10U pitch speed

[OregonDuck]

So is there a switch you can flip to turn them from wild with the occasional strike thrown here and there, to corner burners and racking up the K's? And when they get to 16u it magically all comes together???

One day for my DD it just finally happened. Suddenly I was hearing the sound of ball hitting glove instead of the ball hitting backstop. I remember the very day. I was warming her up to go into a game and I usually had a bucket next to me so I wasn't chasing balls between every pitch. I never pulled another ball out of the bucket. She pitched 2 shutout innings and struck out 4 with no walks. She's been hooked on pitching ever since.

Keep at it.

 

[MNDad]

So is there a switch you can flip to turn them from wild with the occasional strike thrown here and there, to corner burners and racking up the K's? And when they get to 16u it magically all comes together???

I don't know about a switch, but it does, or did for DD anyway, magically come together. In her case it was 14U and she lost control again at 16U as she tried incorporating in more pitches. The "just throw strikes" pitchers from 10U were mostly playing other sports by junior high.

With your DD throwing over 50 at 10U she's clearly not one who's solely focused on strikes. The girls I'm talking about are throwing in the 20's and 30's at 10U and are so concerned about strikes they never learn how to just let it rip. There's got to be some middle ground where both speed and accuracy are a priority.

 

[vol]

I don't know about a switch, but it does, or did for DD anyway, magically come together. In her case it was 14U and she lost control again at 16U as she tried incorporating in more pitches. The "just throw strikes" pitchers from 10U were mostly playing other sports by junior high.

With your DD throwing over 50 at 10U she's clearly not one who's solely focused on strikes. The girls I'm talking about are throwing in the 20's and 30's at 10U and are so concerned about strikes they never learn how to just let it rip. There's got to be some middle ground where both speed and accuracy are a priority.

I beg to differ. Never said she was over 50 - has hit it a few times, but yes - strikes are a focus for us, and her pitching coach who is phenomenal and is a IR coach, agrees. What good is throwing 54 if you see more of the back side of the catcher than the front? We work on location and spin. As she grows the speed will come. She threw 6 innings this past weekend and had 15k's with zero walks. Other pitchers there threw harder, hitting 49-50 quite a bit, but walking 2-3 girls per inning.

 

[Eric F]

I beg to differ. Never said she was over 50 - has hit it a few times, but yes - strikes are a focus for us, and her pitching coach who is phenomenal and is a IR coach, agrees. What good is throwing 54 if you see more of the back side of the catcher than the front? We work on location and spin. As she grows the speed will come. She threw 6 innings this past weekend and had 15k's with zero walks. Other pitchers there threw harder, hitting 49-50 quite a bit, but walking 2-3 girls per inning.

My DD would have loved to catch for your DD.

 

[MNDad]

I beg to differ. Never said she was over 50 - has hit it a few times, but yes - strikes are a focus for us, and her pitching coach who is phenomenal and is a IR coach, agrees. What good is throwing 54 if you see more of the back side of the catcher than the front? We work on location and spin. As she grows the speed will come. She threw 6 innings this past weekend and had 15k's with zero walks. Other pitchers there threw harder, hitting 49-50 quite a bit, but walking 2-3 girls per inning.

My mistake. Should have said has topped 50 rather than throws 50.

I don't think fast and wild automatically go together nor do accurate and slow. I just see two different camps where one puts the primary focus on speed and the other on accuracy. I wouldn't say either is right or wrong and to be successful a pitcher needs both.

 

[vol]

My mistake. Should have said has topped 50 rather than throws 50.

I don't think fast and wild automatically go together nor do accurate and slow. I just see two different camps where one puts the primary focus on speed and the other on accuracy. I wouldn't say either is right or wrong and to be successful a pitcher needs both.

I'm not trying to start a fight or call anyone out. I come in peace

I just struggle to understand why the perception of pitching at the 10u level seems to be either speed or strikes. My daughter can hold her own on both yet it seems like I should be encouraging speed over accuracy from what I've read here.

 

[MNDad]

I'm not trying to start a fight or call anyone out. I come in peace ��

I just struggle to understand why the perception of pitching at the 10u level seems to be either speed or strikes. My daughter can hold her own on both yet it seems like I should be encouraging speed over accuracy from what I've read here.

I come in peace too. . I think we basicly agree.

I think it's more a belief of don't sacrifice speed while attempting to be accurate. I'm not trying to say don't worry about accuracy.

 

[vol]

I come in peace too. . I think we basicly agree.

I think it's more a belief of don't sacrifice speed while attempting to be accurate. I'm not trying to say don't worry about accuracy.

No it's not you, but others earlier seemed to indicate that they could harness speed into control. There was a movie once where some guy from the California penal league threw hard but was wild. They fixed it and he was the hero but then again, it was a movie.

I'm done watching "A" level pitchers throw 30% strikes and innings take 30 minutes. "But she can hit 52!!!" Yeah..hit the backstop at 52...

 

[Snotbubbles]

I'm not trying to start a fight or call anyone out. I come in peace ��

I just struggle to understand why the perception of pitching at the 10u level seems to be either speed or strikes. My daughter can hold her own on both yet it seems like I should be encouraging speed over accuracy from what I've read here.

It's not speed or strikes. It's both. The distinction I'm making and apparently doing a poor job at is when a pitcher is learning the mechanics of a fastball arm circle, IMO it should be learned with the pitcher throwing as hard as they can, not throwing at 70, 80 or 90% so they can be accurate. When a pitcher refines their mechanics, they will throw strikes. Refining the mechanics takes time and work. Repetition and muscle memory. Other than winning a couple 10u games, I don't see what benefit a child gets learning mechanics at 80% of their max level and then having to relearn at 100% down the road. As an aside, I wonder how a player throwing 80-90% of her max to throw strikes has their change up effected where you should drop the speed by another 20-25% (another thread I guess).

SHAMELESS BRAG ABOUT PC: My daughters PC who has been in the business for many years and had students of his pitching in the WCWS this year says it takes a pitcher about 2 years to develop good fastball mechanics. That's probably 100,000+ throws just to develop that one pitch.

 

[riseball]

I'm not trying to start a fight or call anyone out. I come in peace ��

I just struggle to understand why the perception of pitching at the 10u level seems to be either speed or strikes. My daughter can hold her own on both yet it seems like I should be encouraging speed over accuracy from what I've read here.

It is simple. The Holy Trinity of pitching is Command, Movement, and Velocity in that order. Rarely does a pitch thrown at any speed with good Command get hit hard. However, a pitch thrown with great Velocity that is fat and down the middle needs a passport as it is going on a long journey. IME if you have great Command over your FB and CU you will do quite well at most any level. Add some Movement and you will be very successful assuming you can put it in a tea cup (Command). If you have all three, Command, Movement, and Velocity you will dominate. However, without Command you do not have much of a future in the circle.