How to stop walk-athon in 10u?

[uncdrew]

It is 5' but I agree.

They go from 35' to 40' to 43'. I can't remember when it all happens.

 

[daywalkerdad]

Let’s not forget pitching in 10u softball is like pitching to Edward Gaedel. Lol

 

[wheresmycar]

They go from 35' to 40' to 43'. I can't remember when it all happens.

10u = 35"
12U = 40" (And 12" ball)
14u+ = 43"

 

[uncdrew]

10u = 35"
12U = 40" (And 12" ball)
14u+ = 43"

How bizarre. My DD is on a first-year 14U team. Didn't even notice the move back to 43 feet. Our middle school ball is always 43 feet and she's been playing that for 3 years so I guess we're just used to where ever the pitcher plate is.

 

[ArmWhip]

I have been dealing with this for 30+ years. For rec I favor coach pitch for the first 4 innings, then 1-2 innings of kid pitch. I know people are going to erupt and say the kids have to learn to pitch sometime. Bowling strikes at 10U (whether you do the phony windmill or not) does pitchers a disservice. For an analogy let me suggest this: Your daughter wants to play a simple piano tune for the class Christmas pageant. The easiest, fastest way to do this is for her to learn to play the song using just her two index fingers. But learning to play with just your index fingers isn't going to allow you to progress very far.

 

[Rick M]

If you're pitching well in 10U the change to a bigger ball and 3 feet more away is no big deal. Takes a few weeks to get used to but is just a minor blip on their journey.

Not DD’s experience at all. I happened to go back and look a GameChanger a few days ago while trying to see how many pitches DD throws in a typical month. First fall of 12U she had a 17+ ERA and averaged two walks an inning.

She was making the transition to IR on top of the bigger ball and distance. It was a tough 10 weeks! So pitcher parents out there, don’t be too discouraged if they struggle at the beginning of 12U. The move to 43’ at 14U was seamless.

Also, back to the OP, our league did four balls and then coach pitched the remaining strikes at 10U. DD dominated her last year of 10U by just keeping the other coach out of the circle.


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[Keith Wagner]

Any tips to get outs when no one’s hitting? First year in 10u rec and the pitchers are working with pitching coaches but aren’t throwing many strikes so both teams are just having a lot of walks and steals. Our first game we got 2 outs tagged at home but after that, they quit trying to steal home. So the score ended up being 18-18 due to the 6 run rule in our league. I’m thinking work on throwing stealers out while we continue to work on pitching. Any other tips?

Couple of things we did 1 went to a no-walk rule Kid pitch til they get 3 balls then a coach takes over with however strikes the batter has Coach stays on the field beside the pitcher. 2 Batter can not leave until the ball is in the catcher's mitt. 3 No steals of Home. Moved the game along and kids still got to work on pitching, stealing, and defense of bunts and steals. Our league did not di this but I know a league that has been really successful in what they call open Mound Sunday. They provide balls and rubbers for anybody who wants to come out and get some mound time or time working on catching. Volunteer coaches take turns showing up and working on p[itch mechanics

 

[bjenkins24]

I don’t know the solution, but I don’t think coach pitch is necessarily the right solution. In my neck of the woods (so cal) our 10u pitchers don’t pitch walkathons. We have 9 teams and one team struggles. The other eight will have maybe 3 walks on average for a game.

Maybe it’s how we develop pitchers? Not sure. In 8u it’s kid pitch here. First half of the season if the pitcher walks someone the coach comes in and pitches. Second half a walk is a walk. When my DD was in it it was about 50% of teams would walk in 5 runs. But now in 10u we have 8 pitchers who pitch ~60% strikes.

But there’s definitely a culture of pitching here and it’s all pretty competitive for rec. we have a 6 year old playing up in 8u because she wants to pitch. She’s probably pitching around 50% strikes. Parents take it pretty seriously.

 

[lostcreek1]

In 8u it’s kid pitch here.

I would say this is why 10u is not a walkathon. The first year kids pitch is usually pretty rough what ever year that is.

 

[Northball]

... we have a 6 year old playing up in 8u because she wants to pitch. She’s probably pitching around 50% strikes. Parents take it pretty seriously.

Lock in that 10 year fruit snack NIL deal!