Minimum Innings in order for a pitcher to progress

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Oct 29, 2019
89
18
My DD was a successful D1 pitcher. When she was pitching, classifications between A, B, C, Gold and Platinum didn't exist.

12YOA: PItched 2 or 3 games a week on a 12U low level travel team.
13YOA: PItched about 2 games a week on a mid-level 16U team. This was more or less a waste of time. My DD needed more game time to develop, but the coach wanted a fully developed 16U pitcher.
14YOA: Pitched 5 or 6 games a week on a mid-level 16U team.
15YOA: Pitched 5 or 6 games a week on a mid-level 18U team.
16YOA; Pitched 4 to 5 games a week on a top-flight 16U team.
17YOA & 18YOA: Pitched 4 to 5 games a week on a top flight 18U team.

Generally, her 13YOA and 14YOA years were probably the most important as to learning how to pitch during a game.

Wow. That is a lot of innings. I feel like my daughter could handle this without getting worn out. She has never complained of a soar arm or had any issues.

It's finding the innings that's hard. She plays a lot of softball, but about 25% of the time she is on the field she is in the circle. She would have to be playing 30 games a week to put up these numbers. She loves playing other positions and she is good at it. Honestly pitcher is probably her 3rd or 4th best position, but it's so fun.

When I asked our pitching coach if my daughter was getting enough innings she replied "The best thing to ever happen for my pitching was playing on a team where I was the only pitcher."
 
Jul 14, 2018
982
93
My DD was a successful D1 pitcher. When she was pitching, classifications between A, B, C, Gold and Platinum didn't exist.

12YOA: PItched 2 or 3 games a week on a 12U low level travel team.
13YOA: PItched about 2 games a week on a mid-level 16U team. This was more or less a waste of time. My DD needed more game time to develop, but the coach wanted a fully developed 16U pitcher.
14YOA: Pitched 5 or 6 games a week on a mid-level 16U team.
15YOA: Pitched 5 or 6 games a week on a mid-level 18U team.
16YOA; Pitched 4 to 5 games a week on a top-flight 16U team.
17YOA & 18YOA: Pitched 4 to 5 games a week on a top flight 18U team.

Generally, her 13YOA and 14YOA years were probably the most important as to learning how to pitch during a game.

Wow, how did she get so many games in? When I looked back at the numbers I posted for DD at 12U, it averages out to about three games a week. It felt like a lot at the time -- that was Rec, school ball, and travel combined. Rec is done, so I'm assuming there will be fewer games this spring. I guess if she played for a better travel team they might have gotten deeper into bracket play :LOL:

Thanks for sharing the breakdown, it helps to see what successful pitchers have done.
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
My DD was a successful D1 pitcher. When she was pitching, classifications between A, B, C, Gold and Platinum didn't exist.

12YOA: PItched 2 or 3 games a week on a 12U low level travel team.
13YOA: PItched about 2 games a week on a mid-level 16U team. This was more or less a waste of time. My DD needed more game time to develop, but the coach wanted a fully developed 16U pitcher.
14YOA: Pitched 5 or 6 games a week on a mid-level 16U team.
15YOA: Pitched 5 or 6 games a week on a mid-level 18U team.
16YOA; Pitched 4 to 5 games a week on a top-flight 16U team.
17YOA & 18YOA: Pitched 4 to 5 games a week on a top flight 18U team.

Generally, her 13YOA and 14YOA years were probably the most important as to learning how to pitch during a game.

Dude! 10U -- what did she do at 10U? We gotta know!!!!!

;)
 
Nov 18, 2013
2,255
113
Wow. That is a lot of innings. I feel like my daughter could handle this without getting worn out. She has never complained of a soar arm or had any issues.

It's finding the innings that's hard. She plays a lot of softball, but about 25% of the time she is on the field she is in the circle. She would have to be playing 30 games a week to put up these numbers. She loves playing other positions and she is good at it. Honestly pitcher is probably her 3rd or 4th best position, but it's so fun.

When I asked our pitching coach if my daughter was getting enough innings she replied "The best thing to ever happen for my pitching was playing on a team where I was the only pitcher."

Just out of curiosity, what level did her PC play at in travel and college? Being the only pitcher sucks! You never advance deep in tournaments. Get in the losers bracket and you’re history. Worst of all, what’s the incentive to improve if there’s nobody to take your spot? Best thing for DD was great pitching coaches and playing with girls better than her.

You mentioned pitcher was her 3rd or 4th position. Does she want to play in college? Does she want to pitch in college? Multiple positions and being versatile is great. With pitching though you pretty much have to be all in. She’s fine now. As she gets older she’ll need to become more specialized.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,133
113
Dallas, Texas
There are three parts to building a good pitcher:

A. Learning the mechanics of throwing the ball.
B. Getting good enough with the mechanics and learning to stay calm so the pitcher can perform the mechanics during a game.
C. Learning the "pitcher vs. batter" game.

Only *ONE* of these three things can be learned in a pitching cage. The other two things are learned in the circle, during a game.
 
Oct 29, 2019
89
18
Just out of curiosity, what level did her PC play at in travel and college? Being the only pitcher sucks! You never advance deep in tournaments. Get in the losers bracket and you’re history. Worst of all, what’s the incentive to improve if there’s nobody to take your spot? Best thing for DD was great pitching coaches and playing with girls better than her.

You mentioned pitcher was her 3rd or 4th position. Does she want to play in college? Does she want to pitch in college? Multiple positions and being versatile is great. With pitching though you pretty much have to be all in. She’s fine now. As she gets older she’ll need to become more specialized.

Pitching Coach played travel ball but I'm not sure what level. I don't think they had levels the way they do now back in the late 90s. She pitched D1 in the big 12. I totally agree that I wouldn't want my daughter on a team being the only pitcher.

My daughter is the #2 pitcher on her team but honestly it's probably her 3rd or 4th position in terms of performance. She wants to be the starting pitcher for Oklahoma/Astronaut/Ninja. College seems a bit early to focus on now she just turned 12.

She will need to specialize more as she gets older if she is going to be a pitcher. Pitching fewer innings now could turn out to be a blessing if she chooses not to pitch in the future. When she isn't pitching she is almost always on the field.
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
My daughter is the #1 pitcher and is motivated by:

1. Staying the #1 pitcher
2. Beating other teams
3. Increasing her speed
4. Lowering her walks
5. Increasing her strike %
6. Getting better

Yes, can't do #1 if she's the only pitcher. But I personally haven't seen much of that. Every team has a #2 and #3. I suppose at some point the #2 and #3 are so bad you can accurately say there's only one pitcher.
 
Mar 20, 2015
174
28
My DD was a successful D1 pitcher. When she was pitching, classifications between A, B, C, Gold and Platinum didn't exist.

12YOA: PItched 2 or 3 games a week on a 12U low level travel team.
13YOA: PItched about 2 games a week on a mid-level 16U team. This was more or less a waste of time. My DD needed more game time to develop, but the coach wanted a fully developed 16U pitcher.
14YOA: Pitched 5 or 6 games a week on a mid-level 16U team.
15YOA: Pitched 5 or 6 games a week on a mid-level 18U team.
16YOA; Pitched 4 to 5 games a week on a top-flight 16U team.
17YOA & 18YOA: Pitched 4 to 5 games a week on a top flight 18U team.

Generally, her 13YOA and 14YOA years were probably the most important as to learning how to pitch during a game.
Was this during Saturday/Sunday tournaments? I would like to get my DD this much live pitching but almost all her games are at 2 day tournaments and there are other pitchers plus risk of injury.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,133
113
Dallas, Texas
Was this during Saturday/Sunday tournaments? I would like to get my DD this much live pitching but almost all her games are at 2 day tournaments and there are other pitchers plus risk of injury.

I'm not recommending kids do what she did. It is information.

My Dd loved to pitch. She would pitch every chance she got.

At that time (1990s) in Chicagoland, there was no fall ball. So, she played HS softball February to June, and then travel ball until mid-August.

She would throw (practice) 3 times a week in August, September and October, and take November and December off. She would start up again in January throwing 4 or 5 times a week. In March, she would pitch for her HS team....which would be 2 games a week.

When she was 14 & 15, she pitched almost every game at weekend tournaments, and she would usually pitch one friendly game during the week.

Back then, coaches would say how "natural" the underhand motion and that kids could pitch every day, all day. There were no studies about injuries.
 
Last edited:
May 7, 2008
174
18
My daughter is pitching about 5-6 innings per tournament.

We play 2 tournaments a month.

That means she is pitching about one game every other week with her travel team.

She is a strong #2 pitcher on the team, but the team has a bunch of pitchers. In pool games innings are spread pretty even. In bracket play the #1 gets the nod until she starts fading.

We see a pitching coach once a week and put in lots of extra work so she is "pitching" a bunch. She just doesn't get that much game time in the circle.

Our pitching coach mentioned more time pitching in games is the best thing for her.

Is this situation hindering development?

Couple thoughts. first softball is supposed to be fun. Is she having fun? Or does the lack of time make it frustrating not fun? No fun = quit.

5-6 inning every 2 tournaments makes no sense to me if she is #2. say you play just the 4 game min x 2 weekends = 8 games. if #1 gets 4 games, #2 2 games, #3 2 games, or 3,3, 2 or 4,3,1 thats twice what you report. If the coach is carrying more than 3 pitchers there will be ( IMO) unhappy players and parents soon. Its tough to feed 3 pitchers unless you are playing 6+ games a weekend ( going deep sunday every weekend). After 20 years of coaching I always found a solid 1-2 pair and a #3 who is willing but not disappointed to not pitch is the best bet. BEST BET for overall team and player camaraderie and enjoyment; maybe not the best for the coach who wants a 5 deep bullpen. But what is the game about anyhow coach's record or the players????????
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,481
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top