Wanted: A Better Strategy for Developing Young Pitchers

[Westwind]

I don’t know if this truly relates to the topic at hand but maybe it will help someone.

DD’s college team scrimmaged endlessly last year. Dd felt it involved too much non productive time for the players.

This year they are using cards to randomly create situations and game scenarios. She says it moves much faster and is really fun.

They do this both indoors with full infield/outfield and they are doing it with pitcher/catcher/hitter indoors. This gives the pitchers a chance to compete.

 

[Westwind]

For the experts:

I always thought if I coached a rec or 10u team, we would do some underhand throwing for a few minutes of every practice… maybe some run through underhand throwing, maybe some underhand long throws if things progress. These are probably kids that are getting no pitching coaching

IDK if this is a realistic way to identify/help young players…. It’s been a long time since I’ve been around really young players. Curious what the pitching folks think.

 

[JayW]

For the experts:

I always thought if I coached a rec or 10u team, we would do some underhand throwing for a few minutes of every practice… maybe some run through underhand throwing, maybe some underhand long throws if things progress. These are probably kids that are getting no pitching coaching

IDK if this is a realistic way to identify/help young players…. It’s been a long time since I’ve been around really young players. Curious what the pitching folks think.

Not an expert but when I coached a 12 rec team with no pitchers with experience, I lined up all the players and had them throw underhanded. Some could naturally throw to a target with easy form and some could not. I took my best 3 candidates who wanted to pitch and worked with them at each of the 2 weekly practices. If the pitchers wanted to come to practice early, I would give them extra reps. We did a lot of live pitching at practice to get the pitchers used to facing a batter. If they couldn’t throw strikes, I would take over so the batters could get in reps.

One of the pitchers was my DD and we also worked at home. I took my DD to a few lessons and used what I learned to provide some help to the pitchers.

A couple years later, 2 of the 3 are pitching in 14u travel ball. Really the only way to learn how to pitch is to pitch.

 

[Stxdad]

Me being a bucket dad and Being around this for a while I’ve heard parents say it takes 3 months to develop a new pitcher … so there’s no need to start training on their 2nd year 8u …

 

[GunnerShotgun]

I don't think anyone is arguing that pitchers shouldn't be able to stink it up in 10u rec. That is the current model.

I am more interested in the question on how to develop more pitching at the younger levels. Throwing them out there where they fail, fail, fail, and then eventually the succeed is a broken model.

• Teaching everyone to throw a sling shot is an interesting idea.
• Playing slow-pitch at younger ages is a semi related option (yes places still do this).

 

[_MIA_]

Me being a bucket dad and Being around this for a while I’ve heard parents say it takes 3 months to develop a new pitcher … so there’s no need to start training on their 2nd year 8u …

So you disagree with the premise of the article that development needs time..

 

[Fluid Fastpitch]

I don't think anyone is arguing that pitchers shouldn't be able to stink it up in 10u rec. That is the current model.

I am more interested in the question on how to develop more pitching at the younger levels. Throwing them out there where they fail, fail, fail, and then eventually the succeed is a broken model.

• Teaching everyone to throw a sling shot is an interesting idea.
• Playing slow-pitch at younger ages is a semi related option (yes places still do this).

There's a community org nearby to us that does slowpitch until 12u. We get their younger players who actually want to learn to play fastpitch, then they move to their own community at 12u. Not really a great model as we basically develop their pitchers for them.
As a kid, the org I played in did the same thing. I was a pretty stud slowpitch picher. Nice high arc, scraped the ceiling, dropped it right on the back of the carpet. Those skills did not translate well when they switched us to fastpitch. Coaches told me to basically do the same thing I'd been doing, only the pitch couldn't have an arc. So in other words, do something completely different. Combine that with a complete lack of useful instruction, frustration mounted and I switched to middle infield fulltime.
Slowpitch teaches shoveling the ball, doesn't translate to good fastpitch pitching. Really don't think that's the solution.

 

[JayW]

There's a community org nearby to us that does slowpitch until 12u. We get their younger players who actually want to learn to play fastpitch, then they move to their own community at 12u. Not really a great model as we basically develop their pitchers for them.
As a kid, the org I played in did the same thing. I was a pretty stud slowpitch picher. Nice high arc, scraped the ceiling, dropped it right on the back of the carpet. Those skills did not translate well when they switched us to fastpitch. Coaches told me to basically do the same thing I'd been doing, only the pitch couldn't have an arc. So in other words, do something completely different. Combine that with a complete lack of useful instruction, frustration mounted and I switched to middle infield fulltime.
Slowpitch teaches shoveling the ball, doesn't translate to good fastpitch pitching. Really don't think that's the solution.

slowpitch would just be kicking the can down the road as it relates to developing fastpitch pitchers.

 

[Chris8]

No disagreement here. Almost every kid wants to pitch. The question is do you let them pitch in a game if they can't throw strikes (at a minimum rate to be effective)? My answer no. I think the intent of the thread was how to develop (more) pitchers at the early ages.

Same issue if you have coached rec basketball. Most kids want the ball, to be the point guard. If they ask me if they can be the point guard I always ask, "Can you dribble the ball up the court and initiate the offense? " If they cant' they can't the answer is "no".

If you have a couple gals that can "pitch" at 8/10U and are trying to develop more (which I fully encourage) set up a goal/expectation. When you can come to practice and pitch to me and hit 5 of 10 pitches we'll get you into a game. Give them something to work on outside of practice and strive for. You're not throwing anyone into the game that just wants to pitch but girls who've put some effort into accomplishing the goal. Build from there.

 

[JayW]

If you have a couple gals that can "pitch" at 8/10U and are trying to develop more (which I fully encourage) set up a goal/expectation. When you can come to practice and pitch to me and hit 5 of 10 pitches we'll get you into a game. Give them something to work on outside of practice and strive for. You're not throwing anyone into the game that just wants to pitch but girls who've put some effort into accomplishing the goal. Build from there.

It’s not that simple. You are coaching a team. You must have a pitcher. It’s time for problem solving. Your assignment is to develop pitchers so you can play a game. You can’t just drag the old blue pitching machine out to the mound and call it Suzy Pitcher.