Changing times for pitchers

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Sep 19, 2018
928
93
I don't buy into focusing on control in 10 and 12U will cause lack of velocity in your later years. Early focus should be on the girls learning the correct way to throw. Both control and velocity will come from consistency in proper mechanics.

Jim Kaat used to say he's take a pitcher throwing 85 over a "thrower" at 90. While those numbers are from baseball in the 80's there is truth in there. At some point the scale tips. Would you take a pitcher at 85 over a thrower at 100. Or in softball terms. a pitcher at 60 or a thrower at 70.

This video has been around before, but it is always a good watch.
 
Sep 19, 2018
928
93
My daughter has taken pitching class for almost two years and all she has is fastball and changup. She had a coach briefly taught her rise ball spins. She also learned curve a little bit. But in games, there are only fastball and changup. She is at lower 40 now. First year 10U. But I don't think she will get 50 next year. Not possible with her size. I know spin and spot are important. But seriously, for 10U, travel ball coaches really want over 50 pitchers. Somehow, spin/spot pitching coaches don't understand it. If you talk to a spin/spot coach that her travel team coach want her to pitch faster, they will tell you that speed will come with time with correct mechanics. They are absolutely right but it is hard to watch your daughter got hit hard and her team got run ruled now. And even she could hit spot, she still need her team defense to work. When defense not work, a weak grounder or a fly ball is same as a hit. Not like pitching over 50 just strike out the batter.

Oh, another difference between speed coach and spin/spot coach is speed coach always has radar gun in class. Spin/spot coach seems never use their radar guns.

I think my question is to get her to pitch as fast as she could, also learning spin and spot, is two coaches approach better?

I am in the north east. So perhaps you have a very different situation. But around here 10U B/C doesn't see 50mph pitching. Further, any team that is so good that they won't look at pitchers less than 50mph have a team full of girls that can pick up slow grounders.
 
Nov 18, 2015
1,585
113
[...] But in games, there are only fastball and changup. She is at lower 40 now. First year 10U. But I don't think she will get 50 next year. Not possible with her size. I know spin and spot are important. But seriously, for 10U, travel ball coaches really want over 50 pitchers. Somehow, spin/spot pitching coaches don't understand it. If you talk to a spin/spot coach that her travel team coach want her to pitch faster, they will tell you that speed will come with time with correct mechanics. They are absolutely right but it is hard to watch your daughter got hit hard and her team got run ruled now. And even she could hit spot, she still need her team defense to work. When defense not work, a weak grounder or a fly ball is same as a hit. Not like pitching over 50 just strike out the batter. [...]
I know I asked this in the other thread - but are you playing in SoCal or Florida? I'm still having a hard time believing there's that many 10U pitchers throwing more than 50 mph. Or maybe I should say I'm having a hard time believing that there's so many 10U 50+ pitchers that coaches are routinely turning away a 9 1/2 YO who's "only" throwing in the 40's?

We all agree that it's tough watching your daughter give up hits, especially the weak grounders and pop flys that are often the result of a good pitch. At least for defense, give it another year - by 2nd year 10U most teams will start making the routine plays. Of course, then comes 12U, and suddenly you realize that you really DO need outfielders after all...
 
Jul 16, 2019
67
18
I know I asked this in the other thread - but are you playing in SoCal or Florida? I'm still having a hard time believing there's that many 10U pitchers throwing more than 50 mph. Or maybe I should say I'm having a hard time believing that there's so many 10U 50+ pitchers that coaches are routinely turning away a 9 1/2 YO who's "only" throwing in the 40's?

We all agree that it's tough watching your daughter give up hits, especially the weak grounders and pop flys that are often the result of a good pitch. At least for defense, give it another year - by 2nd year 10U most teams will start making the routine plays. Of course, then comes 12U, and suddenly you realize that you really DO need outfielders after all...

Ironically, I haven't seen one over 50 10U pitcher myself yet. But I did have a coach telling me that she need to pitch 50 for his 10U team. Maybe I took it too hard and generalize it a bit. Luckily, her current team coach is not like that.
 
Jul 16, 2013
4,659
113
Pennsylvania
I don't buy into focusing on control in 10 and 12U will cause lack of velocity in your later years. Early focus should be on the girls learning the correct way to throw. Both control and velocity will come from consistency in proper mechanics.

When DD first started playing rec ball, the team coach was a velocity first guy. Didn't care about accuracy at all. What I quickly learned is that this thought process can be extremely frustrating for young athletes. He would work with a new pitcher for a few weeks. He would place this pitcher in a game. She would walk 8 or 10 batters in a row. He would replace her with someone else. She would cry to her parents after the game that she never wanted to pitch again. And many of them didn't. About the only thing that his teaching style accomplished was to ensure that his daughter was the only girl on the team that really wanted to pitch. All the others became too frustrated to deal with it.
 
Nov 18, 2015
1,585
113
Ironically, I haven't seen one over 50 10U pitcher myself yet. But I did have a coach telling me that she need to pitch 50 for his 10U team. Maybe I took it too hard and generalize it a bit. Luckily, her current team coach is not like that.
I didn't know Mike Candrea was coaching 10U again? :)

If you're daughter is getting plenty of innings (even if some of those end up being run-ruled) with a coach who already believes in her current abilities, it sounds like you're in the right spot for the foreseeable future. Steering clear of both the "50 or bust" 10U coach and the "must throw 5 pitches by 12U" mentality = actually enjoying this softball journey for however long it lasts.
 
Apr 20, 2017
152
28
My daughter has taken pitching class for almost two years and all she has is fastball and changup. She had a coach briefly taught her rise ball spins. She also learned curve a little bit. But in games, there are only fastball and changup. She is at lower 40 now. First year 10U. But I don't think she will get 50 next year. Not possible with her size. I know spin and spot are important. But seriously, for 10U, travel ball coaches really want over 50 pitchers. Somehow, spin/spot pitching coaches don't understand it. If you talk to a spin/spot coach that her travel team coach want her to pitch faster, they will tell you that speed will come with time with correct mechanics. They are absolutely right but it is hard to watch your daughter got hit hard and her team got run ruled now. And even she could hit spot, she still need her team defense to work. When defense not work, a weak grounder or a fly ball is same as a hit. Not like pitching over 50 just strike out the batter.

Oh, another difference between speed coach and spin/spot coach is speed coach always has radar gun in class. Spin/spot coach seems never use their radar guns.

I think my question is to get her to pitch as fast as she could, also learning spin and spot, is two coaches approach better?

I never think two coaches for the same thing is a good idea. Our first pitching coach told us for my DD to throw as hard as possible and with mechanics and practice she would learn to control it. Some coaches are more towards the spot/strikes. As a parent I recommend researching both and taking a look from outside the box to see which style might fit your daughter better. In our case DD is over 100% in height and is expected to be over 6’ tall. She is bigger frame and country strong. She has the physical traits to be a power pitcher. So that is the route we chose and very happy with the results. We spend time working on velocity drills. We spend time working on locations. And we work on movement pitches. If there are a couple of weeks with no games then for a week we are going to do velocity drills. The week of tournaments we are going to zone in on her command of her pitches. If she was going to be 5’6 or under we would have gone a different route for her because the chances of being dominant with speed would be slim.
 
Nov 22, 2019
297
43
Ironically, I haven't seen one over 50 10U pitcher myself yet. But I did have a coach telling me that she need to pitch 50 for his 10U team. Maybe I took it too hard and generalize it a bit. Luckily, her current team coach is not like that.

In my area, NY-NJ-PA, I think there is only one girl hitting 50mph that I've seen that has been verified. My DD has hit 48mph a few times, and my guess will hit 50mph sometime this summer. There are a handful of other girls that likely can hit the upper 40s.
Without a radar gun, I think most people think the kids are throwing faster than they are. There are plenty of girls on travel teams that throw under 40mph around here though.
 
Dec 6, 2019
382
63
50+ is more common in 10u than 60+ is at 12u. My recollection is that 47-48 at 10u will dominate most competition.
 

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