Ideal height for pitchers?

[El Oso]

Rylee Trlicek at Florida is listed at 5’4” and that is being generous.

She is built like a brick outhouse! Strong.

 

[chinamigarden]

Ideally their feet should go all the way to the ground. The rest is based on performance.

 

[radness]

Coaches are people. People have biases. Some coaches favor (or disfavor) certain body types (tall, "thick" etc) or potential majors or personality types.
Best advice to give to your DD is hard work and persistance (this is usually good advice for most of life

Good stuff!
No one size fits all!


Make the most with what we have!

Build muscle strength!


And use this
%

 

[Rolling Hard]

She is built like a brick outhouse! Strong.

Anybody going to talk about her arm/hand /ball position?

 

[MNDad]

Things I heard for years:

Tall pitchers are overrated. They don’t put in anywhere near the work of smaller girls. They might be fast, but that doesn’t mean they’re good. They can’t spin the ball or throw strikes as well as their smaller counterparts. They’re too awkward and slow to field their position. My favorite was she should give it up and play basketball.

 

[Fluid Fastpitch]

Anybody going to talk about her arm/hand /ball position?

Maybe she's throwing a change up? Or her hips closing will reload the scap... Off to find video
ETA: appears it reloads.



Also, I'm amused that this thread is older than that Amanda Scarborough power drive video where she talks about height.

 

[quincy]

Since my last post in this thread was 11 years ago according to forum rules I am allowed to post another reply.

Tiny DD was relegated to an inning eating pitcher in school ball, I think it was because her size. Do to some Ps getting hurt she got to start a couple games.

Team was 6-6, DD was the winning P in all 6 games. HCs, who we liked, were no fools and gave her more opportunities.

When you are small just getting the opportunity to prove yourself can be a challenge.

 

[Vertigo]

Purely anecdotal but been to two camps at schools in the Northeast where I watched at least 2 smaller pitchers dance circles around the 6’0 pitchers during games. Guess who they took - the taller pitchers - who both got hit hard. I just (possibly wrongly) assume the coaches feel they can fix things with the bigger pitchers where they will be able to throw better once they get to the college.

 

[JayW]

A good short pitcher is better than a bad tall pitcher. A good tall pitcher is likely better than a good short pitcher. No need to overthink it. And I don’t buy into any argument that smaller pitchers work harder or have more heart than taller pitchers. Short and tall pitchers work hard.

A school like Alabama can pick and choose its athletes. To narrow the pool, they might as well set minimum criteria of size and pitching speed. There’s plenty of room for girls of all sizes when you take into account all the schools that play collegiate softball.

 

[Vertigo]

A good short pitcher is better than a bad tall pitcher. A good tall pitcher is likely better than a good short pitcher. No need to overthink it. And I don’t buy into any argument that smaller pitchers work harder or have more heart than taller pitchers. Short and tall pitchers work hard.

A school like Alabama can pick and choose its athletes. To narrow the pool, they might as well set minimum criteria of size and pitching speed. There’s plenty of room for girls of all sizes when you take into account all the schools that play collegiate softball.

Not saying the taller pitchers don’t work hard - but I do believe smaller pitchers have to work harder to prove themselves.

Not overthinking it at all - as a recruiting coordinator I’m surprised every time by which girls on our team go where depending on metrics alone.