Pitcher's parents / 43 ft

[JC heir]

I have coached a lot of B team & rec teams , & so I have seen a good many times where our team was completely dominated by 1 player on the other team even though the rest of the team wasnt any better than ours A few times I even saw the pitcher advantage on my side. I am all for making it a little more of an offensive and defensive game as well as protecting our pitchers.

 

[Cannonball]

My dd has been throwing from 43 all summer long. So, this isn't a major change. Most of the exposure tournaments she played in for 16U required 43. Having all winter long to work at that distance she'll do fine. As some members have mentioned, ball movement will be critical. For example, my dd's curveball is out the door. She now is throwing a drop curve. She could not reign in the other curve. Her change is so much more effective now since the bottom really drops out of it. Naturally, her fastball isnt' going to be dominant but it never was. Instead, spot the fastball for a ball most of the time to just show it and use the rise, drop, change for most of the outs. BTW, since it was brought up that colleges wanted this change for recruiting purposes, keep in mind that a lot of colleges are looking for pitchers who can go up and down in the zone or left and right. We have opted to go up and down. That distance forced us to do that but now we are glad that we have done it. Now we need Bill Hillhouse or Ifyoubildit to talk her in to that rise ball grip Bill shows on his video. Bill, naturally that grip with the fingertip for the rise means that my dd will break her nail. LOL!

 

[GOINGDEEP]

CB I sure hope the person behind the move is smarter than me. The 14u equation is going to be interesting. We have trouble with the 'tucked' finger on the rise. Michelle Smith uses it well, but we have trouble tucking. That's a work in progress!!

 

[xxxYerOut]

cb- We are in a very similar situation. DD has been throwing at 43' for months now and likes it a lot. It is the short season that follows HS that will take the real adjustment, especially as you go into qualifiers, State and National level tournaments fairly soon. I have never been a big proponent of playing up (more as a pitcher's dad, than player's) as why give away your more dominant years? Enjoy your opportunity to be at the top level in the bracket. Seems like most of them are in our area though.

To make it more interesting, since the rule does not officially go into affect until Aug. 2010, Not all the schools in the area have made the move yet. DD's HS district has made the move to 43', but neighboring districts (including the one that hosts the preseason tournament) have not. We are just finding this out this week. These are some very good schools, with very good pitchers that are still throwing from 40'. There is another tournament around Spring break that will likely still be at 40' that comes after 2 or 3 games on their regular schedule at 43'. Being a likely Freshman Varsity pitcher will be challenging enough, they have made it even more so. The one thing I do like about it, DD has taken on the challenge and is working hard for it.

IMO- Bringing 14u back to 43' isn't the answer either. We see a huge difference in size between the first and second year 14's.

 

[Cannonball]

xxxyerout, State associations will mandate what you play in high school. I can't see them allowing districts or conferences to pick and chose. In Illinois, it is 43 feet for all schools. I understand your point about playing up. My dd has always done so and is again this year playing 18U and is 16. We struggle with this a lot and, to be honest, we were told by several colleges to let her play 16U again. In the end, playing up in the past made her ready to start varsity as a freshman. She was playing against all of the older girls that she typically played against in the summer so no big deal. I've mentioned this before but will again, the only major concern we've ever had was injuries and her getting hit by a line drive. As a freshman, that happened twice with both shots to the face. Very scary. Now, with the 43 feet, we see advantages and disadvantages. She has 3 feet more to react. Great hitters have 3 feet more to sit on it and really drive the ball. I see in high school with poor pitching already a norm that a lot of 3Bs had better put mask on. Its a trade off. One final thought on this. The game will change also because of those 3 feet and fielding the bunt. Coaches had all better be aware of that.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

cb- We are in a very similar situation. DD has been throwing at 43' for months now and likes it a lot. It is the short season that follows HS that will take the real adjustment, especially as you go into qualifiers, State and National level tournaments fairly soon. I have never been a big proponent of playing up (more as a pitcher's dad, than player's) as why give away your more dominant years? Enjoy your opportunity to be at the top level in the bracket. Seems like most of them are in our area though.

To make it more interesting, since the rule does not officially go into affect until Aug. 2010, Not all the schools in the area have made the move yet. DD's HS district has made the move to 43', but neighboring districts (including the one that hosts the preseason tournament) have not. We are just finding this out this week. These are some very good schools, with very good pitchers that are still throwing from 40'. There is another tournament around Spring break that will likely still be at 40' that comes after 2 or 3 games on their regular schedule at 43'. Being a likely Freshman Varsity pitcher will be challenging enough, they have made it even more so. The one thing I do like about it, DD has taken on the challenge and is working hard for it.

IMO- Bringing 14u back to 43' isn't the answer either. We see a huge difference in size between the first and second year 14's.

That's a good point. I know each district voted on 43' change. HS. So how do you decide at the state championship level what distance to pitch? If some voted 40' and some 43'? I better ask the coach on that one.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

xxxyerout, State associations will mandate what you play in high school. I can't see them allowing districts or conferences to pick and chose. In Illinois, it is 43 feet for all schools. I understand your point about playing up. My dd has always done so and is again this year playing 18U and is 16. We struggle with this a lot and, to be honest, we were told by several colleges to let her play 16U again. In the end, playing up in the past made her ready to start varsity as a freshman. She was playing against all of the older girls that she typically played against in the summer so no big deal. I've mentioned this before but will again, the only major concern we've ever had was injuries and her getting hit by a line drive. As a freshman, that happened twice with both shots to the face. Very scary. Now, with the 43 feet, we see advantages and disadvantages. She has 3 feet more to react. Great hitters have 3 feet more to sit on it and really drive the ball. I see in high school with poor pitching already a norm that a lot of 3Bs had better put mask on. Its a trade off. One final thought on this. The game will change also because of those 3 feet and fielding the bunt. Coaches had all better be aware of that.

CB your correct, had to look it up on state site. The districts voted, then state changed to 43' by majority.

 

[xxxYerOut]

It is officially 43' in Aug. so I believe the higher level tournaments will use the official calendar date as most of our area HSs have. It was the decision of our conference to go early and we thought it was a wider spread decision than that. SURPRISE!

 

[xxxYerOut]

Ha - I could be wrong though. I must have missed that dart toss, err vote..

Which state?

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Ha - I could be wrong though. I must have missed that dart toss, err vote..

Which state?

Don't worry, I thought the same thing about districts voting just for district. And wondered how that was going to work. ooops