I don't think so. The games give your pitchers opportunities/reps, but if they're not able to throw strikes consistently in a game, throwing extra pitches during the game will not magically make them better. Bring in the coach. The time for pitchers to develop is outside of games and team practices. That will sort out the ones who can handle pitching more innings.
Coach Pitch vs. Pitcher Pitch
- Thread starter JaC
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- May 17, 2012
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No that was a separate but related comment. You don't have enough pitchers in 10u and then you pump the breaks on those that can. It hurts your hitters and your pitchers who end up leaving for travel.
So what if they win every game with Suzy Flamethrower. Let your batters see real pitching eight AB's a summer.
- May 13, 2021
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I wasn't saying it in reference to them winning, more along the lines of letting some sane adult deciding how many games suzy pitches instead of letting a 9-10 year old decide something that could hurt her down the road.
Our 10u's rules: Coach pitches on Ball 4. Number of coach pitches is 3 minus however many strikes were thrown. Every coach pitch is a strike (normal foul ball rules with two strikes applies).
Keeps games moving, forces players to hit, and it means that I'm almost certainly the all-time 10u strike out leader. Sure, it's my own players I'm striking out, but a K is a K, ya know?
In all seriousness, I think coach pitch after a walk is a great system. For us, it works for 10u. In areas where the quality of play is better and kids start playing earlier, it might be better for 8u. But it depends greatly on the quality of the coach pitching. I learned years ago to not do soft little lobs. Harder to hit, promotes bad mechanics, and it's a pitch they likely won't see much of from real pitchers. I don't do an arm circle because it's hard for me to do the arm circle and throw it slow enough for some of them, but I do toss it in at a decent speed. All but the very new girls can hit it, and those girls catch up by the end of the first season.
Keeps games moving, forces players to hit, and it means that I'm almost certainly the all-time 10u strike out leader. Sure, it's my own players I'm striking out, but a K is a K, ya know?
In all seriousness, I think coach pitch after a walk is a great system. For us, it works for 10u. In areas where the quality of play is better and kids start playing earlier, it might be better for 8u. But it depends greatly on the quality of the coach pitching. I learned years ago to not do soft little lobs. Harder to hit, promotes bad mechanics, and it's a pitch they likely won't see much of from real pitchers. I don't do an arm circle because it's hard for me to do the arm circle and throw it slow enough for some of them, but I do toss it in at a decent speed. All but the very new girls can hit it, and those girls catch up by the end of the first season.
- Jun 18, 2023
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By the second half you get to know what the kids like. There were a few times I was doing soft floaters from the front of the circle, but a lot of times I was throwing decently hard. Struck out a lot of kids early on, but by the end most of them hit it. Luckily coach thrown balls don't count either (coach doesn't get warmup pitches!).
Sometimes the defense makes a play, but a lot of the time the batter that would've walked gets on anyway, so it's win-win-win. Batter gets to swing, pitcher throws the same number of pitches, and the game moves a little faster with more action.
The usual rational for having kids pitch at that age level is that you have to develop pitchers, 'they have to learn to pitch sometime don't they?'. But unless the pitchers have been taking lessons and learning the proper mechanics (and in many cases lessons are not teaching it right either) having them pitch is actually going to hurt their development. A phony windmill arm circle coupled with a bowling/push release is not going to lead to anywhere, in fact it's going to have to be unlearned later on, with a lot of frustration and effort. But there's really no easy answer to this issue, just don't have it be all kid pitch based on the idea that you're developing pitchers. Coach pitch keeps the game going with more plays in the field and base running. Of course in some areas of the country where softball is more developed kid pitch is fine.
My concern is more for the defense. Not only is it boring, but the defense isn't getting any experience, and honestly even the batters on the opposing team aren't learning anything either. Pitchers that throw a ton of walks aren't going to learn anything during a game. For the most part their mechanics education comes via outside instruction. Even if they DO manage to start finding the zone, it's likely because they started aiming better with their awful mechanics.
I was assistant coaching a very low level coach-pitch rescue 12U fall ball team a couple years ago and it was late in the season so they were letting different kids try pitching. One of the girls had been youtubing with her mom for a few weeks so she went up and gave it a shot. It was awful. Leaping, stiff-arm, wrong foot on the rubber, etc. My coach buddies said "tell her something to do." I had already told her to start on the right foot and step out. I said "there's nothing else I can tell her right now that will help." Her mom comes running over and starts screaming "DRAG THE FOOT AND SNAP THE WRIST!" over and over. So this is why I love coach-rescue. The bleeding can stop very quickly. What I don't like about it is when kids won't swing at a pitcher strike because they're waiting on the coach.
- May 13, 2023
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Would like to add bringing the coach in to pitch doesn't magically make strikes happen either
need some preparation for that too!
- Jan 22, 2011
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The league needs to have some sort of pitcher development program. Bring in someone who knows what they are doing to do a group pitching lesson before the season starts for the 8u and 10u divisions. Send your coaches this link:https://hsasoftball.org/the-hsa-way-pitching
Several leagues offer small group pitching lessons either after the last game on Saturday or Sunday afternoons.
A lot of girls have the natural ability to pitch, but parents and coaches who don’t know what they are doing mess them up.
Yes! Coaches should get some instruction on how to coach pitch!
Several leagues offer small group pitching lessons either after the last game on Saturday or Sunday afternoons.
A lot of girls have the natural ability to pitch, but parents and coaches who don’t know what they are doing mess them up.
Would like to add bringing the coach in to pitch doesn't magically make strikes happen either
Yes! Coaches should get some instruction on how to coach pitch!
- May 13, 2023
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Yes!
Any of the pitching gurus here on dfp starting a program like this or already doing so?
> specifically for City league?
I remember Long Beach State pitching coach Stephanie Swenson Brown did this for a city league. I met her because the city League had contacted me to help develop catching and defensive clinics.
