Attacking a dominate pitcher- 10U

[gator5]

I do not. Opposing pitcher throws 50 consistently. I have a 10 year old throwing 42-43. A 9 year old throwing 41-42, and another 9 year old throwing 40-41. “C” level team.

My daughter went to travel the second year of 12u. She was clocked at 41 mph at the tryout and made her C team. She was up to 50 mph by the summer.

I am in shock at all these girls throwing 50 mph at 10u. That would be unhittable.

Bunting would be your only option, IMO.

 

[ANNASDAD]

I do not. Opposing pitcher throws 50 consistently. I have a 10 year old throwing 42-43. A 9 year old throwing 41-42, and another 9 year old throwing 40-41. “C” level team.

Sorry, you misunderstood me, I was referring to the opposing girl in your original post who throws 50. It was just a scenario...if your girls sees one of their own teammates get hit and hurt, game over at that age!

 

[Towny9]

My daughter went to travel the second year of 12u. She was clocked at 41 mph at the tryout and made her C team. She was up to 50 mph by the summer.

I am in shock at all these girls throwing 50 mph at 10u. That would be unhittable.

Bunting would be your only option, IMO.

It’s all the GMOs in the chicken nuggets that these kids eat. Seems like half the teams where we are have a girl that throws way harder than a 10 year old should be able to throw. Then the other half can’t find anyone who can even get it near the zone. It’s a pretty wild discrepancy between the haves and the have nots.

 

[NBECoach]

I've been on the other side of this. The last U10 team I coached had 1 pitcher who threw pretty fast (didn't measure it). Here is a not so close video from 2012 (first year U10).

She was even faster in 2013. We played the defense in for bunts and she did the rest. We were 38-7. The games she pitched that we lost were due to throwing errors and walks. Did reasonably well through U14, but lost the edge because she is an even better basketball player and concentrated on that after freshman year. Here's a video of her batting as a freshman.

She's currently playing basketball at a big 10 school

 

[ArmWhip]

If you have access to a machine find a speed that they are comfortable with and can make consistent contact. Then have them move a couple of feet closer to the machine. When they get used to that distance see if they can move up even more. Then gradually move back to plate.

 

[_MIA_]

The best way to get comfortable with speed in games is to........see it more often in games I wouldn't lose any sleep over it at that age.

 

[Shiloh]

This is a sign of a mental approach that is common with young and inexperienced players, and exactly why your girls are struggling with speed. The first concern is getting hit by the ball. As such, when the pitch is delivered (for the ones that stay in the box), they are waiting to judge location before they make the decision to swing. With this kind of velocity, there isn't the time to do things in that order. They have to get started on all of their pre-launch movements on EVERY pitch and BEFORE they know where the ball is going to be. The big part of this is being in the box with the attitude that they are going to hit the ball on every pitch they face. Get started early enough to be able to execute a good swing (not rushed) on time for the speed of the pitch. If you're late, you're not starting soon enough.

GREAT advice!!

 

[bmakj]

My thought would just be to be a little cautious though with that approach. Cranking it up to 55 miles an hour from 30 feet is an impossible task for girls on a 10-year-old C level team.

If you aren’t careful, they’ll not only get frustrated and/or scared, but it can breed bad hitting habits as they try to find a way to hit a pitch that’s the equivalent of a 110mph fastball from a MLB mound.

you made me think a bit more, good point, so start at 45 and work up in increments of a couple mph over several sessions.

and avoiding frustration is why you praise any contact and encourage them to build on that.

 

[radness]

Pitching machines are not the best for learning timing pitchers.

Live pitching is best.

Perhaps find a pitcher who can THROW some batting practice.

 

[bmakj]

again, 10u, especially second year 10u (which may have a girl who is actually 12 years 6 months old), you will see girls who are much more developed physically than others. these girls can tower over girls in same age group. Dd had a teammate at 10u that was about a head taller than most 10u players, threw low 50s consistently, if a little wild. if teams were patient against her, and willing to stand in, they would get a few base runners at least every inning. if they got nervous, lots of Ks or mishits