My DD is a senior this year. Her speed is very good in the gym pitching off a mat with a rubber. She can hit 61 regularly. Once in the dirt the speed just tails off to around 56. Very good at hitting her spots and seems to be very effective still but would like to see that speed. Any ideas?
Lack of game speed
- Thread starter mountyfan
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Question. Are you thinking her game speed is slower then practice speed?
Is she regular pitching in practice or doing something like push-back or walk-in drill while you measure her practice speed?
Also, are you measuring her practice speed when she's on a harder surface?
Also, are you measuring her practice speed when she's on a harder surface?
May be a heavy dragger and she's having to move a lot of dirt and it's slowing her down?
Assuming she is throwing off a pitching plate in practice and not doing walk-throughs, a 5 MPH drop from practice to games is high, @ 2 MPH is normal. I would suggest having practice with a batter in the box (does not swing, just stands there, occassional changing sides of the plate).
My guess would be the simplest answer....She's holding back a little to ensure accuracy. Most pitchers do this even if it is subconsciously. Throwing full bore has that kind of loose, slightly out of control feel (at least that is what my DD tells me) and they want to feel in control in a game.
They way I addressed it with my DD was the first pitch to each batter she threw it as hard as she could. Subsequent pitches she pitched to comfort level. Once she got used to that we went to one batter per inning, and so on and so on. Eventually, she was throwing close to her hardest every pitch.
She is still slightly faster in practice, but the difference is negligible now.
- Mar 24, 2014
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Every pitcher is different but during practice DD was pretty loose. During games, did pretty good but she had a tendency to speed up her backswing and push. Kind of rushed it a bit, and that was enough to lower her speed a few mph. We just talked about staying more relaxed on the mound, take a deep breath, etc. eventually her speed improved. My goal was to keep positive and just wanted to see improvement in her mechanics during games.
