Pitcher Height

[Catscratch]

My 12 yo DD was recently told at her annual checkup that she will probably only grow to be 5'7" at best.
She is now bothered that she will not be tall enough to be the pitcher she would like to be. Would love
to show her success stories from non 6' tall pitchers.

 

[ctfastpitch]

I don't believe that Tincher or Mowatt were more than 5'7" and they both did OK.

 

[Mark H]

All else being equal long levers are better but all else is never equal. Your DD will be taller than Lisa Fernandez as I recall. Texas just signed a pitcher who looks to be about 5' 4". Throws hard and moves the ball. Some coaches are awed by height. Some aren't.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

It's not the size of the dog in the fight.........it's the size of the fight in the dog. Remember, this is not basketball. 5'7 is not a bad height for a good pitcher.

 

[Jojo]

My DD was 5'6", not hefty, short short short fingers and a compressed pitching wrist with limited flexibility from a fall when she was 11. I used to tell her she really wasn't meant to be pitcher, but she thought otherwise, and got a full scholarship at a top University--some have to work a little harder than others.
And with a note to being tall, her coach did choose a 6'1" pitcher from Canada that she really liked. She ended up only pitching a handful of games in 2 years before they had to cut her.

 

[DonnieS]

I have seen a lot of successful pitchers in the 5.4 5.9 area - but pop 5.10 and the attention becomes automatic. My kid is 5.6 and seems to be stretching out. My kid's two favorite pitcher/role models are both 5.6 5.7, Lisa Fernandez and Amanda Scarborough. Even her pitching coach, Bobby Smith is I believe under 5.10, I have caught him in practice where he is teaching - definitely not coming bringing everything - and he sure looks taller.

 

[jofus13]

Tincher is almost exactly the same size as my DD, who is about 5'7" and 120 lbs or so.

Which, coincidentally, is one of many reasons that I'm glad she's on Angela's dad's travel team, since I know he's helped at least one "normal" sized girl reach a pretty good level of pitching.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Go to the Akron Racer Web Page. That will cheer her up, when she looks at pitchers.

 

[softball_chic_12]

i'm 14 and 5'2''. i'm short and proud of it! i pitch and catch. But as i see she is concerned about her height. i pitched every game in a weekend tournament. our team didn't have any other pitchers. They all dropped out at the last minute. I'm also kinda new to pitching. At the time i didn't have much expierence. But let me tell you. i impressed myself, coaches, teammates, and other teams. For having little expierence and for pitching the past 2 days i was doing great. Some of the teams we played were weaker than us, some better. But i had a lot of strike outs and a no hitter that weekend. i didn't have much speed and my pitches went almost everywhere except for the strike zone. i was so proud of myself. Even though i had little expierence and i was short, i was rockin it in the circle. The only thing that stopped me was it was hot that weekend. I tried to stay hydrated and cool down in between innings and games. I tried to eat a little something (nothing greasy) in between games. We were one win away from the championship game and i had a heat stroke. somehow we found a girl who pitched in one or two games and she took the mound for me. The story reminds me that height has no meaning whatsoever....in fact i'm lucky if i get to be 5'5''....but no matter what you need to take care of your body before, during, and after games. i hope that her possible height will not effect her decision about pitching.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

One thing to keep in mind is that some of the pros you mentioned that are average height are currently in their late 20's or early 30's (e.g. Lisa Fernandez graduated college 1995) and probably did not face the level of competition our top DD's will. IMO, if softball continues to grow in popularilty, the new generation of athletes are going to be bigger, stronger, faster, and taller than when Lisa was learining how to pitch in the mid 80's, early 90's. With that said, genetics is only part of the equation, with hard work, practice, and passion for the game just as important.