Parents of older pitchers, what do you know now that you wish you knew when it first started.

[Pigskinguru34]

Oldest started at 8u and just signed her commitment letter for college last month.

Here are my things.

Have them prove they want to do it when they are young. My daughter literally spent 4-6 hours a day on just doing the motions and drills when she was 9-10. This developed the muscle memory necessary to carry it forward.

Learn control at an early age. By 10 my daughter was throwing 90% in the strike zone and spotting pitches. This helps them going forward.

Do not try throwing 4+ pitches before you can even spot your fastball or consistently throw a changeup for a strike.8 Too many girls want to throw 4+ pitches but wend up not throwing any of them effectively.

Work on these things in order. First learn control, then work on your core (legs, stomach, arm whip), then work on spin, and finally long toss and building speed. Too many want to throw hard but fail to throw strikes and have low spin rate. Those girls get hit hard in 16u+.

Definitely a proponent of using tools to develop speed and movement. Use weighted balls for muscle development for speed, use a 14" ball and some kind of device to develop spin. Movement does so much more for girls as they get older.

Lastly, work with them to develop the psyche of a successful pitcher. This is hard because girls are all different but you want them to pitch the same way whether no outs bases loaded or nobody on and 2 outs. Too many girls i see completely shut down a team for 3-4 innings and then give up a hit and then completely come off the rails.

Encourage them when they do good and let them know what to work on to get better. I know I see too many take either of the extremes, meaning all praise or all negativity, neither approach is successful in the end.

Be ready to put the time in with them throughout the process as pitchers require the most commitment for lessons, etc.

Now to one thing I look back on wish i could know then what I know now. Daughter had a tiny crow hop at an early age to gain speed. Never had an ump call her out but coaches would always say something. Seeing what gets the most speed and strongest deliveries in college/pro these days wish I never worked to correct it. The umpiring is so off and majority of top end pitchers use this in some variation to get their extra speed.

 

[Chris8]

Great topic

1) found DFP earlier
That would have led to number 2

2) never use a HE coach

but we started HE naively Then spent countless hours trying to get rid of it and pitch different and better. DFP earlier would have prevented that

 

[Vertigo]

Best advice I ever got -

Find a pitching coach to teach you spin

Find another pitching coach to teach you speed

Each pitching coach has something to offer. Take it, build the relationship, have a great time, and then move on. No one will provide you with everything you need.

Yep, totally agree! Dd actually does go to two different pitching coaches for the exact reasons above.

 

[coach james]

I wish I knew the difference between BS and legit pitching mechanics.
My dd already had 3 years of hello elbow and multiple trips to the hospital to discuss her shoulder that she couldn't move....

I eventually found Bill Hillhouse and stumbled onto this site and eventually learned that we'd wasted so much time and money learning how to do things wrong.
Bill got me on the path to becoming a student and that path has lead me to a ton of amazing people along the way.
In a nutshell, study and verify everything. Ask questions, and possibly learn to pitch for yourself.

 

[STRIKE3]

to the moms and dads that come here to learn and then teach......prove to yourself that your can do it first.... and then teach your dd. In other words....can you throw 65? If you can then teach it to your DD but if you are stuck at 50....then question your mechanics. I fell into this myself and reverted back to the see one, do one, teach one. Was stuck at being able to do one so how in the hell could I teach one. BUT, I kept working at it and figured it out thanks to DFP.

Also, so many great things to read here, if I could go back and change some things, the biggest thing would be the arm circle. This is just my thoughts on the adventure I have been on. It isn't a circle, it starts as a circle but turns into a slash.

Someone posted a video of this exact thing along time ago and I cant find it for my life but if anyone has it, please post it.

Best,

S3

 

[mmeece]

Random things I wish I'd known or that I would teach if I had a beginner:
-Study the sticky threads on this pitching forum. When you think you understand, study more.
-Make the pitcher learn to throw and play catch underhand successfully before moving to pitching. They need to learn how to get the ball to you consistently with good mechanics this way before even introducing the pitching motion.
-Learn to pitch at full speed, then learn how to control full speed. I've seen so many girls with an overly controlled motion who throw strikes until they have to re-learn how to throw strikes when they throw hard. I allowed a coach to pull the throttle back on my dd for a year or more and it really hampered her progress. I believe she would have been better off struggling with control at full speed and trying to dial it in.
-Learn how to spin a ball in each of the important planes without trying to make a pitch out of it. Teach them backspin (rise), topspin (drop), etc without calling them pitches. I wish I had done this from early in the process with dd. Just introduce the spins in warm-ups and sessions playing catch. It takes so much pressure off of the kid when it's not a "pitch" and they aren't doing it from the rubber. This will also let you see which spins are more natural for them. It will give them weeks, months, or years of practice before introducing the actual pitch.
-Don't try to master 5 pitches at once, but don't narrow the focus too much. I know it's contradictory, but when they only have 2 pitches to work on for months at a time, sometimes practices can get pretty tedious. I tried to always have dd working on a "new" pitch, even if it was actually just a variation of something she was already working on. Just clears the mind sometimes.
-She has to get innings to improve. If that means dropping down to a lower level team in order to make that happen, so be it. Being on a better team and not pitching won't help a pitcher improve.
-Know that it won't always be fun. In fact, sometimes it won't be fun for weeks at a time. If she really wants to do it, that won't stop her. In those tough practices sometimes you just have to shut up and let her throw and then pretend like it never happened when you get back in the house.

 

[sluggers]

6) Mental toughness. One area that I think DD always did well with is pressure. She pitches better with the base loaded then with no one on.

I've got nothing but love for you, @BT3100...

Yes, mental toughness includes not getting rattled when things go bad.

But, your description is of a pitcher who does not have mental toughness or discipline. You are describing someone who is not giving 100% for the whole game...in fact, it sounds like most of the game she is coasting.

In the long run, her approach will not work. Good hitters are good hitters for a reason.

 

[MNDad]

Oldest started at 8u and just signed her commitment letter for college last month.

Here are my things.

Have them prove they want to do it when they are young. My daughter literally spent 4-6 hours a day on just doing the motions and drills when she was 9-10. This developed the muscle memory necessary to carry it forward.

Learn control at an early age. By 10 my daughter was throwing 90% in the strike zone and spotting pitches. This helps them going forward.

Do not try throwing 4+ pitches before you can even spot your fastball or consistently throw a changeup for a strike.8 Too many girls want to throw 4+ pitches but wend up not throwing any of them effectively.

Work on these things in order. First learn control, then work on your core (legs, stomach, arm whip), then work on spin, and finally long toss and building speed. Too many want to throw hard but fail to throw strikes and have low spin rate. Those girls get hit hard in 16u+.

Definitely a proponent of using tools to develop speed and movement. Use weighted balls for muscle development for speed, use a 14" ball and some kind of device to develop spin. Movement does so much more for girls as they get older.

Lastly, work with them to develop the psyche of a successful pitcher. This is hard because girls are all different but you want them to pitch the same way whether no outs bases loaded or nobody on and 2 outs. Too many girls i see completely shut down a team for 3-4 innings and then give up a hit and then completely come off the rails.

Encourage them when they do good and let them know what to work on to get better. I know I see too many take either of the extremes, meaning all praise or all negativity, neither approach is successful in the end.

Be ready to put the time in with them throughout the process as pitchers require the most commitment for lessons, etc.

Now to one thing I look back on wish i could know then what I know now. Daughter had a tiny crow hop at an early age to gain speed. Never had an ump call her out but coaches would always say something. Seeing what gets the most speed and strongest deliveries in college/pro these days wish I never worked to correct it. The umpiring is so off and majority of top end pitchers use this in some variation to get their extra speed.

I’m not sure there’s a specific order of speed or control first. They’re going to need both to be successful. DD started with speed. That probably led to more walks throughout her career, but she still saw plenty of success.

When she was younger she’d occasionally take a small step (couple inches) off the rubber. Like your DD coaches would occasionally say something, but it was never called. Once she got to college they started calling it though. I know there’s several high profile pitchers that get away with a crow hop. Lesser known pitchers aren’t as lucky so I’d suggest a new pitcher just start out legal.

 

[Hacker79]

Great topic

1) found DFP earlier
That would have led to number 2

2) never use a HE coach

but we started HE naively Then spent countless hours trying to get rid of it and pitch different and better. DFP earlier would have prevented that

My daughter has been pitching a year now and im not familiar with all the terms, but does "HE coach stand for hello Elbow coach? Thank you!

 

[tomorrow]

My daughter has been pitching a year now and im not familiar with all the terms, but does "HE coach stand for hello Elbow coach? Thank you!

That is correct