in and out. The move to 43' has helped her drop some so that is being used more in her JV games she has pitched in than what was called in TB. Now my daughter throws about 50 and just turned 13. So she was not the fastest in 12U. But hitting her spots with the fastball and disguising her CU/Offspeed pitch helped her a tremendous amount. She also just got informed she made her #1 choice for a 14U TB team as the #2 pitcher/utility player. Hopefully the velocity will keep coming as she has added about 4-5 mph every year for the last 3.

To give you advise on comparing with younger girls. My DD first year at 9 she pitched 1 inning. Threw very hard for Rec but no control. 2nd year 10U. Played Rec and select and was the # 3 pitcher. Control got much better but still just trying to throw hard and keep the walks down added CU. First year 12U wanted to play more and made a TB team. At the start of that fall was the #4 pitcher. By the end of the spring was #1 because she worked extremely hard on control with max effort but with relaxed smooth motion. Don't over throw and muscle or aim the pitch. This year was asked to join a higher level TB team because of how she did against them in the state tournament. (Old team dissolved as well). Was the #2 pitcher on this team until the last 2 tournaments. Her speed was still a little below the #1 but had become more effective by the end of the year and a large part of that was her movement and CU. The girls at 9-10 that were pitching ahead of my DD, only one still pitches and she is still in Rec. A girl that was the "beast" at 10U we saw her once this year pitching for a C class 14 U team (she is a year older than my DD). Still throwing about 45-47 no CU really and getting hammered. This cannot be emphasized enough, it's a marathon not a sprint. Just make sure she still loves playing the game. I don't know how many (even 2 off her TB this year) have left the sport altogether or dropping back to just play school ball/Rec. So she has to love to play because she loves it and she has to be involved with what she wants to do with the sport. Both moves last year and this year were strictly my DD call.


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You need some velocity to make anything but a CU meaning anything.

I am all for playing with other pitches but a good located FB and CU are deadly at this age.

There not many girls in 10u that can hit 50mph+ with control. Control being defined as averaging less than one walk or HBP per inning. Then there are some hitting 50mph+ that can strikeout 5 girls in a row, but may walk 5 girls in a row too. Add in the wild pitches that can become common with a pitcher throwing 50+ with no control, and the other team can score 3-4 runs without the ball leaving the dirt.

Unfortunately, due to the 35' distance, speed matters a lot in 10u. Put a girl out there hitting 52, 53 or 54 and throwing strikes - good luck to the batters. The best 10u pitchers we saw weren't the ones that threw the fastest, even if it was mostly strikes. It was the ones we saw that threw around 50 but also had an effective change up and could hit their spots. They didn't walk a lot of batters and few if any wild pitches.

We also saw some good pitchers that hit 45-48mph but had great change ups and could work all parts of the plate. Too many 10u girls want to live on the outside corner 99% of the time. The ones who can work in the inside corner are far more effective even without the speed.

I have yet to see a riseball in 10u. Sure some girls, their parents and coaches think they throw one, but it's just a high fastball.
Same for dropball in 10u - just a low fastball that gravity does its magic on.
I'm on the fence about curveballs and screwballs in 10u. I just don't think at 35' and 45-50 mph it can move as much as people think it does in their head.

But it can be beneficial for them to learn how to throw all of them, how to properly grip and spin them, as one day they will have the velocity and 8 more feet to work with that will make it move.

Also, at 10u, a lot of these girls that throw hard tend to be on the upper end of the size spectrum. Very rarely do you see an elite 10u pitcher that isn't in the upper 10-20% in terms of size of girls not only on the team, but at the tournament. I've seen 10u girls throwing 55mph, but they were 5'6" and weighed about 150. They should be throwing that hard if their mechanics are good. Don't think I've seen too many, if any at all, 5' tall, 100lbs 10u girls dominating out there.

^^^^^^^^This^^^^^The only thing that I would put a caveat is that the true talented teams WILL adjust and catch up to the fireball pitchers IF that is all they have. But those are the top teams that have a number of players that can make the hitting adjustment and not just 1 or maybe 2 hitters.
Also great advice from many of the other FP veterans!!!!!!

No time like the present at 10U to get her C/U right. You won't regret it! Keep working on the basics of pitching mechanics (IR, drive, body control/location, BI, spin etc.) Like so many have said, slow and steady wins the race. Don't worry when comparing her to others as game results should already give you insight into how she is doing.

It took patience and persistence but DD kept working on dialing in her C/U in her last couple years of 10U. Work on having it look like a strike coming in with a really good spin rate and the correct speed so it drops and the batter is fooled or hits it weakly back to her.

It takes a lot of work but make it part of every workout in the fall and winter months. It's so fun to watch when a pitcher gets it dialed in.

Last thing to add after watching a Red Sox pitcher slow their motion down on a CU. Get her tempo the same on every pitch. Hitters can smell it when a pitcher slows down their pitching motion.

Well, I can see it about the riseball/fast ball. I saw a 10U pitcher who seemed to have a riseball but was probably more a high fast ball. Of course, with the number of strike outs the kid gets I doubt anyone cares what the proper name is for it. But I'm pretty sure my DD's drop ball is for real. Even if she doesn't tell me what she's throwing I can always pick out the drop ball over the fast ball because I cannot catch it to save my life and it always leaves me covered in bruises. It dives at the end, rather than just coming in low.

Thanks for all the great responses. She loves it and works hard so we'll keep plugging away. I have to admit, there's not a lot of places I'd rather be than on that bucket.

My DD's pitching coach always tell her, "it's not how you start it's how you finish"

DD is second year 10u. We had a rough season in that she had an arm injury in the middle of Spring that set her back a little. She has also spent the whole year wishing she was faster and doing everything she could to throw faster but didn't gain a whole lot. She's a little one. Maybe 4'8", 90lbs. She played on an A level team and was definitely not the fastest pitcher compared to some on teams we played. Her speed hovered at around 42-44. She DOES have great accuracy and movement on her pitches. Can locate like crazy, a decent CU, and a drop ball that actually worked like 70% of the time. In one of our last bracket games we played this season (single elim) she went up agains this other teams pitcher who was easily throwing 6mph faster than my DD. I was so worried. But she hung the whole game. Despite being slower she was super effective. Strike outs, pop ups and weak grounders were all they were getting off her. We were tied 2-2 the whole game until we had to go ITB in overtime and the other team was home and they scored. The opposing teams coaches were trying to intimidate her the whole time by trying to get the Umps to call her on illegal pitching (she wasn't doing anything wrong) . She held her composure and was able to block all that out. THIS is what is important at this age. We always stress proper mechanics & Composure (which can be hard at 10 and you are having an off day on the mound). The speed will come. She's 10. She will have an entirely new body at 12 or 13. The "good habits" are being formed now. I know several girls who were "dominant" at 10U and either don't play anymore, or they had sacrificed mechanics to just "throw hard" from the get go and are now injured all the time or have hit a wall. She's setting the foundation now, keep working but like the other posters have said it's a marathon not a race.

At the 10U travel level, unless you are throwing 52-56 you will need to locate the ball, location location location and have an effective change up, even if you dont throw it for a strike all the time, just let the other team know you have one, and the need to look out for it and respect it, most young girls dont know how to handle outside pitches at this age. My DD threw hard, she threw 55-56, very effective but against top teams we had to mix in other pitches, a good change up is a young pitchers best friend. Moving up to 12U speed is really not a factor for a first year player especially, you have to spin the now, that fastball will get banged.