Pitching faster

"both throwing fastballs around 62 & 63 mph"
Yep, speed is never the issue when you are throwing 62+ mph.

"Both are so successful because of how they move the ball and hit their spots"
.......and throwing 62+ mph. If they were throwing 5-6mph less they would both be pitching at a d2 school and none of us would have heard of them.

"I’m a Dad of a flamethrower who took a LOT of lumps because she didn’t get much movement and couldn’t hit spots. Spin it to win it!"
These are not mutually exclusive. Your DD didn't struggle with movement and hitting spots because she was a flamethrower. You can still struggle with movement and location as a non-flamethrower. I think the best course of action for any pitcher is challenge yourself to get better in all 3 areas.


Love the discussions. I very much benefit from this site. Thanks to everyone for sharing their knowledge.

One must be careful of working on only a single aspect of pitching: fast or movement. ESPECIALLY working on velocity. Getting a jump in velocity is often easy when a pitcher gets out of their rhythm by trying to overthrow. Tensing up and using muscle. Yes, in many cases this will increase velocity but also will increase likelihood for injury and reduce endurance. I often say that pitching is exactly like hitting: When you try to hit a HR, it never happens. It's when you relax and concentrate with a nice swing that we make our best connections. Same is true in pitching. The HARDER you try, the more difficult to control the ball, the pitches will flatten out, and then you're left with nothing.

Sometimes a flamethrower has to turn it down a bit to get the movement. Once they have the timing right for the release points and spins are correct, they can go back to throwing the gas again WITH the movement and control.

Bill

Djubs said:

"both throwing fastballs around 62 & 63 mph"
Yep, speed is never the issue when you are throwing 62+ mph.

"Both are so successful because of how they move the ball and hit their spots"
.......and throwing 62+ mph. If they were throwing 5-6mph less they would both be pitching at a d2 school and none of us would have heard of them.

"I’m a Dad of a flamethrower who took a LOT of lumps because she didn’t get much movement and couldn’t hit spots. Spin it to win it!"
These are not mutually exclusive. Your DD didn't struggle with movement and hitting spots because she was a flamethrower. You can still struggle with movement and location as a non-flamethrower. I think the best course of action for any pitcher is challenge yourself to get better in all 3 areas.


Love the discussions. I very much benefit from this site. Thanks to everyone for sharing their knowledge.

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I agree with everything you said. I’d just like to add some context. I was referring to mentions that D1’s only want big strong girls and flamethrowers. I thought some might get the idea that 62-63 is the minimum required to get looked at. If some of the top pitchers in the game are throwing that fast in the pros a HS girl hitting 58-59 at a college camp can still get plenty of attention.

Re: DD I was just confirming what many have said here that speed isn’t everything. There’s many reasons she struggled. Hoping after all the highs and lows she can finish with a strong senior year.

BT3100 said:

Everything above^
I was telling DDs PC that until DD hits 65 we are gonna skip camps and the cost associated with them.
She said schools like to see progress..
I think they don't care (D1) unless you are 6'2" or throw 65.

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So what happens when your DD hits 65 as a Sr and the schools she’s interested in don’t have any spots or $$?

Schools aren’t just looking at the type of player your daughter is NOW, they are looking at the player she can become.


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ksusouthpaw said:

So what happens when your DD hits 65 as a Sr and the schools she’s interested in don’t have any spots or $$?

Schools aren’t just looking at the type of player your daughter is NOW, they are looking at the player she can become.


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Right.. but they look at a 5' 7" 140lb girl and the say.. she's too small.
Faces 24 of their top prospects and flat out shuts them down. Yet the 6' 2" girl who can't run a 3.5 home to first get all of the love even after she gets barreled up like a tanner tee. Explain that logic

As a dad it's really easy to take a kid to a camp who throws 58-59 and after she gets hit around to say to her on the car ride home.. hey.. you got beat like a drum... That 6' 2" kid dominated the prospects. Now you need to go back to the workshop and get better so next time you dominate.

The hard part is telling that same kid, "you dominated and that big girl got hit around but you're too small or not big enough so even though you make those kids look like rec players you're just not good enough because you not as big as that other kid".

What types of camps are you attending? Are you attending camps at schools who have expressed an interest in your daughter or just guessing? Because I'd suggest attending camps who have expressed an interest in your daughter.

ksusouthpaw said:

What types of camps are you attending? Are you attending camps at schools who have expressed an interest in your daughter or just guessing? Because I'd suggest attending camps who have expressed an interest in your daughter.

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More of a general statement. The camps we attend are at schools who have come to see DD pitch.

BT3100 said:

Right.. but they look at a 5' 7" 140lb girl and the say.. she's too small.
Faces 24 of their top prospects and flat out shuts them down. Yet the 6' 2" girl who can't run a 3.5 home to first get all of the love even after she gets barreled up like a tanner tee. Explain that logic

As a dad it's really easy to take a kid to a camp who throws 58-59 and after she gets hit around to say to her on the car ride home.. hey.. you got beat like a drum... That 6' 2" kid dominated the prospects. Now you need to go back to the workshop and get better so next time you dominate.

The hard part is telling that same kid, "you dominated and that big girl got hit around but you're too small or not big enough so even though you make those kids look like rec players you're just not good enough because you not as big as that other kid".

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The 6’2” girl won’t be doing much running to first so they don’t care how long it takes her.

I do understand where you’re coming from. Sometimes I’d wonder how to explain to DD why they’re giving more attention to the smaller kid who couldn’t throw her way out of a paper bag than the 6’2” girl who can chuck it 65. Of course now, I know the answer to that.

Best advice I can give is don’t worry about what other girls are doing or who else they’re looking at. Just make sure your DD is doing her best. They’re already expressed interest in your DD so you’ve crossed that hurdle. After that it’s really a crapshoot what coaches want. DD received interest from schools that were well beyond her ability level and some schools who were pitiful blew her off. Coaches are all looking at different things and it’s hard to know what. Hang in there. She’ll land somewhere great.

FWIW after DD committed when she’d go to camps they’d have her working on different pitches and mechanics. That was the only time they could talk to her in person so it essentially became a pitching lesson. To anyone who didn’t know I can see why they’d think the girl who wasn’t as good was getting more attention.

CanOfCorn said:

Out of curiosity are you talking overhand long toss or windmill pitching long toss? I have seen both done and we have done both depending on who was instructing. I am a big fan of overhand long toss but haven’t formed an opinion on windmill.
[MENTION=10413]riseball[/MENTION] what did your daughter do with respect to this?

CoC


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For Jake and all the pitchers I work with it is long toss every time you set foot on the field. Pretty much every SEC venue I have been to pitchers are doing long toss as part of their warm up. Another huge proponent of long toss is Monica Abbott.

Velocity over movement or movement over velocity.

IMO...

Fast is easy, spin is hard.

Hitters will hit, but its a pitchers job to not let them hit well and keep the ball in the park.

IMO...

have a pitcher with a ~63+ MPH fastball, a curve and screw (which may drop and rise as well) at ~57 MPH, and an off speed at <55 mph..you gotta a whole lotta nasty right there...