Moving to 43'

[Sweet Pitch 96]

My dd played up 16U this weekend and gave up more runs in this tournament than she had in the last 6 tournaments combined. She throws in the mid to upper 50's with good spin and movement and has been pretty successful at 14U. Once she got used to the distance, she was good about hitting her spots, but she was getting lit up. I know the hitters are better and older, but what would be some suggestions on making a more successful transition to 43'. We will still be playing 14U most of the time with 16U becoming more frequent as the next year progresses.

 

[de Groot]

This is a hard thing to improve on, it is mainly practice. I am in bantam(14-16) and I am affiliated with a midget team(16-19) and I have to move back 3 ft also.
What I do is when I practice pitching I throw around 3-5 ft further then I normally would pitch from. Once you are on the mound in a real game you have so much more confidence and you can control your pitches much better and it seems a lot easier.
That might not help to much but I tried!

 

[atagame]

Our dd is a 14U pitcher, whose team has played 16U this season. She will be a freshman in the fall. She has added 43 ft. to her practice regimen - but only for fastball & change. She only practices breaking pitches from 40 ft, unless her next tournament requires it. She does get better movement from 43, but a little less velocity. She is working on that.

 

[halskinner]

Tell her to pretend it is still 40'. The ball will have three more feet to travel and move even more. If she is throwing as fast as you say, this is a psychological thing, not a physical one.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

After going through this 43' deal, I think it is easier to move to 43, then to move back up to 40. We are caught in that grey area of HS 43', 14U 40', when we play up 16U 43'. ( we mostly play 14U ) Mine had trouble early in travel with her ball breaking too late since we have been at 43 in HS for 6 months.

But I will admit that I hated the idea of 43, had a few heated posts on here. Now I love it, like Hal said, it really gives the ball more time to move.

 

[BoardMember]

My dd played up 16U this weekend and gave up more runs in this tournament than she had in the last 6 tournaments combined. She throws in the mid to upper 50's with good spin and movement and has been pretty successful at 14U. Once she got used to the distance, she was good about hitting her spots, but she was getting lit up. I know the hitters are better and older, but what would be some suggestions on making a more successful transition to 43'. We will still be playing 14U most of the time with 16U becoming more frequent as the next year progresses.

Don't tell me, your DD's favorite pitch is drop.......

 

[Coach Al]

IMHO doing long throws in practice, from 50', would help her make the transition.

 

[PEPPERS]

The biggest problem my daughter had was adjusting for the breaking balls, when she threw the same pitch from 43 it would be out of the strike zone. It took practice, but she made the adjustment. At 43 I think, good spin and location becomes more important.

She is 15 and this is her first year at 43.

 

[mkral]

BoardMember can you please elaborate for me? I think I get what you are getting at because we are in a different situation since with ASA 14U my DD pitches at 40' but for 7th grade ball my DD pitches at 43'. So she is forced to pitch at both distances every week. DD worked hard on getting a pretty nice drop ball over last summer & fall but now with the extra 3' we had to make some adjustments. It has gotten a lot better and does not hit the ground a foot in front of the plate now but that was a real learning curve for her. Now, that being said my DD is not one of those 13 year old kids that have 6 pitches in her arsenal. She throws a drop, change, and a fastball and that is pretty much it. The rest will come eventually, IMO.

 

[halskinner]

OK, I will be the bad guy here. Here we go again; THERE ARE PITCHERS AND THERE ARE THROWERS. Having good ball spin, movement and placement does not necessarily make you a good 'pitcher'.

It is ALL about having command of whatever pitch you are about to throw. Whether you are going to throw a curveball from 2nd base, a dropball from behind the rubber or a riseball from 3 feet in front of the rubber, you can immediately make that adjustment and have the ball move and go into the strike zone.

Throwers rely on muscle memory to throw a strike, basically without really thinking much about it. Does it take some experience yes, but not that much.

If throwing a movement pitch is a major issue for a three foot adjustment, maybe you should start practicing your 'control' of that pitch that you HAVE NOT mastered. Start practicing your pitches at different and oddball lengths from the rubber. test your self and figure out if you are a pitcher or a thrower.

Throwing with ONLY muscle memory is sort of like locking out that big muscle between your ears.