Velocity vs accuracy

[Shawn]

what good is velocity if she cannot control it? Ponder that question for a minute. You don't want her to be a Bull Durham like pitcher getting 15 k's.. next to 15 walks.

Sluggers is right, the "8 pitch" pitchers are phony, even at the Olympic level. There's simply no such thing. Its funny to hear some girls list those 8 pitches, many will include a change up, then say they also have a "knuckle change"... as if there's a difference in the 2 pitches. A change up is a change up regardless of whether the knuckles are on the ball. All I can do is shake my head.

Many parents of young pitchers buy into thinking their kid has a curveball (for example) because the ball ends up on the other side of the plate and they confuse the movement with where the ball simply was thrown. In other words, kids throw the ball outside and the parents think it was a movement pitch. Same could be said for high pitches being labled a riseball, and low ones to be a drop. Regardless of what 2 Time Olympic Gold Medalist Michele Smith says on ESPN, sometimes a high pitch is simply a high pitch not necessarily a riseball.

One other big mistake is thinking your kid has these great pitches by getting 15K's per game at 10u. The reality is, if your kid can throw strikes, shes going to get a lot of K's at 10u because the majority of girls are terrified of being in the batters box, afraid of getting hit and just pray for a walk. So it doesn't necessarily mean she's a phenom at 10u.

Personally I think it's a mistake to teach girls "pitches" when they're still using the 11" ball. In many cases, when they jump to the 12" ball they almost have to relearn how to pitch because that bigger ball feels like a basketball to them compared to the smaller one. Going to the big ball is not a subtle difference for a lot of girls with small hands. Many alter their mechanics just trying to hold onto the ball. So those "8 pitches" they learned at 10u become irrelevant when they move up in age and have to spin a bigger ball. I wasn't always 6'3 with big hands, I was also an 10/11 yr old pitcher at one point struggling to hold the ball, let alone trying different pitches. I didn't have ANY real movement pitches at 12 yrs old when I had to pitch against grown men since there was no "boys fastpitch" for me. Unfortunately this was in the 1980's, long before I could just self identify as a girl so I could play in their leagues. LOL. I had to pitch against grown men, many were college baseball players, minor league players, and veterans of fastpitch softball while being 12 years old, trying to throw strikes without any thing on the ball for moevement. Yes, I got my a$$ kicked. Imagine your 12 year old having to pitch against Oklahoma, without any junk pitches. Yea, it went like you're probably imagining for me. lol

There should be a "sticky" thread on this forum of things to watch out for when seeking a pitching coach. Among those things is a coach teaching a girl "9 pitches" I'm not suggeting the OP has that situation, I'm just giving an unsolicited opinion.

Nolan Ryan is Bull Durham. Leader in K’s, leader in walks, leader in wild pitches. He was really wild starting out.

 

[Tango]

Agree 100%. My DD is only 5.3 and has a couple of very good JUCO offers on the table and I'm pretty realistic. I even question if she is good enough for the JUCO she will probably attend if she decides to play in college.

This ^^^^ is the sad truth. Unless the coach is a pitching mechanics expert, understands video analysis, and is really good at communicating they will probably just have a pitcher that can throw 65 mph.
Thinks might be changing. I know a SoCal pitcher that throws 61-62 with control and movement that got over 30 phone calls. Mostly D-1

 

[Tango]

This is probably true but I don’t think “some point” is 10 YO

OF course and you still look to get better in all areas but know who you are probably around 16 unless you have the potential to keep growing in size. DD is 5.3 and not getting any taller.

 

[FB Fool]

we just finished up our 10u season and played in as many big tournaments as we could find in the southeast. upper 40's is nothing against A level teams. now if she can live with inside fastballs or as the new kids say in the river, and change speeds off the plate she'll do better than throwing 50 down the middle. now if you are playing local tournaments have that catcher set up down the middle and throw as hard as you can.

 

[lostcreek1]

Seems like the ones with great speed are always searching for more accuracy, and the ones with great accuracy are always searching for more speed.

 

[Chilixa]

Seems like the ones with great speed are always searching for more accuracy, and the ones with great accuracy are always searching for more speed.

Have a theory here. The girls that pitch fast can get away with just throwing hard for many years at younger levels. Hard to convince them they need to work really hard on accuracy when they are already seeing success.

If you don’t throw super hard at a young age you are only going to get mound time if you are really accurate. They work hard on accuracy because they know that is their chance to pitch. Some speed is just genetic and they are focused on what they control.

The girls that throw really hard and are accurate are special. It is what everyone wants. But it takes a special kid that throws really hard that can see the big picture and work really hard even when already experiencing success.


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[canyonjoe]

As you progress you need to be good at both or exceptional at one. The other factor is movement. If your ball doesn't move no matter how fast you throw it they'll hit it.

 

[LW23]

To the original post, based on where you are at age wise 1. location 2. Spin 3. Speed. As you get older speed will develop as your DD matures. If you develop solid mechanics at a young age and continue to focus on them things will come together. Don't get caught up in the rat race chasing kids that mature early and throw 60 at 12U. Pitching is a marathon not a sprint. DD started the recruiting process Sept 1st. and its been crazy fun. And as someone mentioned above a lot of college coaches place an insane amount of value on speed. My DD is most efficient between 63-65 with a very good change. When she gets up to around 66-67 she looses efficiency on her spin, and in my opinion is not as effective. Big misses at that speed go a long way. We saw the biggest jump in speed between her freshman and sophomore year. Following some growth and the addition of a very good personal trainer. Good luck and enjoy the process.

 

[lostcreek1]

Have a theory here. The girls that pitch fast can get away with just throwing hard for many years at younger levels. Hard to convince them they need to work really hard on accuracy when they are already seeing success.

If you don’t throw super hard at a young age you are only going to get mound time if you are really accurate. They work hard on accuracy because they know that is their chance to pitch. Some speed is just genetic and they are focused on what they control.

The girls that throw really hard and are accurate are special. It is what everyone wants. But it takes a special kid that throws really hard that can see the big picture and work really hard even when already experiencing success.


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I could buy into that. Most people tend to do the stuff they are good at. The trick is working on the stuff you are not good at.
I am in the camp of always throw hard (whatever that is for you) and work on mechanics and accuracy while throwing hard.

 

[kbailey45us]

what good is velocity if she cannot control it? Ponder that question for a minute. You don't want her to be a Bull Durham like pitcher getting 15 k's.. next to 15 walks.

Sluggers is right, the "8 pitch" pitchers are phony, even at the Olympic level. There's simply no such thing. Its funny to hear some girls list those 8 pitches, many will include a change up, then say they also have a "knuckle change"... as if there's a difference in the 2 pitches. A change up is a change up regardless of whether the knuckles are on the ball. All I can do is shake my head.

Many parents of young pitchers buy into thinking their kid has a curveball (for example) because the ball ends up on the other side of the plate and they confuse the movement with where the ball simply was thrown. In other words, kids throw the ball outside and the parents think it was a movement pitch. Same could be said for high pitches being labled a riseball, and low ones to be a drop. Regardless of what 2 Time Olympic Gold Medalist Michele Smith says on ESPN, sometimes a high pitch is simply a high pitch not necessarily a riseball.

One other big mistake is thinking your kid has these great pitches by getting 15K's per game at 10u. The reality is, if your kid can throw strikes, shes going to get a lot of K's at 10u because the majority of girls are terrified of being in the batters box, afraid of getting hit and just pray for a walk. So it doesn't necessarily mean she's a phenom at 10u.

Personally I think it's a mistake to teach girls "pitches" when they're still using the 11" ball. In many cases, when they jump to the 12" ball they almost have to relearn how to pitch because that bigger ball feels like a basketball to them compared to the smaller one. Going to the big ball is not a subtle difference for a lot of girls with small hands. Many alter their mechanics just trying to hold onto the ball. So those "8 pitches" they learned at 10u become irrelevant when they move up in age and have to spin a bigger ball. I wasn't always 6'3 with big hands, I was also an 10/11 yr old pitcher at one point struggling to hold the ball, let alone trying different pitches. I didn't have ANY real movement pitches at 12 yrs old when I had to pitch against grown men since there was no "boys fastpitch" for me. Unfortunately this was in the 1980's, long before I could just self identify as a girl so I could play in their leagues. LOL. I had to pitch against grown men, many were college baseball players, minor league players, and veterans of fastpitch softball while being 12 years old, trying to throw strikes without any thing on the ball for moevement. Yes, I got my a$$ kicked. Imagine your 12 year old having to pitch against Oklahoma, without any junk pitches. Yea, it went like you're probably imagining for me. lol

There should be a "sticky" thread on this forum of things to watch out for when seeking a pitching coach. Among those things is a coach teaching a girl "9 pitches" I'm not suggeting the OP has that situation, I'm just giving an unsolicited opinion.

Her pitching coach stressed when we first started with her that until her mechanics were correct she wasn't going to show her a bunch of pitches. I agree that a some parents say their kid has 50 different pitches lol. As I said my DD does FB and changeup. She's literally only thrown(or attempted to throw) a curveball in a game a couple of times. We really don't even practice it that much. At 10 a decent changeup works wonders.