The most efictive pitcher

[wild man]

I would like to relay this story. Maybe some of you have seen this too.
My team faced a pitcher this year that threw a fast ball and a change up, Nothing else. BUT she could put it where ever she wanted. And she did High,Low, Inside, Outside , And lots of in between. Whereever the catcher put her glove she nailed it. This really kept us off balance.
Do you think this is more important than movemant or speed?
I mean PINPOINT accuracy.

 

[starsnuffer]

Far more important then movement and speed, especially at lower then college levels. Here's why:

- Speed is overrated. Speed is a factor of timing, if a batter knows how to adjust their timing, then pure speed will not effect them. Speed can be intimidating, but if your girls train to hit speed, it's no longer a factor.

- Movement only works if it is not predictable. Pitches have to break late and they have to break hard. How many 14 or 16 year old pitches do you know that may know "7 pitches" but they all break either not at all, or in gradual, predictable paths? How many pitchers do you know that throw all their pitches differently? Maybe they step short for a drop, cross step for a curve, ect? All of these are telegraphed queues that a good coach and good batters can easily pick up on to know exactly what pitch to expect.

If a pitcher is accurate with all their pitches, they can develop a strategy to rely on. A pitcher who cannot hit their spots with all the pitches they are going to throw in a game is leaving too much to chance. If a pitcher can hit her spots, and the coach pays attention to the batters, you can pitch inside to that girl who's too far in on the plate, outside to those slappers that break towards first too early, and keep everything down and in on the powerhitters so even when they do get a hold of it, the chances are it'll be an easily fielded ball for an out. Accuracy pitchers don't have to rely on strike-outs, they can rely on knowing where a ball will likely end up going when hit, and pitch to have balls their defenders can turn into outs.

Changing speed is very potent and powerful. Having good speed differentials and a release that makes every pitch appear to be the same is probably, IMO, the most potent weapon a pitcher can develop. I had a girl who was no speed demon, but threw every single pitch a different speed, and this worked far better then the girl who could throw 60mph.

-W

 

[sluggers]

Generally, I agree with starsnuffer.

The ultimate goal of a pitcher is to make it as difficult as possible for the batter to determine the location and speed of the ball as the ball goes through the hitting zone. A pitcher does this by changing the location of the ball, the speed of the ball, and the movement of the ball. Against good hitters, a pitcher has to do all three.

First, I'm talking about D1 level softball, not 12U or 14U. SO:

At the D1 level, a hitter might face a pitcher 12 to 20 times over a season (3 at bats for 3 games during the season, and 3 at bats for 2 games during the championship tournament). And, a pitcher might see the same batter for 2 or 3 seasons.

Good hitters are "good" for a reason. They adapt quickly to a pitcher. No single strategy is going to work against the best hitters on a team over the course of 20 at bats. This is especially true when you realize that the pitchers are scouted. So, every batter knows exactly what the pitcher can and can't do, and knows the tendencies of that pitcher.

Successful pitchers at the D1 level must have have raw speed, the ability to change speeds, excellent location and excellent movement. If a pitcher doesn't have all four, they are going to be pitching batting practice.

I've seen two girls with great control, great location and great riseballs but a top speed of 55 MPH get murdered at mid-level D1 softball. 55 MPH just isn't fast enough.

If a pitcher can hit her spots, and the coach pays attention to the batters, you can pitch inside to that girl who's too far in on the plate, outside to those slappers that break towards first too early, and keep everything down and in on the powerhitters so even when they do get a hold of it, the chances are it'll be an easily fielded ball for an out

Against good hitters at the D1 level, no single strategy works consistently. If the batter figures out the pitchers strategy, the ball will be hit out of the park.

What does work? A combination of fast, sharp moving pitches thrown "on the black" at the very edge of the strike zone along with off-speed pitches thrown at the edge of the strike zone. Even then, the pitcher is going to lose the battle a couple of times a game.

 

[Coach JV]

I caught a girl who is entering D2 college this fall a couple times over the summer as a favor
to her dad. She throws about 60. During the 1st lesson we talked about her 'go to'. It is a curve ball.

She started throwing the curve after our chat, it is downright nasty. She throws it a little slower (56-58)
but it breaks late across the zone and is almost impossible to hit. I watched her play a tournament over the summer.
She went 6 innings, had one K, no walks, gave up 4 harmless base hit singles and threw only 68 pitches.
After the game we spoke and she threw less than 10 fastballs the rest were changeup and curve.
It was a great performance

 

[kls_hittingacademy]

Spin, Spot, Speed

 

[Old Man River]

The most effective pitcher? The one with the biggest intimidation factor.

Sneaky Softball Pitching.com

CT-TEXAS.COM

Hal, Is that why you wear those Superman glasses?