Radar Gun

[baseballplussoftball.com]

My daughter developed her drop ball and ball spin/movment and had a lot more success. Fast pitchers dominate mediocre teams, but good teams like straight speed...it's easier to hit it 225 feet.

I have used the glove radar and found it to be pretty accurate.

 

[Mark H]

No gun is perfect and some are better than others. The thing I like about the SpeedTrac X is that the pitcher/batter can get instant feedback on how they are pitching/swinging. With it, the pitcher can see that when they muscle up and fail to stay loose and relaxed that they actually slow down. The batter can see that when they get their hips involved in the swing the bat head speeds up.

There you go. Immediate objective feed back is MUCH better than even delayed objective feed back.

 

[2bucketdad]

We have several pitchers who have tough times and cry on the mound, etc.
Many get rattled very easily ...

Of all the attributes any pitcher can have IMO poise is the most important, especially at a young age, training for the mental part of the game is as important if not more than anything else...

 

[Strikker]

Fivepotsogold,
If you are using this gun to track your daughters speed, I would not hesitate to buy the Bushnell gun. I have a Stalker, Jugs and Bushnell Velocity and for controlled environments the Bushnell is just as accurate. The only problem you may have is on occasion it returns a bad reading and if you let the batteries run down you may find your daughter is throwing 70 mph. But for getting a reading while practicing or at lessons, this $85.00 gun will do just fine.

 

[SBFAMILY]

1st & 2nd Year Pitchers PITCH SOFTBALL: Valuable softball pitching advice for girl softball pitchers Here is a good site that discusses pitching speeds and radar guns.

 

[madskilz]

Let's be realistic here. Guns aren't for the kids, guns are for the parents. The kids don't care how fast they are throwing, only that they are throwing strikes and not walking batters. How many pitching coaches do you see that "routinely" break out the radar gun - not many if they are worth a salt.

For what it's worth.

 

[bgecoach]

Let's be realistic here. Guns aren't for the kids, guns are for the parents. The kids don't care how fast they are throwing, only that they are throwing strikes and not walking batters. How many pitching coaches do you see that "routinely" break out the radar gun - not many if they are worth a salt.

For what it's worth.

i respectfully disagree... i have a radar gun that lays on the shelf at my batting cage the girls bug me to death to use it on them. i actually started using it as reward for their hard work. when they started bugging me to gun them i told 'em if they worked hard i would get it out. the only reason i bought it was because so many kids were asking me if i had one.

i took my radar gun to a tourney last weekend and it was like a magnet... as soon as i broke it out people starting flocking around me and asking "how fast." people are fascinated by speed. i also figured out if you ask people how hard they think a pitcher is throwing, their estimates are a good 5+mph faster than they actually throw.

 

[madskilz]

Of course people are fascinated by speed - but I will still bet a cup of coffee that a pitcher does not care as much about her speed as her parents or the parents in the stands. I've seen it over and over. I've even had unsolicited requests if I wanted to know how fast my daughter was throwing.

Your right - kids like novelty items. However, I bet as soon as you tell Susie, whose dad has been telling her she's throwing 55, that she only throws 47, she won't want to see the gun anymore.

But, I have to admit, occasionally I like to know what the gun says as well.

 

[fivepotsogold]

Radar gun

I'll be honest and say that I am definitely curious about my daughters speed.

Although one can tell big jumps in speed it might be fun to watch it creep up.

But, without my prompting, my 12 DD is ALWAYS bugging me about where she is speed-wise.
I remind a lot about accuracy, moving the ball into the corners well, watching hitters.
But she keeps bugging me especially when she has a period of time when they are flying in.
(she is 12 and some days are definitley faster than others)(more consistently fast than not...but she's only 12)(Sunday was wicked, yesterday she was not so fast.)

Whatever the reason, it can be a helpful tool.

Sunday is her very first try out ever ....

 

[SBFAMILY]

If you read the web page I posted it will explain why speeds vary greatly. Pitchers do not pitch in a game as fast as they do in practice with the gun on them.