Speed

[Gambler Bob]

I would not say your pitching coach is wrong but I think it might have something to do with only being 11 years old. My daughter is 9 and will be a 9u player next year. Her fastball is 38-42 mph and her change up is 30-33 mph. What I am saying is that a pitcher that is older and can throw a 60 mph fastball can more likely take 15 mph off with her change up than a younger girl that can only throw in the 40 mph range. It would be very difficult to take 15 mph off a fastball that is only thrown 40 mph without slowing down her arm speed and giving the pitch away.

A 10 mph change in speed is very effective at 10u, and 11u.

 

[TMoney]

I think a lot of people get caught up in making hitters look silly with their changeup. 10mph difference is going to result, at worst, in most hitters being out front, and hitting the ball weaker than normal.

 

[quincy]

I do not know if it matters but 10 mph on a 40 MPH pitch is a lot different then 10 MPH on a 60 MPH pitch.

As she picks up speed on your fastball her change up speed need to pick up too.

DD uses a flip change, if I had to start over I think I would have taught her a different CU that follows in speed with her fastball esier.

 

[Ken B]

FB/CU 20-15%
35/28-30
40/32-34
45/35-38
50/40-42
55/44-47
60/48-51
65/52-55

15-20% is a nice range, but I think the best CU/off-speed is one you can disguise and spot at will.

 

[djcarter1966]

If it is disguised well i think 10 mph will be OK. Also seems a little weird to be worried about taking 2 mph of a curve biggest thing for me would be is it breaking and when is it breaking.

Biggest problems I see honestly (especially lower levels) are coaches who don't have a clue as to when to throw a change up...lots of coaches think you have to mix it up and keep them guessing....well if 6-9 in the line up can't catch up to the FB why in the world would you slow the ball down so they can hit it?

The other thing you need to figure out is are you throwing it for a strike or not? Everyone assumes you are just lobbing it over the middle for a strike...sometimes maybe but most of the time probably not.

 

[riseball]

Throwing a CU is all about disrupting the hitters timing by changing the time of flight of the pitch. That said, I never understood discussions with a difference in actual MPH instead of a percentage. A 15mph difference in 12U is significantly different than a 15mph difference in 18U or college. I have always used 15% not 15mph as a benchmark. Then regardless of the speed of the FB the hitter is missing by about 6 feet.

 

[Ken Krause]

Honestly, I've said that sort of thing before. The pitcher's changeup is 10 mph slower than her fastball. I'll say I'd like to get a little bigger difference, but do it by adding to the fastball rather than taking more off the change.

There are a couple of things at play, at least for me. As someone else mentioned, part of it is motivating the pitcher to keep working on speed, especially if it looks like there's more in the tank but she's not driving out or throwing hard enough. Personally, I would never say that to a girl who looks like she's putting her whole self into her pitches.

The other is if you slow down the change too much, you give the hitter too much time to read and react. At some point it gets too slow, no matter how well you throw it. So rather than taking more speed off the change, I'll say we need to pick up the speed on the fastball.

I wouldn't read too much into it - except maybe your daughter still has some untapped potential right now, which is a good thing.

 

[riseball]

Most hitters make the decision to swing around 10 feet from the plate. The best CU is one that looks like a FB at 10 feet and is something very different at POI.

 

[WARRIORMIKE]

Any type of off speed is good. "Remember with great powers come great responsibilities"

 

[Tango]

FB/CU 20-15%
35/28-30
40/32-34
45/35-38
50/40-42
55/44-47
60/48-51
65/52-55

15-20% is a nice range, but I think the best CU/off-speed is one you can disguise and spot at will.

Thanks great information. We have thrown twice since and is throwing a couple of mph faster. Of course this is without a radar and maybe daddy being hopeful.