Average Speed for a 12U pitcher?? and Off season prep to get ready for Season,,,,

coach james said:

Wow they grow them 14U girls like a boss there in MN... LOL
I sure wish all my 14U girls could average 59mph!!!

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Haven’t heard that saying in years and had forgotten it. We used to get it all the time when we played out of state. Or they’d ask if we were at the right field cuz they didn’t believe we were 14U. We also had a 5’10” OF and 5’9” 1B. This was taken here, but I always liked the look of the opposing girl in this pic. Size isn’t everything though. #30 was our best hitter and she’s 5’3”.

LOL.... She sure does look like she's sizing up #34.... oh crap

coach james said:

LOL.... She sure does look like she's sizing up #34.... oh crap

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#4 was actually our ace. Hard to tell from the way she's standing, but she's 5'11".

MNDad said:

#4 was actually our ace. Hard to tell from the way she's standing, but she's 5'11".

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Are you headed to Norman this weekend MNDad?

STRIKE3 said:

Are you headed to Norman this weekend MNDad?

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No, I have to work Monday. I was going to drive down to Ames and can’t say I mind they moved the games to Norman so I don’t have to watch softball in 20-30 degree temps. Might have been our best chance to win though! I’ll have to wait a week to say good luck to your Sooners.

MNDad said:

No, I have to work Monday. I was going to drive down to Ames and can’t say I mind they moved the games to Norman so I don’t have to watch softball in 20-30 degree temps. Might have been our best chance to win though! I’ll have to wait a week to say good luck to your Sooners.

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20-30 is brutal no doubt and hopefully they will have a bit better weather but you never know what you are going to get in OK.

And then there are the teams that are full of exceptions. Ad for a first year 10u team that I saw: (name redacted to protect the innocent) 08 is looking to add a strong catcher for Summer and Fall 2018 that can handle complex plays and has a strong arm. She must have basic blocking fundamentals . We have hard throwing 08 pitchers 45-50mph that will challenge her. She will play other positions as well.

Pitcher
Summer/Fall 2018.
Must be Hard thrower that can locate with change up. Preferably around 45. Our current developing staff is strong and getting better each tournament.

I’ve read that a lot of the top pitchers speeds in 10U and 12U don’t necessarily translate to top pitching speeds at 14U and 16U. I’ve also read the average speed for a HS pitcher is 56. Look at the speeds at some of the camps. I’ve seen them posted on this site before. There weren’t very many throwing 60 at the scouting camps.

NVfishing said:

I’ve read that a lot of the top pitchers speeds in 10U and 12U don’t necessarily translate to top pitching speeds at 14U and 16U. I’ve also read the average speed for a HS pitcher is 56. Look at the speeds at some of the camps. I’ve seen them posted on this site before. There weren’t very many throwing 60 at the scouting camps.

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It’s definitely true that 10U & 12U speeds don’t translate to 14U & 16U. There’s three major reasons. The most obvious is some girls stop growing and never get any stronger or faster. The other big one is girls take on other interests and softball becomes a second or third sport. The last is some girls simply start earlier. You get girls who’ve been practicing well before they get to 10U and others that don’t start pitching until 10U or even 12U. You get a pitchers with a year or two experience over other pitchers and there’s going to be a huge difference in 10U or 12U. Buy 14U they’ve all been pitching long enough that an early start isn’t a factor. It’s almost more of a hindrance because so many of these girls burn out and quit playing at all by 14U.

The speeds at scouting camps is both telling and deceptive. They show that it takes a lot of work to hit 60, but most of the 60+ throwers are further along in the recruiting process and aren’t at these type of open camps. By percentages the girls who can hit 60 is pretty rare. By raw numbers when the 60+ girls are competing for spots on college rosters they’re a dime a dozen.

My experience in travel ball has been average 12U speed is 45mph on the low side to 55mph on the high side. So, average would be about 50mph. Certainly there are outliers, but we are not playing in California PGF either nor playing glorified rec-ball teams.

At 12U some girls are done growing and some girls are just getting started. So I don't think speed parlays 100% into 14/16U. At 12U there are a lot of girls with bad form that can throw hard by sheer athleticism and strength. At the older levels form is going to become more important and (bad) form more difficult to overcome.