How fast to first base?

[radness]

Timing equiptment that doesnt make mistakes is available.

Would not say there isnt a standard of what is considered fast.
Simply because we already know when #'s are more or less affective.
3.0 and under is measurable more successful.

 

[Strike2]

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.

Was recently working a fairly high level 16U tournament. A team had a batter who laid down bunts...lots of them. The other team was very good defensively. Everyone knew what was coming, but the batter also had excellent control over the direction of the bunt. Each time, she put one down in the infield. Each time, the defense played it flawlessly. Each time, she made it to 1B safely. That fast.

 

[radness]

@Jordan took the time to post this.

 

[Jordan]

Yeah I agree with some of the other replies that say hand timing is pretty inaccurate. I also obviously agree with @RADcatcher since his reply was my reply . Personally I do all of my timing with video and even then there’s a slight inaccuracy. However, it seems to be a lot more accurate than hand timing so if you ever need to time a player I would use video to time them instead of using the stopwatch app. Of course the best way of timing is laser timing but most people don’t have regular access to that. Read what @RADcatcher posted to find out my opinions on what I consider slow, average, and fast cause that took 20 minutes to type and I can’t do it again.

 

[Tango]

JUCO coach helping with a 12U tryout of a very good team. Told a kid that if she ran a 2.6 it was an automatic scholarship. She ran a 2.7 from the right side. She was playing as an 11 year old. Not my DD.

 

[CoachJD]

Home to first speed times are a lot like pitcher velocity posts, for a lot of reasons.

I've seen fast girls who are slow getting out of the box. I've seen some girls, especially lefties, who are quick to get going. And a lot of that just doesn't show up when timing a 60-foot dash.

I was at a couple travel tryouts recently, and I was timing the home to first speeds on my own, but I could hear most of the "official" times. In some cases, my time and her time were off by almost half a second. I like to think I was more accurate than her, but most likely we were both off by quite a bit.

You want accurate, and relevant, times? Use actual game footage. Time from contact to foot hitting the base. I bet you'll find that a lot of these 2.7s aren't actually that.

 

[mmeece]

I watched a camp where the coaches repeatedly tweaked automatic timing devices because they "knew" a certain girl ran a 2.7, even though she repeatedly ran a 2.9. I've also watched a girl that I know is one of the faster girls I've seen run 2.8-2.9, while also hearing other players ooh and ah while watching her leg out a bunt or turn a single into a double. Sometimes fast is just "you know it when you see it." One of the fastest players I've seen just isn't able to turn that sprint speed into much success on the field even when she makes contact, while my dd can run over a 3.0 but beat out bunts. I think you see the same thing in football prospects; some run an incredibly fast 40 yard time, but just don't play that fast.

 

[thecat]

Speed is genetics mixed in with a little training. You can increase a home to 1st time that much. Sprinting speed in general is tough to come by. I will see that you know speed when you see it. You can cheat God a little by cutting a step.

I teach speed and I've never seen and increase of more than .3.

My girls are tall and athletic. They both weight in the 170s. They're 2.8 RB on a good day with a tailwind

 

[thecat]

The only reliable way to test home to first is hit to hit. Hit the ball and hit first base. As mentioned earlier home to 2nd is a more important number

 

[BigSkyHi]

Check this out from a scout. Talks about 60 yd dash 5:30 thru 10:46.

For me the first 12 minutes are awesome.