Good hitter or good pitcher?

[starsnuffer]

I don't have enough information to dispute that, but I'd be curious to see if that theory is true.

On my last team, our 1-2 pitchers ranked about #6 and #10 in hitting. On the team before that, they ranked #9 and #11. That was 12U. Where does the ace pitcher bat on college teams on average? I don't know. Just curious.

Every player is different. Generally, pitchers end up being good hitters due to their understanding of the sheer amount of dedication and hard work it takes to excel at something. This carries over into other aspects of the sport and life in general. Pitchers are also getting bigger and taller at the top levels of the game, so clearly this has an impact on hitting as well.

As mentioned, 2012's WCWS pitchers are both feared hitters. Jackie Traina had a 1.87ERA, but she also batted .319 with 10 HR and 37 RBI's. Keilani Rickets had a 1.08ERA, batted .395 (led the NCAA for walks with 53 for a .553 on base %), and had several multiple HR games.

Jennie Finch was also a strong hitter that became even stronger in her post-college career. If I recall, she hit a HR in her final series before she retired while playing 1B.

Cat Osterman and Monica Abbot on the other hand, seems like they barely knows which end of the bat to hold on the rare occasions when they've hit.

As a coach, I don't think there is a lot of emphasis put on a pitcher that they "have" to be a good hitter. The coach wants a good pitcher, and can flex them if need be.

As a player, there are huge benefits to being a good hitter. A pitcher might have to wait a few years to get the spotlight, especially if there is a good upper classman pitching on their current team(HS or College). If that player can hit, however, the coach will find a place to play them and the player will get a chance to win the coaches confidence at the plate which can translate to confidence in that pitcher to get them circle time.

-W

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

It depends on your DD. What does SHE want to do? Does she want to be a GREAT pitcher, a GREAT hitter or BOTH?

To be great at anything takes an extraordinary amount of effort and your DD needs to make the choice. If she wants to put a lot of time and effort into both pitching and hitting, I would suggest you let her. A year or two down the road she may find that she is better at one than the other and focus on that skill; she may find out that she is great at both and be dedicated to putting the extra effort in.

Let HER make the choice.

 

[sticknstring]

Thanks for all of the responses, I appreciate all the different opinions. I'll try to answer some of the questions asked. DD had taken some pitching lessons a few years ago and spent some time working on it. So she was not starting completely from scratch last year. Although she had never thrown a pitch in a competetive game before this year. She has been getting a fair amount of mound time so far this year. Her TB coach is very interested in developing her, and is giving her games as much as possible. She threw a good number of games for her HS varsity team as well. She has been playing up in 16's for the last year. So the jump from 14's to 16's hasn't been a major problem so far. She will have to continue to improve to get the amount of mound time she will need to become a "good" pitcher. Both her TB and HS coaches and pitching coach are all for her continuing with the pitching, and say she can be succesfull at it.

She has always been a good hitter, and shown the potential to be a great hitter. But she shows a lot of potential in pitching now too. That's where my original question comes from, and my concern about not reaching her potential at either one. I probably shouldn't say it is a concern, more of a question. We will continue to work on both as long as she wants to, and see how she progresses. Thanks for all of the opinions.

 

[PEPPERS]

I don't have enough information to dispute that, but I'd be curious to see if that theory is true.

On my last team, our 1-2 pitchers ranked about #6 and #10 in hitting. On the team before that, they ranked #9 and #11. That was 12U. Where does the ace pitcher bat on college teams on average? I don't know. Just curious.

I don’t have stats to prove one way or the other; I’ve had more than one coach/instructor tell me their pitchers are usually the better hitters. AS someone stated earlier I would have guessed that catchers would have been the best hitters, due to seeing so many pitches and types of pitches. They is more to hitting than just seeing pitches, mechanics of the swing, timing and ETC.

My daughter’s pitching coach will sit her on a bucket and throw a certain pitch, breaking ball, to show her how he wants it to break and he can make the ball move. I felt seeing the spins and break from his pitches gave her a leg up on hitting those pitches. Knowing the spins and breaks also helped.

The way I look at it if you can hit and pitch that gives you two chances to make the line up if one doesn’t get you on the field the other may.

I had one girl who played for me for years, she was a great outfielder and an average shortstop. She worked hard at SS, but just never excelled and her and her parents would get mad when she was put into the outfield. She quit my team to go play SS for another team and the parents were mad at me for years because of it. She just never made it at SS at the higher level and refused to play OF without giving a problem and she finally quit last year. IMO she could have been a better that average outfielder.

So you need to be honest with yourself and DD. Can DD make it as both, will she dedicate the time and effort to do both or outside influnce take up too much of her time to do both. Is she farther ahead in one than the other. Wany questions you and her need to ask yourselves.

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

By the way; 2 of the 3 pitchers on DD's 18 Gold team are in the top 5 batting average, 1 of them is actually 1st.

 

[JAD]

If your DD really wants to do both, I would recommend you let her, but I would split the time and effort 70/30 for pitching/hitting. My DD is a pitcher, but I also want her to be able to hit the ball, because if a pitcher can hit, there is a good chance she will get to play other positions when she is not pitching, or will at least get to DH. Since your DD has only been pitching for a year, it may be a little early to determine, but at some point you need to get someone to give you an honest opinion about her pitching ability and whether or not it is something she should continue to pursue.

 

[11smom]

I understand where the OP is coming from, as we are in a similar situation. Our lefty dd stopped pitching several months ago, which was really hard on her dad, as we had several coaches tell us the value of good lefty pitchers, and dd had great potential. She has been working on batting, which she was always pretty good at, but is now more her focus. She has good speed and is working on slapping as well.
She recently had a conversation with us about pitching again, just to "see if she still has skills", but says she is unsure of desire to pitch in games. Hubby told her he would be happy to have her pitch with him as often or as little as she would like, just for fun, and if and when she decides to jump back into it, she has our full support. Don't know where it will lead, but she seems to miss it a bit.
We have the same questions of whether colleges would value a good lefty hitter, or pitcher, and if it is worth pursuing both, maybe to be "good" at both, or possibly be "great" at one.
I guess it comes down to following our dd's lead in what they are willing to work for, as they are the ones putting forth the time and effort. Time will tell.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

I don't have enough information to dispute that, but I'd be curious to see if that theory is true.

On my last team, our 1-2 pitchers ranked about #6 and #10 in hitting. On the team before that, they ranked #9 and #11. That was 12U. Where does the ace pitcher bat on college teams on average? I don't know. Just curious.

I would characterize this profile for pitchers in their batting:
99% of pitchers are in the top 5 in offense
80% are in the top 4 batting positions

In this state here I know of one quality pitcher that isn't in the top half of her teams offense.