- Dec 7, 2011
- 2,366
- 38
Wow - this thread has gone "viral".... No way I can catch up on all the thoughts here.
BUT I do have one more case-n-point to bring up here:
Parents of prospective HS pitchers : Watch out for HS coaches molding a pitcher into what is very useful for the high school W/L record BUT not as useful for the individual development, and then D1 marketability, of the pitcher.
Case here : In my DD's HS conference we arguably have the "best" set of pitchers in the state. This is from a STATE HS perspective. The problem with two to three of these "top" state pitchers in our conference is that these pitchers are just very good fastball-placement pitchers. They might have one other pitch but their main claim to fame is hyper-accurate fastballs. What this does is limit the other HS teams scoring BUT in the end does NOT create a very marketable pitcher to the college D1/D2 world. (assuming the pitcher wants that dream and in two of the cases I know here they do!)
It is so sad to see these pitchers get all this "state" recognition to only get into the national TB arena and get hammered because they can't show anything different from the circle. I have seen this and it is not pretty when the pitcher finally understands what the HS "molding" of their skills has done for them.
Now I am not saying I have all the answers out there to avoid this. But many of us have choices in HS districting of where our DD's go. Given what I talk about here the "best" SB HS MAY not be the best thing for a pitcher if the HS coach has a very controlling and limiting vision of what their ideal pitcher should be.
Again - I want to have you parents of middle-school pitchers get some insight in advance of the pit-falls that can impede your daughters future in the sport.
Here is my "hot-list":
1. Be on a HS team that lets DD throw different pitches. (requires a catcher that can catch them!)
2. Be on the best TB team that gets DD circle time that highlights her strengths. (If the TB coach must have a left-right pitcher and your DD is a Up-Down pitcher,....beware)
BUT I do have one more case-n-point to bring up here:
Parents of prospective HS pitchers : Watch out for HS coaches molding a pitcher into what is very useful for the high school W/L record BUT not as useful for the individual development, and then D1 marketability, of the pitcher.
Case here : In my DD's HS conference we arguably have the "best" set of pitchers in the state. This is from a STATE HS perspective. The problem with two to three of these "top" state pitchers in our conference is that these pitchers are just very good fastball-placement pitchers. They might have one other pitch but their main claim to fame is hyper-accurate fastballs. What this does is limit the other HS teams scoring BUT in the end does NOT create a very marketable pitcher to the college D1/D2 world. (assuming the pitcher wants that dream and in two of the cases I know here they do!)
It is so sad to see these pitchers get all this "state" recognition to only get into the national TB arena and get hammered because they can't show anything different from the circle. I have seen this and it is not pretty when the pitcher finally understands what the HS "molding" of their skills has done for them.
Now I am not saying I have all the answers out there to avoid this. But many of us have choices in HS districting of where our DD's go. Given what I talk about here the "best" SB HS MAY not be the best thing for a pitcher if the HS coach has a very controlling and limiting vision of what their ideal pitcher should be.
Again - I want to have you parents of middle-school pitchers get some insight in advance of the pit-falls that can impede your daughters future in the sport.
Here is my "hot-list":
1. Be on a HS team that lets DD throw different pitches. (requires a catcher that can catch them!)
2. Be on the best TB team that gets DD circle time that highlights her strengths. (If the TB coach must have a left-right pitcher and your DD is a Up-Down pitcher,....beware)