10u pitching speeds

[Rhodyman]

10u

What are the top 10u pitchers in your area/state throwing. I've seen the chart that says avg 10u 38-42 top kids upper 40s low 50s rare. DD plays in fl and the top kids are 44-47. I've seen most of the A teams this season. I only know 1 kid that is close to 50. I've been talking with a guy from GA and he tells me almost every A team in GA has a kid throwing 50. Is fl that far behind?

I'm in the Northeast and unfortunately we are still practicing indoor so no tourneys for us yet (well, we are a town travel team so we don't have the funds for indoor tourneys). Anyway, my DD (4'10", 90lbs) is a 10u pitcher and should have decent velocity for this area - low/mid 40's. She has a good CU and can hit spots. Not overpowering but hopefully strong enough to carry us deep in local tourneys. There were a few girls last year in 10u that dominated up here. All threw in the mid/upper 40's (for the biggest of the group). I don't think we have that type of pitcher around for the 10u division this year.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

I personally like the pitches per game. DD averages 47 pitches per game pitching about 49mph in 14U. Speed and K's only get you so far. Move the ball, hit your spots and let the defense make the play. Strike/ball ratio is a good indicator as well.

"K's only get you so far"
Huh wuh?????

Not just directed to you Mylil32 but so many others here say the same thing too. Things like "just throw a drop ball and get a ground-out"; or; "She is so accurate she only gets weak ground balls...".

Maybe you guys are watching different games than I am across the country but in the LL-HS-Rec-TB world, unless we are talking 18U gold, a ball put in play is a great risk to becoming a baserunner. I would STRONGLY prefer a "K-monster" to a "ground-ball-getter" just due to challenged defenses.

Is this just me...?

I know the D1 coach that offered my DD says the same thing I do.....

 

[MsDinosaur]

"K's only get you so far"
Huh wuh?????

Not just directed to you Mylil32 but so many others here say the same thing too. Things like "just throw a drop ball and get a ground-out"; or; "She is so accurate she only gets weak ground balls...".

Maybe you guys are watching different games than I am across the country but in the LL-HS-Rec-TB world, unless we are talking 18U gold, a ball put in play is a great risk to becoming a baserunner. I would STRONGLY prefer a "K-monster" to a "ground-ball-getter" just due to challenged defenses.

Is this just me...?

I know the D1 coach that offered my DD says the same thing I do.....

I think it depends upon your goals. If you're in a situation where you want wins now, a "K-monster" is great. If you're a young team that is trying to develop players, IMO lots of grounders and catchable fly balls are a wonderful thing to have. You may lose games on errors, but the whole team is getting opportunities to make plays and learn situations.

 

[Rocketech1]

I think it depends upon your goals. If you're in a situation where you want wins now, a "K-monster" is great. If you're a young team that is trying to develop players, IMO lots of grounders and catchable fly balls are a wonderful thing to have. You may lose games on errors, but the whole team is getting opportunities to make plays and learn situations.

I can tell you right now that the primary goal of a pitching coach and pitcher is NOT to give your fielders opportunities to make plays so they can work on their defensive skills. Thats a recipe for disaster. Thats not a 'wonderful' thing. Sure, inducing a power hitter to hit a weak grounder to the SS is fine in certain circumstances but purposely pitching the ball in the strike zone to be hit is not the strategy of great pitchers. I don't care what level of play you are at.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

I think it depends upon your goals. If you're in a situation where you want wins now, a "K-monster" is great. If you're a young team that is trying to develop players, IMO lots of grounders and catchable fly balls are a wonderful thing to have. You may lose games on errors, but the whole team is getting opportunities to make plays and learn situations.

I get what yer sayin MSD but my response to this would be - "what amount of time is a player spending in practice versus in game?"

If the balance is heavy towards less time in practice, and then I assume it's more of a rec thing, then I can see the point of wanting everyone to get some action.

My problem is I keep thinking TB and getting the weekend win.......

 

[chinamigarden]

"K's only get you so far"
Huh wuh?????

Not just directed to you Mylil32 but so many others here say the same thing too. Things like "just throw a drop ball and get a ground-out"; or; "She is so accurate she only gets weak ground balls...".

Maybe you guys are watching different games than I am across the country but in the LL-HS-Rec-TB world, unless we are talking 18U gold, a ball put in play is a great risk to becoming a baserunner. I would STRONGLY prefer a "K-monster" to a "ground-ball-getter" just due to challenged defenses.

Is this just me...?

I know the D1 coach that offered my DD says the same thing I do.....

Last spring my dd had a game where she induced only 2 ground outs. But the coach is still talking about the 19 Ks

 

[MsDinosaur]

Certainly a pitcher and her coach should never be trying to throw meatballs! I'm talking about believing it's a good thing for a young team's development to have a pitcher who can work the edges of the zone to get weak hits and avoid serving up the monsters. I've seen young teams with fireballer pitchers completely fall apart when they come up against a team who can hit their "K-monster." They may have been great at fielding in practice, but games add pressure and IMO it's just not the same.

If I were the parent of a 10 yr old infielder or outfielder and I saw that the pitcher was mowing down every batter, I would be wondering 1) whether a weaker pitcher should be brought in to get experience and 2) just how much good was going to come of a lopsided game where my DD never touched the ball. I would keep my big mouth shut around the coach, however. It's his or her call.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree.

 

[marriard]

I know the D1 coach that offered my DD says the same thing I do.....

The point is you can't rely on K's as being the only measure of a pitcher. Easy outs to SS/2nd/back to pitcher count the same and if you know how to create those as a pitcher then the older your team is, the more that play is a simple out which wont be screwed up. Same with that fly ball to center field - that is just as out as a K as well.

Sure, a K monster is great right up to the point where your pitcher can't get a K against a great hitting team and they don't know any other way to get the batter out. There is more than one way to be an effective pitcher than having to strike everyone you face out.

In the 10U/12U transition it is important because your fastball may not make the transition and suddenly you are no longer effective.

Or when you play D1 and every batter you face was the best batter on their high school/travel team and you have to find a way to get each of them out.

K's are great but they are NOT the only way to get batters out. Not every pitcher can be or is a K machine - that would be very, very boring. Even the top D1 pitchers are right around 1K per inning (and they wrack up a lot of those K's against weaker D1 teams). One one of my friends daughters is a D1 pitcher at a ranked school (she is a #2/#3 depending on week) - she throws in the mid-60's. Gets about 1K per 3 innings. Has 2 CWS first round wins under her belt when the #1 got injured and an ERA under 2.25 for her career. If you measured her on her chances of striking batters out it would not be a good thing.

 

[marriard]

I've seen young teams with fireballer pitchers completely fall apart when they come up against a team who can hit their "K-monster." They may have been great at fielding in practice, but games add pressure and IMO it's just not the same.

My point exactly. This was out team last season in Fall - we could hit the fireball pitchers and we destroyed certain 'A' teams because of it. You couldn't just blow it by our team - you would get hit and hit hard. Sometimes you are going to get hit and you need Plan B or Plan C to adjust.

 

[Rocketech1]

My point exactly. This was out team last season in Fall - we could hit the fireball pitchers and we destroyed certain 'A' teams because of it. You couldn't just blow it by our team - you would get hit and hit hard. Sometimes you are going to get hit and you need Plan B or Plan C to adjust.

The fireball pitchers should also have off speed pitches to complement their speed. If not, they are throwers not pitchers.