Pitching Volume in College?

[Traps71]

I did a cursory search of the site and didn’t see anything. Was curious to know how many days a week a college pitcher tends to pitch, including game days and bullpens/practices. 5 days a week on average? Roughly 100 pitches/day (not including warm ups)?

 

[jsoftballcoach]

My DD (D1) does not pitch everyday, but will do a bullpen every other day. Weekends have been 5 games, but now they are 3, so amount of pitches will vary based on several factors.

I think the bullpens are about 45 minutes. In season that’s probably only 2 per week, since Monday is an off day. My DD (freshman)
is currently at 70IP, and the total for this year will almost for sure be less than HS and TB last year, which was about 170IP. But the time spent at practice and with the team is far greater.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Vertigo]

Not sure how many days per week in-season dd pitches but I know this past week she pitched 3 days in a row between team practice (pitching to batters), hour-long bull pen session, and in-game. Sprinkle team lifts in there, too.

Now I am not a college coach but when she pitched in HS, she never pitched the day before a game (unless they had back to back games, which was rare). I am a strong believer in recovery, especially before game day. I can see a difference performance-wise between when she gets to rest and when she does not.

 

[_MIA_]

I understand the curiosity (kind of..maybe you are trying to prepare your HS age kid for a college workload??) but by that point (eg college) she pitches as much as the coach tells her the pitch. Unless the pitcher has some say in the matter which would be very "21st century" of the coach..

 

[LEsoftballdad]

Not sure how many days per week in-season dd pitches but I know this past week she pitched 3 days in a row between team practice (pitching to batters), hour-long bull pen session, and in-game. Sprinkle team lifts in there, too.

Now I am not a college coach but when she pitched in HS, she never pitched the day before a game (unless they had back to back games, which was rare). I am a strong believer in recovery, especially before game day. I can see a difference performance-wise between when she gets to rest and when she does not.

Back-to-back games in HS are a lot worse than pitching Saturday and Sunday in travel. Our HS games go 7 innings a lot, but travel games rarely go more than 4-5 innings. My daughter had games on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. In game one, she had 15Ks and 2 BB in 8 IP. On Wednesday, she had 8 & 8 in 7 IP. She had nothing in the tank for the second game.

Over this last fall, she didn't throw more than 80 pitches in any one game, and no more than 150 pitches for the weekend. Granted, there was only one play to win event, so she might've gone more had we played in one.

In the two games we played back-to-back this week, she threw 317 pitches, not including warming up. Needless to say, I gave her the last few days off to recover.

 

[cncsoftball]

I did a cursory search of the site and didn’t see anything. Was curious to know how many days a week a college pitcher tends to pitch, including game days and bullpens/practices. 5 days a week on average? Roughly 100 pitches/day (not including warm ups)?

I wondered this myself when I found out how much DD was throwing. She is a freshman (mid D1) and prior to the season was pitching 45-60 min bullpens or live bp everyday except their off day. The off day varied each week, so this meant there were a couple of stretches where she pitched eight or nine days in a row. They would be off on a Tuesday one week and not off until Thursday or Friday the next week. This has only lightened a little since the season has started. Her team has several pitchers, and she has the most innings pitched, but they all throw this much. During mid-week games, whoever is not pitching still throws a bull pen during the game.

 

[Traps71]

I wondered this myself when I found out how much DD was throwing. She is a freshman (mid D1) and prior to the season was pitching 45-60 min bullpens or live bp everyday except their off day. The off day varied each week, so this meant there were a couple of stretches where she pitched eight or nine days in a row. They would be off on a Tuesday one week and not off until Thursday or Friday the next week. This has only lightened a little since the season has started. Her team has several pitchers, and she has the most innings pitched, but they all throw this much. During mid-week games, whoever is not pitching still throws a bull pen during the game.

Thanks for your response. If I may ask, how has she held up physically/mentally from this volume and was it a significant delta from what she was used to in school ball/travel ball (I assume so)?

 

[cncsoftball]

Thanks for your response. If I may ask, how has she held up physically/mentally from this volume and was it a significant delta from what she was used to in school ball/travel ball (I assume so)?

DD decided to forego her senior high school season, graduated in December, and joined her college team in January. This fall/winter, she thought she was preparing for the load by lifting three days a week and pitching three to four days straight (45 min or so) before taking a recovery day. Some of these sessions were spent working on different spins though and not full motion pitching.

In no way was she prepared for the volume of pitching that came in January. After the initial shock/soreness that came with much heavier lifting and a whole lot of pitching in the first two weeks, she physically felt really good. However, she just started having some forearm/elbow pain a couple of weeks ago. Coach is aware, but the pain has not limited her pitching at this time. Each pitcher is required to get 30 minutes of treatment from the trainer each practice day, and this has helped. Mentally, all of the adjustments in the first couple of weeks were tough for her. The school is 6.5 hours away from home, so that alone was a huge change. Thankfully, she met two really good friends/teammates on day one who have helped ease the transition for her.

 

[Traps71]

DD decided to forego her senior high school season, graduated in December, and joined her college team in January. This fall/winter, she thought she was preparing for the load by lifting three days a week and pitching three to four days straight (45 min or so) before taking a recovery day. Some of these sessions were spent working on different spins though and not full motion pitching.

In no way was she prepared for the volume of pitching that came in January. After the initial shock/soreness that came with much heavier lifting and a whole lot of pitching in the first two weeks, she physically felt really good. However, she just started having some forearm/elbow pain a couple of weeks ago. Coach is aware, but the pain has not limited her pitching at this time. Each pitcher is required to get 30 minutes of treatment from the trainer each practice day, and this has helped. Mentally, all of the adjustments in the first couple of weeks were tough for her. The school is 6.5 hours away from home, so that alone was a huge change. Thankfully, she met two really good friends/teammates on day one who have helped ease the transition for her.

Thanks. Best of luck to your daughter.

 

[lostcreek1]

I wondered this myself when I found out how much DD was throwing. She is a freshman (mid D1) and prior to the season was pitching 45-60 min bullpens or live bp everyday except their off day. The off day varied each week, so this meant there were a couple of stretches where she pitched eight or nine days in a row. They would be off on a Tuesday one week and not off until Thursday or Friday the next week. This has only lightened a little since the season has started. Her team has several pitchers, and she has the most innings pitched, but they all throw this much. During mid-week games, whoever is not pitching still throws a bull pen during the game.

Would be interesting to know first hand knowledge what the reasoning would be to have someone pitch that much without rest. Seems like you are just asking for injury.