How important is getting innings?

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Nov 3, 2012
480
16
My DDs current situation is she is on a team with a lot of pitchers. I mean, a lot. This is a nationally ranked organization that has a good off-season workout program for hitters and pitchers. We've already attended one of the hitting and one of the pitching workouts and they were both really good. Is it more important for her to spend the year in this organizations program to improve her overall mechanics, continue to work with me and her PC while only getting a couple of innings here and there (maybe like 3 innings every 4 or 5 games) or is it more important to just continue to work with me and her PC while getting a much larger lions share of innings in tournament games.

Just curious, how much importance do you place on getting innings in games and how many does a developing pitcher need?

If you're DD is just starting to be a pitcher at a younger age, this might work for you. I would only do this if she's getting playing time and hitting time at another position. Nothing more miserable then sitting the bench and watching other girls play. Sounds like you're not sure if she's a pitcher or going to play some other position. If she's getting good instruction from the organization, then it might pay off to be patient. But this only lasts so long.

If you're DD is really committed to pitching, she's going to be going to lessons once and a week and practicing on your own. I know personally and from experience, that if you're putting time and money into something, you're going to expect to see progress and an opportunity to measure the progress. The trick is finding good instruction and a team/coach that will work with you.

My DD first travel team at 12u had 5 pitchers and all pitchers had minimal experience. She got limited time, and was rewarded for pitching more innings later is she did pitch well. But this put competitive pressure on her, and I the parent put unnecessary pressure on her also. And she went through a phase where she would tighten up and pitch poorly and didn't get any innings. Just keep in mind its developmental and there's a lot of pressure on these kids. Make sure she's in a situation that's and fun, and that's it a developmental process and girls develop at different rates. You do need experience in a situation where she can learn and fail without significant penalty to her pitching time.
 
Dec 8, 2015
249
18
Philadelphia, PA
No she's a pitcher. She's been playing tournament ball for a couple years now and has been either the #1 or #2 pitcher for her team. This year we moved from our smaller organization to a nationally ranked organization. I didn't know when we made the switch (did a private so I didn't get to see the entire team workout) that this team had 7 pitchers. I've had to opportunity to catch all 7 in our workouts and they are all equally good so even if HC thinks DD is #1 I think innings will be limited. Also, with that many pitchers, there is going to be a ton of turmoil on this team when 2 or 3 kids don't get innings. I don't want to be a part of that. Talked to DD's PC to see if at this point in her development, less innings with more focus on mechanics or even getting some innings at rec ball would be a good thing. PC said no, she needs innings (not rec), she's past the beginner stage where this might be more appropriate. So it looks like I'm back at finding a new team for DD that has innings available. Not too hard since pitching is at a premium in these parts, just sucks because DD liked the girls on this team.
 
Dec 2, 2013
3,409
113
Texas
7 pitchers! Wowzers. We had 6 on a team 2 years ago with 3 catchers. That was difficult to manage. Bear with me as I meander through these scenarios. It depends on age of team. 10U-14u. If you are playing real tourneys, you might get to play 4-8 games in weekend, but you have to be in the loser's bracket to play a lot of games. That's when having a stable of pitchers helps, but if DD is on a high powered team then they may just win all of the games. That could result in 4 bracket games and it's hard to get all the pitchers some circle time. Now if your team is 16U/18U you should be playing showcases which is normally 4-5 games in a weekend which results in pitching a half a game. And it is never equitable because of the timing and innings. I just don't see how having 7 pitchers on a team is going to work unless they make two teams. How many kids on the roster? How many catchers? How can a coach make a decision to keep that many pitchers on a team?

There was a girl on DD's team that was told to not expect much pitching time as she would be the 5th pitcher. She left for another team that needed pitchers. I do not blame them one bit. If she wants to pitch, she needs to pitch. You gotta get selfish sometimes!
 
Jun 29, 2013
589
18
I'm with Sluggers, getting innings is critical. Pitcher's gotta pitch, and you don't want your DD to be the 4th pitcher in a 3 pitcher rotation are two of my favorite sayings. 7 pitchers is a lot, I haven't seen too many teams throw more than 4 over the course of the season but maybe they're doing things differently. You are right about the turmoil, guaranteed that at least one of the parents on this team is going to be unhappy about DD being used too little.
 
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
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My DD would have a hard time staying motivated to practice if she wasn't getting circle time in games. The contest with the batters is what makes it fun for her. For us the ideal is for her to be the #2. Then she gets plenty of circle time but still has something to fight for.
 
Nov 3, 2012
480
16
No she's a pitcher. She's been playing tournament ball for a couple years now and has been either the #1 or #2 pitcher for her team. This year we moved from our smaller organization to a nationally ranked organization. I didn't know when we made the switch (did a private so I didn't get to see the entire team workout) that this team had 7 pitchers. I've had to opportunity to catch all 7 in our workouts and they are all equally good so even if HC thinks DD is #1 I think innings will be limited. Also, with that many pitchers, there is going to be a ton of turmoil on this team when 2 or 3 kids don't get innings. I don't want to be a part of that. Talked to DD's PC to see if at this point in her development, less innings with more focus on mechanics or even getting some innings at rec ball would be a good thing. PC said no, she needs innings (not rec), she's past the beginner stage where this might be more appropriate. So it looks like I'm back at finding a new team for DD that has innings available. Not too hard since pitching is at a premium in these parts, just sucks because DD liked the girls on this team.


That explains a lot. Sounds like your DD is at the point you need innings. I agree under these circumstances. See the other topic: Questions pitcher's dads need to negotiate when joining a team. I know not always feasible, but you almost have to research, interview, and negotiate the pitching situation. Sounds like this coach or organization is trying to monopolize all the pitching in the area. Seven is to many, but i'm curious to what the other parents thought when joining the team. Where they misled?

In my DD 14U season, we moved up to a really good organization that is recognized nationally and played big tournaments. We wanted to get better by playing top competition. This team had a young coach who was a few years out of playing college ball. The young coach wasn't available to talk and didn't make player decisions. But one of the organization's directors made the personnel decisions and picked the teams. He assured me there was just going to be only 3 pitchers on the team, and that my DD was one of the top two and that the third was just a player who pitched in emergencies and wasn't strong. So we show up and find out that there was 5 pitchers on the team. I couldn't go back to the coach to say what was up, but it the director who was playing the con game and was trying to load the team up with pitchers. I find out later, the guy doesn't have the best rep. We stuck it out, and things eventually worked out. But there were some rough moments where my DD was getting very limited innings, but she stuck it out because she was still getting hitting opportunities.
 
Last edited:
Nov 18, 2013
2,255
113
She needs to pitch in games. She will *not* develop into a pitcher if she isn't pitching.

1) She has to find out if she likes pitching. Only a few people enjoy pitching during a game. Only a few people have the mental and emotional makeup to do it. (Pitchers are not better than everyone else...but they sure are different from most people. And, yes, I'm talking to you, Boardmember.) A pitcher is the focal point of the entire game. Some kids hate it. Some love it. Your DD has to find out if she *really* wants to pitch. She has to experience it.

2) One part of game pitching is to "let go" of the constant mechanics and pitch. If a kid practices correctly, she should be mentally focused on the mechanics. But, during a game, the pitcher has to focus on pitch location and getting batters out.

3) Perhaps the most important part of pitching is learning the umpire's strike zone. That is, each umpire has a different strike zone. A pitcher has to pitch to the umpire's strike zone. Therefore, the pitcher has to learn the ump's strike zone, and adapt to that changed strike zone.

4) A pitcher has to learn how pitch placement varies with pitch count.

5) Throwing a changeup in the backyard with Dad is a little different than throwing a changeup in the bottom of the 7th in a one run game with runners at 2nd and 3rd.




I disagree. All that does is teach the kid that it is Ok to watch other people pitch.

My DD played on a B team for three years of TB. She pitched probably 60% to 70% of the time on those B teams. She didn't think anything of pitching 6 games a weekend.

She learned how to pitch. She learned how to move the ball around the zone. She learned how to work the umpires. She learned how to pitch to avoid certain fielders. She learned how to get kids to play a little harder for her. She learned how to lead.

When she moved up to a top travel team, and then juco, and then D1, she wanted only one thing: To be the big dog pitcher.

I guess we’re good examples that there’s more than one right path to the destination. DD’s first Daddyball coaches were big on the “pitcher needs innings” motto. I cringe when I hear that because that translated into “our kids need to pitch every inning”. DD finally pitched the following season and was also the big dog on a B team for three years. In her case it wasn’t a good move because all she had to do was throw hard and didn’t need to learn how to pitch. Moving to a travel ball team with superb coaches and dedicated teammates brought her game to another level. She had to work her way up from the 3 or 4 pitcher to 1 or 2. It also allowed her to see some of the best teams in the country and realize she could compete at that level.

After that team imploded she moved to what I’d call a B national level team. She was by far the #1 and it didn’t take long until I saw some of the old habits of getting by on speed instead of pitching. She got to play for a top national team at 18U and that helped a lot to prepare for college. (It wasn’t enough to help her in conference play, but that’s another story). You don’t want them sitting too much, but I think it’s good for them to not just expect to start every game. That seems to be something way too many have a problem with and quit after their freshman year.

Re: the OP, 7 pitchers is way too many. I can only guess he’s thinking girls will switch positions once they figure out they can’t beat out 5-6 other girls. I can’t imagine he’d try going through a season with that many.
 
Sep 29, 2014
2,421
113
from the OP "even if HC thinks DD is #1 I think innings will be limited. "

This is simply not true....go watch this team go through the championship bracket on Sunday this Spring my guess is they will throw two pitchers with one of those getting 75% of the innings.
 
Dec 8, 2015
249
18
Philadelphia, PA
from the OP "even if HC thinks DD is #1 I think innings will be limited. "

This is simply not true....go watch this team go through the championship bracket on Sunday this Spring my guess is they will throw two pitchers with one of those getting 75% of the innings.

This team isn't making it through a Sunday bracket. It's mostly all first year 12s.
 
Sep 3, 2015
372
63
She must pitch in games to get better. There is no substitute for game time pitching, I don't care how much you practice. Practice and mechanics and all that are great and it's necessary, but if your DD wants to be a pitcher then you should find a team where she can pitch and ideally be the #1 or #2.

Being a pitcher is like playing another sport, you have to put in more work than almost anyone else.

In my DD's journey, she was the #1 on a lower level B team at 10U and first year 12U. She also pitched in rec and got a lot of experience but the competition was spotty. She moved up to a 12U A team last fall and became a much better pitcher, I think due to the competition of both trying to get innings and the hitters that she faced. It also makes them work harder when practicing. There were 4(ish) pitchers on that team but she made her way to #1 by the end of the fall season.

Second year 12U she was the #1 and learned that she HAD to use other pitches to get better hitters out and those pitches have to work and be located in order to be successful. She threw 150+ innings in the summer against the top teams. Those B level innings weren't near the same competition-wise but were very necessary to get to where she is now.

My advice is to find the best competition possible where your DD can get a meaningful amount of innings and go from there.

We switched teams and DD is now playing 14U this fall for the first time and must earn her way to the top again (3 pitchers on team) and all she wants is to be the #1, that's the goal.
 

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