Model Pitchers: mixing speeds

[corlay]

to keep the thread on-track: this is not about having a good change-up. there are plenty of pitchers out there that throw power-heat, in combination with a nasty change-up.

What I'm talking about, is a pitcher who not only throws mid to high 60s heat, and compliments with a low-50s Change;
but also pretty much lives on the off-speed pitch in the high-50s.

That's what Wilkinson does, and what I find so rare to see.
The fact that she can throw the majority of her pitches in that 56-60 range, against SEC batters, and be so effective;
is what I think is so cool.

 

[coach james]

Funny you post this. I was just watching the Auburn-Florida game on Monday, and took particular notice of how well both starting pitchers Delaney Gourley(Fla) and Kaylee Carlson(Aub) changed speeds. Change ups in the upper 40's and power pitches in the mid 60's. Then throw in some off speed in the mid to upper 50's.

Kaylee Carlson, was who I thought of instantly when this topic started. Her change up is awesome, but it's even more deadly with all her off speed junk that falls in between

 

[coach james]

I was watching the Auburn vs. Florida game that other night and Kelly Barnhill was pitching. The announcers mentioned that she did not have a change up and that was hurting her ability to change speeds. She never developed a change up because a 70 MPH pitch blew away most TB and HS batters, but a 70 MPH fastball in the SEC - not so much!

70 mph against most really good teams, just means the home runs travel 300' instead of 250'!!! LOL

 

[Hawkeyes]

I have always told my DD that she needs to strive to be like Greg Maddux. She does not need to throw 70 MPH, but she needs to be able to throw any pitch on any count and keep the batters off balance by changing speed and hitting her spots.

I dropped Greg Maddux' name with one of our PC's the other night. She had no idea who he was. I felt old. She is a 1 way only time of pitcher. THis is your grip and you through it the exact same way every pitch. I talked about finger pressures and adjusting your grips slightly to change the spin slightly and also adjusting the grip to change speed. I thought i was an alien. that concept baffled her

 

[corlay]

Kaylee Carlson, was who I thought of instantly when this topic started. Her change up is awesome, but it's even more deadly with all her off speed junk that falls in between

I watched a replay of her recent matchup vs Florida,
and didnt really see much from her between her very nice change up (high 40s) and screwball heat (low to mid 60s).

She threw the change a lot, and was very effective with it,
but didnt "live" on the off-speed in the mid to high 50s like Wilkinson does.

Still searching for another comparable example...

 

[gordongekko]

Wilkinson throws the same pitch at multiple speeds, that is what makes her a little different. She will throw a Curveball (for instance) as a full speed pitch, then back off 5-7 mph. There aren't too many out there that do this, yet. Most rely on the different pitches alone to keep a batter off balance, but she uses speed change to create more variations of the same pitches. Really fun to watch in person. Keeps a batters timing off just enough.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[go4fpsb]

I think Florida St. had a pitcher 2 years ago that lived by the change up. I don't remember her name, but she was a student of that pitching coach in Virginia that I think the pretty popular on the East coast. Can't remember her name either.

That was Lacey Dalton, she threw two change ups, one at around 55 and another one that had to catch a cab to make it to home plate, threw it around 42. Her pitching instructor is Rita Lynn Gillman .

 

[RetiredCoach]

I have seen very few well hit balls on a good change up. No doubt, I've seen at least one hit 250 feet but, on the whole, most hitters do not sit on a change up and are more used to sitting on the heat.

The other thing that I wanted to mention about changing speeds is that not all pitches need to be thrown for strikes. For example, on her team is a very good hitter who is almost always sitting on a FB. When she faces such a hitter, she will most always throw something off speed on FB counts. When she's ahead she will throw a FB out of the zone and then go back to a CU or DB.