Requirement for a D1, D2, or D3 pitcher

[Sweet Pitch 96]

So, if your dd has average speed for her age (First Year 14U) but is above average in the other areas, what sort of statistics are we looking at as "proof" of her other abilities. Ball/strike ratio? Earned Runs? Walks v. Strikeouts? Number of pitches per game or inning? What would you see from the better pitchers? She dreams of playing college ball, but I really don't know where she needs to be in a few years to help her achieve her goals.

 

[sluggers]

(I moved the post from another thread because I think it is a great question).

(1) Stats don't matter to college coaches.
(2) Awards do matter (all-state, all-conference, all-area, etc.)
(3) Competition level of travel team is important. (e.g., playing for the OC Batbusters

A college coach wants to know:

(1) The pitchers *REAL* speed (see the thread about speed guns and pitching coaches). D1 coaches want speeds in the 60-65 mph range.
(2) Whether the kid has a *REAL* breaking pitch (a pitch that breaks 2" is NOT a breaking pitch). D1 coaches want *ONE* really good breaking pitch...something that breaks around 12". If you are catching your DD and she can't fool you--> SHE DOESN"T HAVE A BREAKING PITCH.
(3) Whether the kid has a changeup.

NOTE: Speed-movement is a sliding scale. if your DD throws 70 mph, then the coach won't care if she has a breaking pitch. If your DD throws 55 mph, but has a couple of outstanding breaking pitches, the coach might be OK with the speed.

The key to getting your DD on a college team is to have the coach see your DD play. The coach will show up if (A) you have contacted the coach and sent her recruiting materials and (B) you are playing at one of the tournaments that college coaches attend (e.g, Colorado over the 4th of July). At the game, the coach judges the quality of the pitcher.



If the coach is interested, she will go watch her pitch. When the coach watches her pitch, she should be able to recognize her talent level.

GENERALLY:

D2: generally, pitchers are just slightly less than D1 pitchers.

D3 pitchers generally throw in the 55-60 MPH range. The quality varies considerably.

 

[ifubuildit]

First question from a college coach.

Whats her GPA. What did she score on the SAT or ACT?

Talent doesnt matter if they cant keep the grades.

Dana.

 

[Jojo]

Just because a school is D1 doesn't mean it's top caliber.
There are some poor D1 softball programs and very talented and competitive D2 & D3 softball programs.

As far as where she needs to be. She needs to be as far as she can get, the more talent you posses allows you more choice as to what school you want attend.
Good speed, control, breaking pitches, mound presence and GRADES!

She needs to be able to complete her games from start to finish remaining strong. Keep her hit count low, strike-outs not necessarily important but needs a few per game and the more the better. Walks need to be rare. Doesn't get rattled. Has leadership qualities.

How is she doing in these areas?

 

[Sweet Pitch 96]

It's so much to think about. This is where we are now.

She's in 7th grade, so we have time.

Grades: Mostly low A's. About 2 high B's each grading period. She's bright but not much into serious academics. Her travel ball organization requires a minumum GPA of all players of 3.25. I love this becuase it's not just Mom and Dad riding her. Though, we do have to stay on top of her big time with organization and study habits.

Speed: Average for A-level 14U pitchers in our area. Her average speed for all pitches except CU is low to mid 50's. Top speed 56 but not often seen during a game. More typically about 53 in games.

Pitches: FB (accurate but hates to throw it beacuse she doesn't want batters to tee off on it, has some natural spin and movement which helps), CU (very effective against aggressive hitters), RB with really good spin (her PC's favorite pitch, especially her low rise, probably her fastest pitch), CB that's just flat out evil (currently her "out" pitch), DB (we're in the middle of changing this right now, but it's improving all the time)

Control: She really excels here. Our coach keeps really thorough stats, so we've really been able to track this. I know college coaches don't really care about stats. I figure to some degree it depends on the competition you're facing. She averages 15-16 pitches per inning. A little over 10K's per game and about 2.5 walks per game. But....I'm pretty sure coach tends to start her against what he perceives are the weaker teams because she's not as fast. When she comes in as a releiver against "better" teams, she does just fine.

Mound Presence She flat out doesn't get rattled. Even when the wheels fall off the cart and errors seem like falling dominos one after another, she stays in there and finds a way to pull it all together. Comes in as a reliever in messy situations and gets the outs. I don't know how she does it. She's only like this on the softball field.

She absolutely loves the game. She doesn't practice as much as she should, though. She pretty much does a lot of things instinctively. I always have concerns about work ethic We'll see how she matures.

She can hit pretty well, but she is ssssllloooowwwww from home to first. Much more of a long ball hitter. Definitely not the speedy slapper type.

She's very coachable.

A great kid with big dreams, but we want to be realistic. Like most parents, I know we see her through rose-colored glasses sometimes. She's in a great travel organization that actively assists with recruiting. She will attend a h.s. with a successful nationally ranked program. Their current ace pitcher graduates this year. DD will be there year after next, and has at least a chance of pitching varsity as a freshman if she keeps improving.

Sorry for laying so much out there. I just don't want us to make any mistakes as parents that will hold her back or mess it up for her. D1, D2, or D3 is fine, as long as she's playing and getting a good education.

 

[Jojo]

She sounds like she's making good progress.
I would work on her getting her more competitive games to see how she works the batters more, and if she can keep the hit count down on those teams.
It might even boost her work ethics to be challenged a bit more.

 

[Bishop]

Great thread. Good info for us looking looking forward and thinking yoinks...so much I don't know.

Those of you who have been there and done that, is there value, recruitment wise in going to the clinics offered by different schools?

Value skills wise is some what a lesser importance to me. My wife and I are both Alum's of the school (D1 mid major with a top notch program for our confrence) and knowing the money spent helps support the program is good enough as long as DD has fun playing with the big girls for a day. So far no problems there, the girls on the team are great with the kids.

I'm one of those nosy parents that follows along behind my kid and stays in ear shot to hear so I can hear what advice they give and learn the drills they use for different things. I always learn a bunch and DD seems to have new things she wants to work on after them so I'm happy on that angle.

Something unusual, to my mind anyway, happened last summer. After a summer hitting/pitching clinic that fell between State and Nationals the head coach asked if we had any games coming up soon she could come out and watch. She didn't get to come out, games rained out. Is that normal or something really weird? I suppose it's going to be different from coach to coach what and how they do things, maybe it's normal for her. I was pretty flabergasted when she said she wanted to come out and watch DD's team play.

Contributing factors that might explain her coming out other than to watch my then 11yo pitch.
Our clubs PC is a former player of hers.
At the time she had two of our 2010 grads verbaled, they both signed since.

I'm leaning more towards those factors being primary and seeing my kid as incidental. Maybe it's that we are both alums and our kid has been to every clinic they have put on for the last couple years. It was a WOW moment. It didn't feel right ask about it at the time, last thing I'd want to do is offend her or suggest less than absolute confidence in my DD.

 

[Jojo]

My personal experiences with recruitment and camps;
My DD never attended any camp or clinic. Every summer about half her team went to a local college camp, from 10u on up to 18u. All with dreams with attending that school as a group. None of them were recruited. I saved $2,400, by not taking her. ; )
I sat behind some scouts during one of my DD's game and was talking to them about recruiting. They said they've had kids come every year with hopes and dreams of attending their school, that never make it. One in particular was at this tourny. They said they had actually begun to consider her, until another prospect showed interest in their school. She was from out of town and had never attended their camp, but she was just a little better. They knew it would be hard on the kid, but that was just the way it is.
After my DD was recruited I worked her camp during her Jr year. I never heard any talk on recruitment.
Those camps are basically fund raisers for the teams, yes, maybe every now and then they'll see a kid they like and take notice, but if someone better comes along.....

If your DD enjoys the camps and feels like she is getting something out of them then why not.

 

[Bishop]

Those camps are basically fund raisers for the teams, yes, maybe every now and then they'll see a kid they like and take notice, but if someone better comes along.....

If your DD enjoys the camps and feels like she is getting something out of them then why not.

That's the way I always thought of it, until the coach said she wanted to come out and watch the kids play. Kinda freaked me out.

 

[Sweet Pitch 96]

She sounds like she's making good progress.
I would work on her getting her more competitive games to see how she works the batters more, and if she can keep the hit count down on those teams.
It might even boost her work ethics to be challenged a bit more.

There are going to be some changes on our team soon. We have two older pitchers who will be returning to their regular teams when h.s. ball is over. She willl have to pitch against the top tier teams. I think you're right about the work ethic. We all tend to rise to the level of competition around us.