What pitches should an average 14u pitcher have?

ez_softball · Sep 3, 2017

BoardMember said:
Most pitchers at her age throw:
Fastball
Drop
Curve
Rise
Screwball
Change
Crop
Cutter

just ask dad!

Isn't that the truth. I know a dad that has told me and others his daughter frequently hits 60-62mph. I've gotten pretty good at estimating speeds by just watching a pitcher throw and she never passed the eye test of even a 55mph pitcher for me. Just for giggles I clocked her in a recent tourney and her fastball was lighting up the Ball Coach Radar at a whopping 50-52mph. He saw me clocking her and asked me after the game what I clocked her at... you should have seen his face. LOL

canyonjoe · Sep 4, 2017

BoardMember said:
Most pitchers at her age throw:
Fastball
Drop
Curve
Rise
Screwball
Change
Crop
Cutter

just ask dad!

And working on Knuckle ball because at 16U if you only have 8 pitches they start hitting you.

Eric F · Sep 4, 2017

ez_softball said:
Isn't that the truth. I know a dad that has told me and others his daughter frequently hits 60-62mph. I've gotten pretty good at estimating speeds by just watching a pitcher throw and she never passed the eye test of even a 55mph pitcher for me. Just for giggles I clocked her in a recent tourney and her fastball was lighting up the Ball Coach Radar at a whopping 50-52mph. He saw me clocking her and asked me after the game what I clocked her at... you should have seen his face. LOL

One of our pitchers (12U TB) this past season regularly cruises at 54-56, but will occasionally hit 58 when she's really firing hard. This has been radar-verified a few times. Dad was borrowing my Pocket Radar during one game and excitedly showed me a 63. I would bet money that 63 was exit velocity or bat speed.

spleen1015 · Sep 5, 2017

Location! Location! Location!

This wasn't much of a focus for my DD when she was younger and she's had to play a bit of catch up in this regard. She paid for it for a little while.

Gotta hit your spots!

TMoney · Sep 5, 2017

15yr old DD has 3. Fastball, Drop, and changeup. As riseball said above, she doesn't throw the change, cause she doesn't have too, but she will need it soon enough. I couldn't imagine a scenario where anyone would need more than 3 pitches if they are thrown effectively. In addition, pitching is hard! It takes a considerable amount of time to learn to throw, let alone pitch, and get a ball to move. Then try to get them to move the ball where they want. Now, do that for every pitch. You would be done with softball before you mastered all of them, either too old, or burned out.

jsoftballcoach · Sep 5, 2017

When you guys say fastball what do you mean? If the drop has 12-6ish spin then what spin does the fastball have? This would be a 4-seam pitch. For my DD it's the same pitch just maybe a bit higher in the zone and when she throws the drop she just raises her back hip to get more downward trajectory. I know some kids can throw a "fastball" 3-5mph faster with bullet spin so it's a different pitch but not sure in this context. So I guess for my DD she only throws 2 pitches (FB/Drop and change). PC calls the change an off-speed drop presumably because it also has 12-6 spin. Her rise is a work in progress but works on it every practice session.

DD cruising speed is 51-52 so she has to rely on the change and it has become a very necessary pitch, so it's thrown often.

djcarter1966 · Sep 5, 2017

jsoftballcoach said:
When you guys say fastball what do you mean? If the drop has 12-6ish spin then what spin does the fastball have? This would be a 4-seam pitch. For my DD it's the same pitch just maybe a bit higher in the zone and when she throws the drop she just raises her back hip to get more downward trajectory. I know some kids can throw a "fastball" 3-5mph faster with bullet spin so it's a different pitch but not sure in this context. So I guess for my DD she only throws 2 pitches (FB/Drop and change). PC calls the change an off-speed drop presumably because it also has 12-6 spin. Her rise is a work in progress but works on it every practice session.

DD cruising speed is 51-52 so she has to rely on the change and it has become a very necessary pitch, so it's thrown often.

Honestly most fastballs have a slight drop and tail component to them that she can experiment with different grips and different finger pressure and see how it goes she will see that she can make that fastball do slightly different things.

riseball · Sep 5, 2017

jsoftballcoach said:
When you guys say fastball what do you mean? If the drop has 12-6ish spin then what spin does the fastball have? This would be a 4-seam pitch. For my DD it's the same pitch just maybe a bit higher in the zone and when she throws the drop she just raises her back hip to get more downward trajectory. I know some kids can throw a "fastball" 3-5mph faster with bullet spin so it's a different pitch but not sure in this context. So I guess for my DD she only throws 2 pitches (FB/Drop and change). PC calls the change an off-speed drop presumably because it also has 12-6 spin. Her rise is a work in progress but works on it every practice session.

DD cruising speed is 51-52 so she has to rely on the change and it has become a very necessary pitch, so it's thrown often.

As [MENTION=11730]djcarter1966[/MENTION] said my DD could get her fb to tail left or right with significant movement through changes in finger pressure and placing her fingers inside or outside the ball.

jsoftballcoach · Sep 5, 2017

riseball said:
As [MENTION=11730]djcarter1966[/MENTION] said my DD could get her fb to tail left or right with significant movement through changes in finger pressure and placing her fingers inside or outside the ball.

Thanks, so "fastball" is same grip and release as peel drop but spin and movement depend on finger pressure and it basically becomes another pitch.

Sorry not trying to hijack this thread

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

riseball · Sep 5, 2017

jsoftballcoach said:
Thanks, so "fastball" is same grip and release as peel drop but spin and movement depend on finger pressure and it basically becomes another pitch.

Sorry not trying to hijack this thread

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Grip and release is a bit different but not much. A drop with have a 12-6 spin. Assuming an RHP if you get your fingers on the inside of the ball you can get a 1-7/2-6 spin that will tail down and into a RHB. Get the fingers on the outside of the ball and you can get an 11-5/10-4 spin that will tail down and away from an RHB. Many will claim that elite level pitchers do not throw fast balls. That is not true, elite level pitchers do not throw pitches that do not move. That is part of what makes them elite level. That said there are certain situations where one can make a compelling argument for a bullet spin fastball that has minimal movement. But would never recommend that for a developing pitcher.

What pitches should an average 14u pitcher have?

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