In love with the Strikeout Pitcher

[Softball scholar]

If you only have one pitcher to chose from, get the strikeout pitcher every time. Why would you want a ground ball pitcher over a strikeout pitcher? Balls in play tend to find gaps in the defense, bad hops, errors, runners advancing, etc. I think "swing and misses" is an important statistic that is overlooked. I recently looked at my 1st year 14U DD's "swing and miss" stat and its a low 9.5%. Not surprising, her strikeouts per game is down as well. At 43 feet now, it's a lot harder to get the high amount of strikeouts per game as she used to at 12U and younger. Strikeouts are king, anyway you can get them.

My philosophy is to get the strike out first, that's best. Or at least make your goal the strikeout. But we want to make sure the fastball/dropball has good spin so you get downward break, so if they do hit the ball, its a ground ball. Same way for the Riseball, you don't want them to hit it, so get it out of the zone. But if they do hit it, make sure you have the right spin and that its not flattening out so they'll pop it up. Same for the change, but use it to set the strike out up.

Rocketech- My DD swing and miss % is 13.7%. I'snt game changer lovely. She's avg 8.775 Ks per game at the 16U level.

 

[Rocketech1]

Rocketech- My DD swing and miss % is 13.7%. I'snt game changer lovely. She's avg 8.775 Ks per game at the 16U level.

I like her stats and love GC but its only as good as the scorekeeper...

DD best game was 18.5% "swing and miss" and a short season (new team) best 8 strikeouts in 6 innings, no surprise there with the correlation. Strikeout to walk is 3.44/1 with 67% strikes.

 

[JAD]

I've personally not noticed a tendency for coaches to prefer a strikeout pitcher over an effective pitcher.

If speed is the factor that leads to more strikeouts, however, pretty much all coaches prefer pitchers with speed.

If you were a coach recruiting pitchers do you think it is easier to teach a 65 MPH pitcher control, or a 55MPH pitcher to throw 65MPH?

 

[Perfect Circle]

Think I'd take the 55mph and teach speed. Its like racing an Indy car without a steering wheel. Its not a ball control issue, its self control for the flamethrowers....

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

A common metric for pitchers .... K/(BB+HBP). The higher the better.

True, but it misses important information such as when the BB/HBP are occurring or if they are back to back.

I don't care how many you strike out if you are also giving up free bases and runs then it's a problem regardless if you can throw 100mph or 20mph.

What the ratio tells you is how expensive the Ks are. A ratio of 8 or higher suggests a pitcher is helping a team out a great deal. A ratio of 4 or more isn't too shabby. A ratio below 2 isn't very exciting, as the pitchers Ks are fairly expensive.

 

[Sparky Guy]

Think I'd take the 55mph and teach speed. Its like racing an Indy car without a steering wheel. Its not a ball control issue, its self control for the flamethrowers....

And when the speed never shows up, what do you do? There are some girls who will NEVER throw over 60 mph no matter how hard they try.

I've worked with both types of pitchers. I'll take my chances with teaching a flamethrower to hit her spots and move the ball.

 

[chrispots]

Think I'd take the 55mph and teach speed. Its like racing an Indy car without a steering wheel. Its not a ball control issue, its self control for the flamethrowers....

PC...

JAD didn't state the 55MPH had control either...

I'd take 65MPH and teach control...CP

 

[JAD]

PC...

JAD didn't state the 55MPH had control either...

I'd take 65MPH and teach control...CP

It was implied....

 

[Perfect Circle]

PC...JAD didn't state the 55MPH had control either...I'd take 65MPH and teach control...CP

OK ... I took it as my 55mph'er had control... and is just lookin for another pitch... one to just blow right past them... once in a while.

To get to 55mph probably at least 14yrs old... and pitched a lot ??? Never get to 65mph without having pitched a lot.

I do know how to add speed to a controlled pitcher Sparky... ;{)) Banking my DD's future on it.

EP: Thx JAD... I thought so

 

[JAD]

What the ratio tells you is how expensive the Ks are. A ratio of 8 or higher suggests a pitcher is helping a team out a great deal. A ratio of 4 or more isn't too shabby. A ratio below 2 isn't very exciting, as the pitchers Ks are fairly expensive.

The level of ball being played can have a huge influence on the ratios. In HS a ratio of 8 or more is not uncommon, while in high level TB a ratio of 4 or more is damn good in my opinion...