How fast to first base?

[AdamTheSoftballDad]

I’ve been doing some speed training with my DD a lot recently and I was wondering what are some good home to first/ 20 yard dash times for a 18u DD. I’ve asked a lot of people This question and I can never get a clear and agreed upon answer. What would you guys consider a super slow, slow, average, fast, and super fast time to first? Oh also my DD runs about a 3.2-3.3.

 

[Strike2]

You probably won't get a consensus. Much can influence how that time is measured but, for 18U overall, I'd say that's about average. Anything under 3.0 is going to be widely considered speedy. That said, how fast someone needs to run depends on what kind of hitter they are.

If we're talking about a bunter/slapper who usually doesn't get it out of the infield, then 3.2-3.3 probably isn't good enough.

If she can rope liners to the gap, and can consistently make it to 2B when that happens, she's doing fine.

If she can hit them out, it doesn't matter how fast she runs.

If she can't get a bat on the ball, it doesn't matter how fast she runs.

Frankly, I think some put way to much into Home-First times. DD certainly isn't the fastest kid on her team...average, at best. She was skinnier a couple of years ago, and was "almost" considered fast, and then she filled out a bit, which gave her more power. We also do speed training to make her as effective as she can be, but she's never going to be considered "fast". However, most importantly, she's at or near the top in most offensive categories, and is far more effective than many who show up much better on the stopwatch.

Do the speedwork, but worry about the hitting.

 

[AdamTheSoftballDad]

You probably won't get a consensus. Much can influence how that time is measured but, for 18U overall, I'd say that's about average. Anything under 3.0 is going to be widely considered speedy. That said, how fast someone needs to run depends on what kind of hitter they are.

If we're talking about a bunter/slapper who usually doesn't get it out of the infield, then 3.2-3.3 probably isn't good enough.

If she can rope liners to the gap, and can consistently make it to 2B when that happens, she's doing fine.

If she can hit them out, it doesn't matter how fast she runs.

If she can't get a bat on the ball, it doesn't matter how fast she runs.

Frankly, I think some put way to much into Home-First times. DD certainly isn't the fastest kid on her team...average, at best. She was skinnier a couple of years ago, and was "almost" considered fast, and then she filled out a bit, which gave her more power. We also do speed training to make her as effective as she can be, but she's never going to be considered "fast". However, most importantly, she's at or near the top in most offensive categories, and is far more effective than many who show up much better on the stopwatch.

Do the speedwork, but worry about the hitting.

Thanks for the advice. My DD is a power hitter who is currently doing well at the speed she’s at so I don’t think she needs to get any faster. However, she used to be so slow that she couldn’t take advantage of how far she hit the ball so we decided to do speed training and it really paid off. I was really curious cause when I told one of my friends who also has a daughter on the team he acted like 3.2-3.3 was fast and said DD should learn to slap so I decided to ask some people cause I always thought 3.2-3.3 was about average.

 

[Capone]

What I've heard is that slappers at the power 5 schools run 2.7 or less

 

[Rolling Hard]

Thanks for the advice. My DD is a power hitter who is currently doing well at the speed she’s at so I don’t think she needs to get any faster. However, she used to be so slow that she couldn’t take advantage of how far she hit the ball so we decided to do speed training and it really paid off. I was really curious cause when I told one of my friends who also has a daughter on the team he acted like 3.2-3.3 was fast and said DD should learn to slap so I decided to ask some people cause I always thought 3.2-3.3 was about average.

 

[Rolling Hard]

3.2 for a power hitter is fast or at least very acceptable.

 

[Lobster Birch]

My daughter, 18U, takes about 5 seconds, but most of that is just standing there, apparently deciding if she needs to run or not.

 

[marriard]

I’ve been doing some speed training with my DD a lot recently and I was wondering what are some good home to first/ 20 yard dash times for a 18u DD. I’ve asked a lot of people This question and I can never get a clear and agreed upon answer. What would you guys consider a super slow, slow, average, fast, and super fast time to first? Oh also my DD runs about a 3.2-3.3.

You can't get a clear answer because there is no standard or agreed-upon way of measuring it.

And most people are hand timing it, so that makes any recorded time at least +/- 0.2 seconds inconsistent so that affects actual time and makes it impossible to compare times between attempts. Unless you have some sort of laser timing system set up you can't get a good comparison - and all that does is get you consistency in the method being used today in the conditions that are on the field today.

Over the years you see the rare genuinely fast girl and lots of very fast girls. Genuinely fast players are really rare - the ones that are genuinely quick past contact.

In ten years of coaching softball I have had lots of very fast girls who slapped and could steal bases and have been very successful. In that time I have had 2 genuinely fast girls - like 'everyone knew she was going to bunt, and she bunted straight back to the pitcher and beat the throw by a step or more anyway' fast. Those 2 were special.

 

[BigSkyHi]

You can't get a clear answer because there is no standard or agreed-upon way of measuring it.

And most people are hand timing it, so that makes any recorded time at least +/- 0.2 seconds inconsistent so that affects actual time and makes it impossible to compare times between attempts. Unless you have some sort of laser timing system set up you can't get a good comparison - and all that does is get you consistency in the method being used today in the conditions that are on the field today.

Over the years you see the rare genuinely fast girl and lots of very fast girls. Genuinely fast players are really rare - the ones that are genuinely quick past contact.

In ten years of coaching softball I have had lots of very fast girls who slapped and could steal bases and have been very successful. In that time I have had 2 genuinely fast girls - like 'everyone knew she was going to bunt, and she bunted straight back to the pitcher and beat the throw by a step or more anyway' fast. Those 2 were special.

Must agree with the challenges in how getting it measured. Would recommend working with improving times such as ball contact to touching first base and ball contact to second base. That way you can integrate running technique with base running technique.

Base running technique is a major look for a good scout.

 

[625ender]

You can't get a clear answer because there is no standard or agreed-upon way of measuring it.

And most people are hand timing it, so that makes any recorded time at least +/- 0.2 seconds inconsistent

There's your answer. I always laugh when a clown grabs their iPhone at tryouts and scribbles numbers on a clipboard.

What position does she play? How big is she? Home to second is a more important number for big kid