Mound Time?

Need help. I have a developing DD who started pitching about 8 more months ago. The rub. Their team is not very strong though they are improving. They also just lost their best catcher. She has this spring left in 10u and then must move up to 12u. She has a knack for pitching and is a very good fielder and a good hitter though her limited exposure to quality pitching and game experience has Hurt her softball IQ though every game she has gotten better. She loves pitching! Did I mention she loves pitching. She cruises at 45 but is a little wild. She pitches about every other game because she gets lots of strikeouts but also has lots of walks. The coaches are very good about letting her work through it. I personally think she could move to a more talent rich team and win more but with that said her mound time would probably decrease significantly as she is still a little wild. What to do? Stay where she gets lots of mound time against good teams and lose or move and win and get less mound time. I am leaning towards staying as she loves pitching and really seems to have a talent for it. How do you get better without getting mound time? In practice she can look great but put a hitter up and she tends to be more wild.


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You need to make sure to look at this as journey. I would not get too hung up on things at the 10u and 12u level when it comes to the quality of the team. IMO I would either stay where you are and get mound time or go to a more competitive team and pick-up with other teams for more pitching time. Either way you have to have mound time to develop. Nothing replaces it! Best of luck!

PapaPump said:

You need to make sure to look at this as journey. I would not get too hung up on things at the 10u and 12u level when it comes to the quality of the team. IMO I would either stay where you are and get mound time or go to a more competitive team and pick-up with other teams for more pitching time. Either way you have to have mound time to develop. Nothing replaces it! Best of luck!

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That is what I am thinking. Mound time against quality hitters is important!


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What's this "mound" thing you guys are talking about?

Eric F said:

What's this "mound" thing you guys are talking about?

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Sorry circle time . Lol


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That is what I am thinking. Mound time against quality hitters is important! Might be a good idea to post video of some of her pitching here.

It also seems like you are getting ahead of her learning curve. Get enough mound time against appropriate competition to use that as an incentive to have her start becoming a dominant pitcher at her level. If she doesn't have the skills and control to compete against the stronger teams then it's going to be a step back in her progress.

It sounds like she really likes to pitch so use 10U (even 12U) as a put her nose to the grind stone and work on all the basics. Build the basics as there shouldn't be a rush for newer pitchers. First and for most is that she needs to know where the ball is going and what it's going to do! Control will open so many opportunities for her, yet so many young ones don't want to put the time in and just want to throw hard. The best teams want pitchers who know where the ball is going and have other pitches that they can control.

While you start to get the basics down like her control start working on a different pitch. The first one to start practicing is the change up!

Pitchers gotta pitch to get better, IMO. She doesn't need 15 innings a week, and she does need someone to push her for innings to really see what she can do, so it sounds like you have what you need right now.

Find a team like ours. We have, to our surprise, a solid defense & good hitting. They have their 10 year old games with a million errors or KCs, but they are few and far between. My DD is the #1 pitcher and, so far, pretty far ahead of the other pitchers. We just got a #2 replacement, and I think she's an upgrade but much newer to pitching than my DD. We see raw talent and we're a developmental team in general, so we said let's do it. We are playing the highest level of competition where we can compete without a ton of stress, plus throwing in a handful of A level tournaments to push them and get them to the next level. There are a lot of "levels" of play, you have to find the right fit where your DD is not going to be miles above or below the other girls, but where she's the #1 or #2 pitcher. Easy, right?

Thanks sounds like my thinking is right on. I really like the team and the coaches. I just also want to do what Us best for her. To me the game time experience against good competition will not only help her pitching but also batting, fielding,base running etc.. plus all the soft skills she never developed in rec ball. We have developed a flip change that is devastating if she doesn't roll it on the ground or throw it 20foot high. She loves to work and her control and confidence keeps growing as we put in reps. I will try to post a video of her so y'all can dissect.


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Jday said:

Thanks sounds like my thinking is right on. I really like the team and the coaches. I just also want to do what Us best for her. To me the game time experience against good competition will not only help her pitching but also batting, fielding,base running etc.. plus all the soft skills she never developed in rec ball. We have developed a flip change that is devastating if she doesn't roll it on the ground or throw it 20foot high. She loves to work and her control and confidence keeps growing as we put in reps. I will try to post a video of her so y'all can dissect.


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Sounds like my DD's change up! It was her strongest pitch for a long time. Then we took a break last year for an injury and came back hitting the mechanics hard. Her fast ball was suddenly miles ahead of where it was, and her change up has not yet recovered. Sometimes it is deadly. Sometimes it hits the back stop way over blue's head, or the dirt 6' in front of the plate. lol

When we play in GSA tournaments (rarely), DD looks like a total stud. She strikes out almost everybody. It'd be easy to think she was the world's best 10 year old pitcher and call it a day. But she'll never improve when she's facing batters that can't hit her fast ball down the middle. No finesse required. I love seeing her pitch against strong hitting teams. She gets hit a LOT more but she has to work so much harder for the Ks and outs. I think it's important.