Pitching training program

[Filterbing]

My daughter has just started pitching this last winter. She is currently playing 12U and about to move to 14U. I'm looking for insight as to what your average week looks like while training a pitcher. I've heard claims that you need 1000 pitches a week in order to be a "good" pitcher. Currently I work with her for an hour about two times a week and sees her PC once a week for an hour. This is of course in conjunction with one or two travel practices a week (where she doesn't pitch) and the average of every other weekend of travel games also mixed in with one or two rec league games a week. Of course I'm still trying to get her some reps with her bat. I've heard 500 hits a week as well.

What does your pitcher's week look like and how many reps do you shoot for?

 

[Powerof9]

My daughter is 10. She pitches Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Tournaments 3 out of 4 Saturdays. She goes through warm up including drills for 15-20 mins. Then throws 100 pitches counted. Inside the 100 mainly working on spotting fastball: in, out, up and down and around 25% changes. We end with 15 long toss walk ins for distance

 

[Tango]

Pitch 3X a week and 1X with PC year round.. Core and bands 3X a week out of season. She also plays VB.

Hit all locations and pitches a certain number of times. How ever long it takes. Throw long as much as possible.

 

[bmd]

Its not about quantity its about quality. I have never counted how many pitches my dd has ever thrown in a practice session. There is no magical number. At your dd's age 30 mechanically sound pitches a session is far better than 100 not so sound. As they tire form breaks down. Stop the session before that happens. Not only is it healthier, you are far less likely to drive her away from wanting to pitch.

 

[Fastpitch_Dad]

DD is 14 and pitching since 9.

We practice 2x during the week and either a 3rd practice or tournament on the weekend. Each practice is about 30 mins with variations on the focus but almost always includes speed/drive. We usually go right into hitting for 20 mins.

In the heart of the season we often end up with light throwing (spins) during the week for our practice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sluggers]

She needs to throw 100,000 pitches to be "good". So, do the math.

My DD pitched 3 to 4 times a week, roughly an hour a day, for 10 months out of the year for about 5 years. She would do drills, long toss, and then throw 100 pitches.

As they tire form breaks down. Stop the session before that happens

You want their form to break down when they pitch. You can then figure out the problem and fix it.

 

[tomorrow]

Sluggers,
How much did you vary her schedule based on games, practices and age?

 

[uncdrew]

Our bucket holds 33 balls. So three buckets is usually our max. The first bucket is often warm up drills.

For the younger girls I agree to "shut it down" if they get frustrated, tired and/or you can tell they're miserable. Better to give up that day than push more. The few times I push more I get little out of it and we're both more frustrated and not liking pitching more than if we had just stopped.

As she gets older, I hope to use those times as lessons of how to power through rough spells. But now, not so much. She's 9.


Her hitting coach is kind of bummed she's a pitcher. He recognizes that it's really hard to practice both. And yes, we practice pitching more than hitting.

 

[Rick M]

This time of year is tough. DD is coming to the end of a stretch where she's practicing with her middle school team every day, has travel practice twice a week, a couple of rec games a week, and a TB tournament every two weeks or so. I've given up any hope of her having something resembling a regular schedule from the end of March through Memorial Day.

School ball ended this week, rec ends next week, school will be over in three weeks. At that point, she will go back to having a lesson once a week, throwing on her own once or twice (for about 40 minutes), and then getting the occasional throwing session in during travel practice. She gets the bulk of the innings for her TB team, so on weeks where we have a tournament, I'm planning on two throwing days plus a lesson.

During the offseason, she had her weekly lesson, a 90-minute throwing clinic once a week, an open gym time with the rec program, and indoor TB practice twice a week, one of which she would throw. So on average, four times a week for about an hour including warmup.