speed v. accuracy

[Sparky Guy]

One of the things I did with my DD was I never sat on a bucket. I would always kneel when catching her. Wore out the knees in many pairs of jeans and kneeling pads. Once the DD got to the point where she had command of her pitches I would kneel with the tip of the plate between my knees. That way the DD knew exactly were the ball crossed the plate at when it was caught. The silhouette of my frame acted as the hitter's strike zone. If she put the ball around me she was working the corners of the strike zone. Made for fewer arguments about the location of the pitches when they crossed the plate and it gave her instant feedback.

Another advantage of doing that. It helped with drop balls that were thrown short. You could get them on the short-hop without getting beat up by them.

 

[Michele1377]

b) Another drill that is fun is to use bungee chords. You use a couple of polls and then use bungee chords to create square. The pitcher has to throw through the square. After every five successes, the bungee chords are moved and the square is reduced. Believe it or not, super advanced pitchers can throw the ball through a square that is only slightly larger than the ball.

Thanks for the great post. I like the sound of this drill - I think it is something my DD can use to challenge herself when she is not working with her dad or her PC. Can you tell me if this is done from a regular (43ft) distance or is it done similar to how you described the wall drill?


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[sluggers]

The key to get kids to do these drills is to make them challenging as well as interesting.

Play around with the distance and the size of the square at each practice. The old "make it and take one step back" or "miss it and take one step forward" is a super way to find the distance where the kid is challenged.

E.g., you might have a 1 foot by 1 foot square, and have her pitch at 30 feet. The next time, you might go 2 x 2 and have her throw at 43 feet. Then, go 3x3 and have her throw from 60 feet. Raise the square, lower the square, make it a rectangle, a triangle, whatever. If you do the "one step foward-one step back", she'll end up at a "challenging" distance for the configuration in a few minutes.

This type of drill takes the catcher/parent out of the equation. The pitcher can judge for herself her success or failure. Ultimately, that is the mindset of a pitcher--she has to know if she is working hard and doing well without someone telling her.

 

[Perfect Circle]

Thinking you have some creative...4fun stuff. My concern is doing anything ("too"???) much, that not at the speed & distance of the game... JMHO

 

[JAD]

I am late to this thread, so I apologize if this has already been mentioned, but I wanted to add my $0.02. Two weeks ago my DD was pitching at 18U PGF and we had a couple of umpires with strike zones the size of pie pans. It was frustrating to say the least. While it would be nice the be able to throw a 70 MPH fastball by the batters, that is not an option for my DD or 98.2% of pitchers, and accuracy can only get to you so far against batters who are headed to play P5 D1 next season when the umpire is squeezing the zone. Therefore, a pitcher had better be able to CHANGE velocity. And I am not just talking about a good change up, which is HUGE, I am talking about being able to throw pitches at different speeds to throw off the batters timing and prevent them from squaring up the barrel on the ball.

 

[eagle6]

One of the things I did with my DD was I never sat on a bucket. I would always kneel when catching her. Wore out the knees in many pairs of jeans and kneeling pads. Once the DD got to the point where she had command of her pitches I would kneel with the tip of the plate between my knees. That way the DD knew exactly were the ball crossed the plate at when it was caught. The silhouette of my frame acted as the hitter's strike zone. If she put the ball around me she was working the corners of the strike zone. Made for fewer arguments about the location of the pitches when they crossed the plate and it gave her instant feedback.

Another advantage of doing that. It helped with drop balls that were thrown short. You could get them on the short-hop without getting beat up by them.

Have done a little of this. Really like your reasons for this. I may have to invest in knee pads. No way I can squat like a catcher

 

[JAD]

One of the things I did with my DD was I never sat on a bucket. I would always kneel when catching her. Wore out the knees in many pairs of jeans and kneeling pads. Once the DD got to the point where she had command of her pitches I would kneel with the tip of the plate between my knees. That way the DD knew exactly were the ball crossed the plate at when it was caught. The silhouette of my frame acted as the hitter's strike zone. If she put the ball around me she was working the corners of the strike zone. Made for fewer arguments about the location of the pitches when they crossed the plate and it gave her instant feedback.

Another advantage of doing that. It helped with drop balls that were thrown short. You could get them on the short-hop without getting beat up by them.

I have always sat on a bucket while catching my DD and she does not have a problem peppering the lower half of the strike zone, and I am 6'5", so I am sure my "target" was higher than most. Over the years I learned the hard way to just pickup my legs and get of the way of an errant drop ball. The thought of trying to catch drop balls from my knees scares me....and the first thing I would do if I was going to catch from my knees would be to invest in the best "cup" money can buy!

 

[Sparky Guy]

After all the years of catching literally 100's of thousands of pitches I never "Got it" once. Got hit lots of other places, but never there.

I use my catcher's mitt that is old and worn out to the point the stuffing is coming out of it as visual measuring stick of how much work it takes to be a good pitcher. It was new when I got it. I will tell the young pitchers they need to be prepared to do that to a catcher's mitt if they want to be successful.

 

[grcsftbll]

I have always sat on a bucket while catching my DD and she does not have a problem peppering the lower half of the strike zone, and I am 6'5", so I am sure my "target" was higher than most. Over the years I learned the hard way to just pickup my legs and get of the way of an errant drop ball. The thought of trying to catch drop balls from my knees scares me....and the first thing I would do if I was going to catch from my knees would be to invest in the best "cup" money can buy!

I've tried no bucket. I literally can't do it. It was not pretty. We'll see if it affects DD's development, she's too young to tell. But so far so good.

 

[nanotech14]

Speed v. accuracy? I'm going to take a shot at answering this question in my experience. Speed is what the coach wants. That's why the girl that throws hard is always considered they're number 1 pitcher. She starts most of the games and always the important games, semi, final or elimination games. They for the most part make it a few innings giving up some runs and then the wheels fall off. The girl with accuracy comes into those games to clean up the mess left behind by the superstar. Then at the end of the year the coach says to the girl with accuracy " your the most consistent pitcher on the team, you gave up hardly an runs, we know we can count on you to come in and stop the bleeding" but and here comes the funny thing these coach say " you really need to get your speed up". Insert here the mental crap that as a pitcher and the parent of the pitcher takes when you hear that. To all you coaches that say or tell that to the pitcher that has accuracy. $#@! off!!!!

P.S. Forgot this part: This accuracy pitcher also had the most wins for current team and also 2 years in a row for the team before and has been complimented by several coaches of teams she has pitched against, that they struggled to hit her. Oh but still coaches that say the things mentioned in the paragraph above #$%^ off still.