That's a bit harsh to tell a kid, or any player at any age. Probably better off saying "If we start walking batters, we are going to have to turn It over to our teammate for the rest of the game". A lot of pitching Is mental, and a kid her age doesn't need to be thinking that the sky Is gonna fall If she walks a couple batters.
I give up.
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That's a bit harsh to tell a kid, or any player at any age. Probably better off saying "If we start walking batters, we are going to have to turn It over to our teammate for the rest of the game". A lot of pitching Is mental, and a kid her age doesn't need to be thinking that the sky Is gonna fall If she walks a couple batters.
Warm-ups...Someone told me very long ago:
Most pitchers throw to warm up when they should warm up to throw.
In other words, have her jog a lap or two, do some jumping jacks, get her heart rate up and a little sweat going and she's as physically warmed up to get in the circle as she would be if she spent half an hour doing power line drills. The rest of a pitchers warm up is mental preparation. If doing power line drills or some other routine gets her mentally ready to pitch, great. Just for the love of all that is Holy don't let her do wrist snaps.
My DD's warm up consists of getting her body loose and warm, then going straight into full pitches. If she thinks she needs to work a certain location or spin more then she does so. Sometimes she's ready to step in the circle in 10 minutes, sometimes its a half hour. The bottom line is she knows her body and mental state far better than I ever will.
The most important thing a pitcher needs is circle time. If she isn't getting any or much, you would best be served by finding a team where she does. That said, she is 10U. Let her be wild. Let her be inaccurate. Let her bean batters. It is all part of the process. Do NOT emphasize throwing strikes. While that may get her by at 10U, she'll be nothing but batting practice at 12U and higher. If you have a coach that emphasizes throwing strikes above all else you need to find another coach. That attitude will not serve her well in the future.
The so-called quest for pinpoint accuracy has ruined more young pitchers than anything else. This is the reason it is highly recommended that pitchers learn to throw by throwing into a tarp 10 feet away rather than trying to throw to a catcher.
I believe this to be true. I used to focus on her throwing strikes, then I was set straight and told her goal should be pitches that can be caught by the catcher more than throwing strikes. Do you agree with this?
Yes. And no. And kinda.
A beginning pitcher, as in one with less than three to six months, I disagree with throwing to a target at all. They should throw to nothing but a tarp 10 feet in front of them and the focus should be on proper mechanics, not the result of where the ball goes.
Once they have a solid base of mechanics, then yes, I agree throwing where a catcher can catch the ball is a good goal. That said, it shouldn't be a results orientated goal. It should be a goal to throw to the catcher while AT THE SAME TIME maintaining clean mechanics. Too often the goal of hitting a target overrides the goal of clean mechanics. Hence the reason you will see so many young pitchers with crazy leans, absurd butt out posture and so on, yet getting praise for throwing a "good pitch".
The thing is....pitching is hard. Like crazy hard. It takes time to develop as a skill. A lot of coaches and bucket dads don't have the patience to let it develop and instead adopt a results orientated attitude. They often produce lights out pitchers at 10U. These develop into girls that reminisce about how great they were at 10U and don't understand why they aren't at 14U.
Thanks. Hopefully soon I can get the DW to get some video online somewhere of the DD pitching, Id love to get some feedback from you and possibly others on this board.
Yeah, he's pretty concerned with hitting spots, even in league. Luckily, I'm pretty good at handling him and being pretty straight forward but it HAS limited her circle time a bit. I'm not entirely sure this team is going to last until next spring. His DD needs to be playing on a team with much better girls around her anyway because she outclasses all but maybe 1 or 2 others, and I think (hope) he's starting to hear the assistant coaches and I when we tell him this. I think the problem will take care of itself.
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- Jun 19, 2013
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I am not a coach just a parent who learned everything here pretty much and helped my DD from 11-16 so far. I think she looks great!! I wish mine looked like that at 12 even 
I see where folks are going with not over coaching, but I can sense your thinking of not wanting to practice stuff that needs to be changed later after 2,000 pitches and now we need to undo it. I might suggest that if she is forcing her follow through with her hand and elbow up high that you give her the freedom to let the arm end up where it ends up after a pitch that she isn't trying to force it into any certain position. That was so freeing for my DD.
And then I think the suggestion of having a striped ball in practice would be great. So she can start seeing and recognizing spin. This might be good for you catching too. Down the road when she is learning pitches it can be really good to recognize ok her fast ball spin is just off from 12/6 and "wow this change up is really similar and has a similar delivery so this is something that can fool batters". Or "oh ok when she hits 12/6 that drops more but if it's bullet it is flatter and easier to hit so if she can maintain 12/6 that might be better in the long run than bullet spin that is only like 1 or 2 mph faster. That sort of thing will serve you both in the long run understanding what spin she has and where it needs to go later for achieving good movement.
But she looks awesome and is doing a LOT right. I'm sure you'll get further good advice on here.
I see where folks are going with not over coaching, but I can sense your thinking of not wanting to practice stuff that needs to be changed later after 2,000 pitches and now we need to undo it. I might suggest that if she is forcing her follow through with her hand and elbow up high that you give her the freedom to let the arm end up where it ends up after a pitch that she isn't trying to force it into any certain position. That was so freeing for my DD.
And then I think the suggestion of having a striped ball in practice would be great. So she can start seeing and recognizing spin. This might be good for you catching too. Down the road when she is learning pitches it can be really good to recognize ok her fast ball spin is just off from 12/6 and "wow this change up is really similar and has a similar delivery so this is something that can fool batters". Or "oh ok when she hits 12/6 that drops more but if it's bullet it is flatter and easier to hit so if she can maintain 12/6 that might be better in the long run than bullet spin that is only like 1 or 2 mph faster. That sort of thing will serve you both in the long run understanding what spin she has and where it needs to go later for achieving good movement.
But she looks awesome and is doing a LOT right. I'm sure you'll get further good advice on here.
She looks great!
- Jun 8, 2016
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At 9 I wouldn't really expect her to be able to speak up, regardless of whether the coach is approachable or not. Sometimes you need to be an advocate for your DD..I don't see that as being "THAT dad" especially considering (and Ty should know this) a team cannot expect to compete with one bracket pitcher. I should know since our team basically had one kid who pitched every bracket game all summer. By the third game in 95 degrees our pitcher was throwing fastballs that my 3 year old could hit
That doesn't work at 10U and it certainly won't work at 12U and higher if he plans on keeping the team together. He has a kid who is invested in the team and is willing to put the time in to get better...he should take advantage of it.
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