At What Age Do You Teach a Softball Pitcher a Movement Pitch?

[EP Dad]

Drop
Screw
Curve
Rise

I imagine they're all different. But, what ages do you start these pitches? Or don't you bother? I've heard from some folks the last week that in Minnesota our High School pitchers only need a fastball and a change-up and it's ridiculous to learn to throw anything else.

 

[Coach Stan]

I start off with drills, then the fast ball. Once the fast ball is pretty consistent then change. I normally go either drop or rise. But I teach the drop or rise prior to curve or screw.

 

[halskinner]

Drop
Screw
Curve
Rise

I imagine they're all different. But, what ages do you start these pitches? Or don't you bother? I've heard from some folks the last week that in Minnesota our High School pitchers only need a fastball and a change-up and it's ridiculous to learn to throw anything else.

Alot depends on the size of their hand and how well they can grip the ball in the circle.

Sometimes the youngest ones can only handle a fastball grip for both the fastball AND their change up.

Many instructors in different areas teach a 'Fastball' with the same mechanics and grip that we would call a 'Dropball' in my area. A peel drop of sorts even if it is not actually 'Peeled' of the fingers. If that is what they are doing now, it is a simple thing to change the follow through to make that same pitch something different.

If their fastball is like a dropball, have them follow through towards the glove shoulder for a down and in spin. Dont follow through ALL the way to the shoulder, but towards the glove shoulder. The ball will come off the area between the thumb and index finger instead off off the ends of the fingers. It will take a littlr practie.

However, the first time she actually sees it move in that direction, watch her face light up! Especially when she strikes out her first batter with it!

No new grip, not messing with her overall mechanics, just a little tweak to the follow through.

I have taught that to students as young as 6-years old.

sneakysoftballpitching.com

 

[starsnuffer]

Drop you can start day 1, if it's a peel drop. Hillhouse does this instead of teaching a FB.

That said. . . it's a balance.

You want the kid to have great control over the FB, hitting the corners at least, if not being able to call positions on the clock and have her hit them, and a changeup that works and can be thrown for an inside/outside strike before moving to movement pitches . . BUT . . .we're talking about kids and we don't want them to get bored.

I don't think there is anything dangerous about teaching a curve or drop, or even a rise, but usually they're taught as a reward and taught much earlier then the kid will have the strength to spin the ball fast enough for the pitch to actually work. This doesn't mean they shouldn't be used in a game, but the realists will understand that they're offspeed fastballs, not really movement pitches.

I have some reservations about teaching screw before they're 15 or so because the movements are particularly unnatural but I'm not going to tell kids not to pitch it if their PC has them working on it.

-W

 

[Dusty]

Drop
Screw
Curve
Rise

I imagine they're all different. But, what ages do you start these pitches? Or don't you bother? I've heard from some folks the last week that in Minnesota our High School pitchers only need a fastball and a change-up and it's ridiculous to learn to throw anything else.

At 10u I think it's safe to say the FB, CU and Peel drop are all safe pitches to teach and they shouldn't have to alter their mechanics to learn them. When my oldest dd was 12 her pitching coach began teaching her the rise followed by the curve at 13. She learned the curve almost immediately and it quickly became a go to pitch and while she can execute the rise fairly well her coach rarely calls it in game situations.

Most 10u-14u screwballs I've seen are completely worthless. The kids always line up on the far left hand side of the rubber to telegraph that it's coming and then throw a clockwise rotating inside fastball that gets tatooed to left field.

Speaking of the ridiculous, when my dd first started playing travel in her final season at 10u, we heard that one of the pitchers had five pitches. I sat on the bucket and caught her and the five were basically FB, CU, Screw (pitched as I mentioned above) Curve (as mentioned above, only opposite) and I don't even remember what the 5th pitch was. She didn't end up pitching as much as dd that year as dd with her basic FB/CU and later in the year Peel drop because she was a jack of all pitches and master of none.

 

[Lozza]

Drop
Screw
Curve
Rise

Drop I prefer after change-up is mastered, but it's not going to hurt them to learn it earlier.

Rise/curve/screw 15 at the earlier. Any girl who can master all of them will be pitching at international level.

 

[Jojo]

10u, fastball, change, older 10's with good command over FB & CU can begin work on the drop.
12u, FB-CU-DR, older 12u's with good command can start on the rise spin.
14u, FB-CU-DR, those with good spin on the rise, begin working on the screwball, and older 14u's with good command will begin working on the curve.

16u, I want all of them with at least a FB-Cu-Dr.

 

[EP Dad]

Interesting. Everyone here so far seems to think it's ok and 12U is an appropriate age. You could knock me over with a feather.

 

[starsnuffer]

Remember that there's more to a kid pitching then "preparing them for college". Being a kid is the best part of this thing called life, let them enjoy the journey, if the kid is all grins because the PC is teaching them a curve ball, then it is time well spent.

-W

 

[LAdad]

I've heard from some folks the last week that in Minnesota our High School pitchers only need a fastball and a change-up and it's ridiculous to learn to throw anything else.

That's an illusion: From almost any angle you can tell when a pitcher throws a change-up, but the difference between other pitches is quite hard to tell unless you're right behind the plate. The effective pitchers are the ones who get movement, but the less knowledgeable observers probably think it's just speed, or claim that their hitters "just couldn't hit" that day.

Most pitchers stick with 2 or 3 pitches during a game, but you can't predict which 2 or 3 work best for them unless they learn them all.

There is no age requirement for movement. But you should learn proper mechanics (balance, push-off, arm circle, etc) first, before adding complications to the pitch. Also, all pitches work better if you have good speed (but speed comes in large part from proper mechanics). That doesn't mean you must have "perfect" command of your fastball first; I don't know anyone whose fastball is so perfect they don't need to practice it anymore. As mentioned by others, learning a new pitch every now and then is important to keep it fun.

Nor is there a particular order in which you should learn pitches. Ideally, the pitching coach picks them based on what fits the particular pitcher's mechanics best, but probably most just pick what they are most comfortable with themselves. My DD didn't start pitching lessons untill she was almost 11, but she learned both curve and change-up in her first year (curve first, I think). At 18, the curve is still her most effective pitch, but I don't know if that is because it suits her particularly well or just because she learned it first.