Throwing speed relationships

[CoachC]

Somebody mentioned the relationship bewteen overhand speed versus pitching speed in an earlier post. I don't know that I saw a specific answer, so I will ask:

What is the relationship between overhand throw speed and pitch speed? Should one be faster than the other?

What about walkthrough speed and pitch speed?

Can these comparisons be used to judge whether a pitcher is reaching her best potential cruise or peak pitch speed?

 

[2bucketdad]

Speaking only from my two what I see with my two daughters, one has a cannon and can throw overhand probably just as fast as she pitches, the other throws overhand nowhere near as hard as she pitches...the oldest with the cannon picks up quite a bit of speed when doing walk through drill, and the youngest who doesn't throw overhand as hard picks up very little speed when doing walk through drills...glad to make it as clear as mud for you, but remember this is just what I have seen with my two...

 

[halskinner]

There was an unofficial study done by instructors in my area many years ago.

I was one that was asked to participate. We found that in most cases, a windmill pitcher could throw underhand within 1 to 2 mph, one direction or the other, as fast as she could overhand.

Once we discovered that and we were working with an individual student that was NOT throwing underhand as fast as she could overhand it was real simple; We would simply tell them the facts. Then, in many (not all) of those cases, they would immediately start pitching faster.

Turned out in many of those cases, it was simply a confidence problem.

They didnt throw as fast as they could underhanded because they simply didnt realize they could. All of a sudden their instructor 'KNEW' they could, and that was all the confidence they needed to do just that.

Once they DID throw faster, they would not settle for anything less than that speed they displayed that day.

I outline an exercise in my book that will have a young pitcher throwing faster immediately. Takes about 5 minutes and can be done in the dugout between innings and right before the game starts.

Hal

 

[JC heir]

When you are measuring overhand speed, are you talking about a flat step & throw, or an all out crow hop with everything they have on it??

 

[Bill Bollinger]

I would think you could have them do a "Boy Pitch". Some of them like to think they could pitch baseballs too

Bill

 

[Amy in AZ.]

After a complete warm up and pitching, I measure the pitch with my gloveradar. Then, I tell them to step off the rubber and throw home.

In all of my years, I have only known 2 pitchers that could not throw overhand.

My DD was 54 mph, where it was a pitch or OH throw. The little girls (8-11) are within 2 mph of their OH pitch. I encourage them to play catch more.

I have also introduced 12 inch balls to the little girls and 14 in. and 16 in. balls to the older girls. I have discarded the commercial weighted balls as being too heavy and you shouldn't throw those overhand, anyway. I have added finishing nails to the seams of a few balls to bring them up to 7.0, 7.1 and 7.2 ounces.