How important is getting innings?

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Dec 8, 2015
249
18
Philadelphia, PA
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?
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
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?

You need to get the opportunity for at least 1/3 of the innings, and they need to be meaningful. If you are playing the typical 3 pool game/single elimination bracket, and your DD is not getting to start at least one of those games, then she isn't getting enough. If your DD is just getting 3 innings/5 games then they are likely scraps - i.e. being put in only when the game is decided or because the team is out of options or the other team is awful.

What is the point of 'learning' and 'practicing' if you are never going to actually get to use those skills in games? In the USA, there is really only a limited number of years to play - over 50% of players stop playing before HS and if they play through college then they play until they are 22/23. You are going to waste one of those years just NOT playing? That makes no sense to me.

And also, the pitchers who ARE getting the innings will continue to develop faster because they are getting more game experience - so at SOME point you will need to jump ship because it is going to take a herculean effort to depose those in front of her. Also 'nationally ranked' orgs attract players from other teams, so you are going to be fighting new developed pitchers coming into the org all the time.

Unless you can get innings elsewhere (guest play, local rec league, etc), if your DD really wants to be a pitcher, this org/team might not be the best fit.
 
May 15, 2016
926
18
Just curious, how much importance do you place on getting innings in games and how many does a developing pitcher need?
.

I have been wondering the same basic question. Is it better to be the #1 pitcher on a lesser team, or the #2 pitcher on a better team?
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
#2 should be OK, even #3 might be OK. Once you get under that you might not see a lot of innings.

Lot depends on HC and Team though.
 

JAD

Feb 20, 2012
8,231
38
Georgia
If your DD is a "pitch and sit" I would never put her on a team with more than 3 pitchers. If they divide the innings equally your DD is pitching 33% of the time and sitting 66% for the time. If your DD plays another position and bats even when she is not pitching, I would still not look for a team with more than 4.
 
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Sep 29, 2014
2,421
113
As another poster said if you are not getting to start a pool game (and finish it if all goes well) then you are not really one of the teams pitchers. I think if you really want to be a pitcher you can't get any less than 25% of the innings at the absolute minimum preferably 33%. I would also be very clear with coach that you are not getting the innings you need to develop as a pitcher and you expect his 100% support to guest any weekend your team is not is a tournament. In the end you have to pitch in games you can't just practice pitching it is simply not the same thing.
 
Nov 18, 2013
2,255
113
What are her goals? Does she want to pitch in college someday? If there’s potential for a larger role as she develops you’re in an ideal situation. Playing on a nationally ranked team and being around that caliber of player will make her better. Throwing a few innings a weekend against top competition will do far more for her than throwing 20 innings against B teams. Pitchers develop in practice. Joining a team with lessor quality coaching and facing weaker competition won’t make her a better pitcher. She won’t lose ground to anybody getting more innings. If she’s practicing harder, she’ll get her chance.

If she just wants to play in HS or play locally with her friends, find a lesser team where she can get more innings. If she’s highly competitive she’ll likely be happier on a team with equally driven athletes. Those types of players aren’t usually happy when they’re getting more innings because the girls around them are weaker. Sometimes it’s more important to the parents that their kid is seeing a lot of circle time than it is to the kid. DD’s favorite teams she was never the top pitcher. They need enough innings to keep interested. If she’s happy, she’s in the right place.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
Just curious, how much importance do you place on getting innings in games and how many does a developing pitcher need?

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.


Throwing a few innings a weekend against top competition will do far more for her than throwing 20 innings against B teams

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.
 
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