Accuracy

[javasource]

She is in a good environment... in that she had some plate time with zero emphasis on control. That is very rare. You are fortunate.

Control does come from repetition. The only time I ever worry about control is when it's primarily north-south. If she is missing inside (rhp)... which is a good sign... she will simply require time to learn to miss to the outside.

Anyway... I agree with all these dfp rockstars. Stay the course... as teaching velocity to a girl much older is a much more difficult task.

 

[Clint]

You may have to tell her coaches as well. This year I had to ask my DD's HS coach to not tell her to focus on hitting her spots. He was complaining that she had lost some velocity, when she focuses on just hitting spots her mechanics suffer as does her velocity and her spin. I asked him respectfully, to remind her of her mechanics and to finish her pitches. It was amazing how her velocity improved.

 

[Phathead]

As you age up you will how true the comments about mechs going a long way. You will see the HE girls and others with poor mechs pitch a ton with success because they throw strikes at 10u and 12u. 14u these same girls get hammered and the girls that "throw wrong" are suddenly the girls that win games.

 

[joe720]

Appreciate all the input. We'll keep doing what we are doing.

And yes her misses are currently inside which i was told by a coach is where it should be as long as she is locking it in. Her coaches are great and very supportive. I told them before the season she had never pitched and their response was "she'll have to eventually so we'll just get that going today". Couldn't ask for more supportive coaches. Both are actually HS players, one being a pitcher who's father did the clinic.

 

[grcsftbll]

As you age up you will how true the comments about mechs going a long way. You will see the HE girls and others with poor mechs pitch a ton with success because they throw strikes at 10u and 12u. 14u these same girls get hammered and the girls that "throw wrong" are suddenly the girls that win games.

I've thought about this a good bit, watching various 10U pitchers. Some of them are very successful seemingly because they have more speed than average, and the bats haven't caught up yet. It doesn't take long though. My DD hit against one of them this weekend, who has the HE mechanics and throws mid to high 40s. She struck out her first at bat but rocked one out to center field and got a double her second time up. Mine's got quick hands - only one other girl on our team got a hit off her that game. But give us a few months and I think most of them will catch up to it. Seems like the older pitchers who are still going strong are definitely the ones who have the right mechanics in place. My husband loves to talk about Greg Maddox and how he was never a speed demon but had awesome location. I assume that is primarily based off having good mechanics (I don't really know squat about baseball pitching). What I hate is when I see a pitcher with real potential but whose mechanics are a huge mess. I'm just not comfortable saying anything to the parents in most cases. Why would they believe me over whatever PC they're seeing?

 

[Phathead]

My DD is an example of what I posted sorta. We tried pitching early and some help steering towards HE. We discussed it and she even gave up pitching for a year. I found this site and we started back at it. I pitched her some but had to pull her a lot due to walks. Got hooked up with a coach and site member on here. She carried most of the innings I HS 2 yrs in a row. Important part of that is due to poor pitch calling she lived on mostly fastballs that have some movement. Now back to the other pitchers I can name 3 that were "better" than her early on that art even playing any more and 2 that are playing but no longer pitch. DD is not D1 bound don't even know if she will play college if recruited but I do know sloid IR mechanics will serve a girl better longer than HE strikes with no movement. That's not even counting movement pitches. Good luck