My DD is starting her 2nd year in 10u TB. She just turned 10 and started taking pitching lessons about 5 months ago. She throws consistently 40 mph. She did get to pitch for her TB team last year in her first year playing TB. She is going to pitch this year as well. I have had a lot of people tell me she is too little to be a pitcher. She is only 4'5 and around 70 lbs. Is her speed good for her size? And is she really too little to be a good pitcher?
Little Pitcher
- Thread starter SWCMom
- Start date
Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch
Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.
- Jun 8, 2016
- 16,118
- 113
If she was that size at 16 then I would say yes..
Good thing she's expected to grow!
Anyone saying that about a 10yo quickly goes on the "do not take advice from" list, IMO.What you see a lot in 10U is girls who grew early and rely on their above-average size and strength to be successful, but don't put as much work into learning proper mechanics. As they get older, and other girls start catching up in size, the big girls start being less of a standout, and often fade into the herd of mediocrity. I've seen plenty of girls that were small when they were young develop into better pitchers than the big kids because they focused on good mechanics, location, and spin to be successful.
She isn't going to be a big kid. Probably under 5'5. She tells everyone she doesn't want to be the fastest pitcher, she wants to spin the ball and put it where they can't hit it. I like her thinking.Good thing she's expected to grow!
What you see a lot in 10U is girls who grew early and rely on their above-average size and strength to be successful, but don't put as much work into learning proper mechanics. As they get older, and other girls start catching up in size, the big girls start being less of a standout, and often fade into the herd of mediocrity. I've seen plenty of girls that were small when they were young develop into better pitchers than the big kids because they focused on good mechanics, location, and spin to be successful.
- Mar 4, 2018
- 126
- 28
Good thing she's expected to grow!
What you see a lot in 10U is girls who grew early and rely on their above-average size and strength to be successful, but don't put as much work into learning proper mechanics. As they get older, and other girls start catching up in size, the big girls start being less of a standout, and often fade into the herd of mediocrity. I've seen plenty of girls that were small when they were young develop into better pitchers than the big kids because they focused on good mechanics, location, and spin to be successful.
Good advice above.
My daughter just finished up her last year of 10u. Her team ran across 15-20 10u pitchers that were throwing over 50 mph. The hardest we saw all year was 56 mph. Almost all of these girls that were throwing over 50 mph had one thing in common, they were at least 130 pound. The girls throwing that hard are generally pretty large. Please keep in mind that I said most were big girls, not all.
Tell your daughter to keep working hard. Generally the girls that are smaller at 10u will catch up to the girls that hit a growth spurt sooner than your daughter.
The #1 P on my DD's 14U TB team is 5'-3". She's pitching 56-58 in games, and has been hitting 60 more and more often in practice recently. Our team just finished up a run at PGF Premier, and she's a big part of why we got there.
I think it's Georgia that has a P that is 5'-0" tall. Granted, she's not their #1, but she's on a top-level D1 team - she's got stuff!
Good location control, a good change up (this is effective, even for slower pitchers), and good spin will take her a very long way.
- Jan 22, 2011
- 1,633
- 113
My theory is that sometimes the smaller girls have an advantage when learning to pitch because they are too small to be in-efficient. Look at the stickies in the pitching forum and see how close her style is to that. When my DD was 10 years old, she started pitching closer to that style and picked up 3 to 4 mph in a couple weeks.
If she has good spins and movement there will be a place for her on teams. My DD is now 13 and loves hitting against the girls who throw 54-56. She hates hitting against the pitchers throwing 44-46 with movement.
If she has good spins and movement there will be a place for her on teams. My DD is now 13 and loves hitting against the girls who throw 54-56. She hates hitting against the pitchers throwing 44-46 with movement.
It's almost a dis-advantage to be big early and throw hard when you're young. That's how my daughter was and she loved the fact she could throw her fastball past everyone it seemed. She didn't work hard enough on "pitching" and was just using her strength to be very successful at 10U.
Things started to change at 12U against good teams and by 14U it had changed against all teams. She could no longer use her speed to get it past batters. She's been working hard over the last year to really learn how to pitch.
Things started to change at 12U against good teams and by 14U it had changed against all teams. She could no longer use her speed to get it past batters. She's been working hard over the last year to really learn how to pitch.
This ^^^ is EXACTLY what I was talking about above.
The move to 40' and a 12" ball takes away a lot of speed advantage the big/strong girls had at 10U. The move to 43' in 14U makes only the very fastest able to rely primarily on speed.
The smaller girls learn how to get people out without relying on speed alone - and when the maturity levels catchup in 14U & 16U these are often the girls who are still pitching. A lot - a vast majority actually - of the 10U and 12U flamethrowers are no longer pitching by high school - speed aloen is not enough.
And we have a girl locally who is now a high school senior. 4"11, maybe 100 lbs but probably not - throws high 50's - will be the star pitcher at a D2 school at a very good Florida university next year on a very nice scholarship.
And we have a girl locally who is now a high school senior. 4"11, maybe 100 lbs but probably not - throws high 50's - will be the star pitcher at a D2 school at a very good Florida university next year on a very nice scholarship.
