- Feb 7, 2013
- 3,188
- 48
When did your DD first throw 60 mph?
- Thread starter obbay
- Start date
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Unless you are Monica Abbott (75mph)
No doubt. However, I had a phenom at the first year 14U level. She was throwing 62MPH as radarred by college coaches. Unfortunately, that's all she had. No change up, no off speed, her screw or curve never broke much. When we played teams that were used to hitting that speed, she got tattooed all over the place and her mother wanted to blame everyone else for not making the plays that were un-makeable. Fast forward to this year. She still has no CU, has no offspeed pitches, throws East--West with no change of speed and her mother, who used to be a college pitcher in her hay-day can't figure out why college coaches aren't actively recruiting her in her "prime." Of course. it has nothing to do with her attitude of being better than everyone else or her mother calling pitches from the stands
- Jun 12, 2015
- 3,848
- 83
I have a pocket radar ball coach. It definitely clocks a bit slower than the PC's Bushnell. The highest I've clocked her on the pocket radar is 46. The PC's high is 52. On the pocket radar she averages probably 42 in games.
- Dec 7, 2011
- 2,366
- 38
Couple data points:
DD was hitting 65 max at pre-season grade 10. This was before she broke her back with repetitive stress injury. She is 5'11" and cross-train-fit.
She is Junior in college trying to walk-on to SEC team. She is now back to 62~64 and hopefully has a couple more yet in her comeback. But she has really good spins and speed change so we are crossing our fingers.
The coaching staff there said "ya gotta be a mid sixties pitcher". They have a freshman that does >65.... It's really competitive out there....
Radar I have very limited confidence in. I can't count how many times I have seen side-by-side manufacture and model/model-year comparisons where speed readouts varied ~7mph. No trust. BUT I do think these good coaches out there get a unit that they can consistently get a feel for and they intuitively interpret the data seen given the anomalies seen. This is what I did coming up with the general speed evolution of my DD.
I do find it interesting that I have only felt the need for a catchers helmet twice - those were both times DD got to approaching mid sixties (and catching one other pitcher that could do this speed). I wonder if there is a human threshold of exponential decrease in reaction time above 63mph,.... at the 43 feet (not that I am some sort of human standard,... lol)
DD was hitting 65 max at pre-season grade 10. This was before she broke her back with repetitive stress injury. She is 5'11" and cross-train-fit.
She is Junior in college trying to walk-on to SEC team. She is now back to 62~64 and hopefully has a couple more yet in her comeback. But she has really good spins and speed change so we are crossing our fingers.
The coaching staff there said "ya gotta be a mid sixties pitcher". They have a freshman that does >65.... It's really competitive out there....
Radar I have very limited confidence in. I can't count how many times I have seen side-by-side manufacture and model/model-year comparisons where speed readouts varied ~7mph. No trust. BUT I do think these good coaches out there get a unit that they can consistently get a feel for and they intuitively interpret the data seen given the anomalies seen. This is what I did coming up with the general speed evolution of my DD.
I do find it interesting that I have only felt the need for a catchers helmet twice - those were both times DD got to approaching mid sixties (and catching one other pitcher that could do this speed). I wonder if there is a human threshold of exponential decrease in reaction time above 63mph,.... at the 43 feet (not that I am some sort of human standard,... lol)
Most teams have a "sweet spot" where they are trained to hit. At 16U/18U gold it is @ 58-64 MPH. Any pitchers that can throw 3+ MPH faster than a teams upper range may be able to just throw gas. Everybody else had better be able to change speeds and mix in some deceptive off speed pitches.
Mine is a 5'5" junior this year and I was told by a college coach she was throwing 58 every pitch. I don't own a gun, so I had to take him at his word. Our issue is we read about real speeds here and it certainly conflicts with what others expectations are that you talk to about pitching at the next level, we feel like what they expect is a million miles away.
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- Jul 14, 2008
- 1,796
- 63
My DD hit 75 at 16yo.. Of course she got an expensive ticket and learned a valuable lesson. Sometimes speed isn't all it's cracked up to be.
- Jul 17, 2012
- 1,086
- 38
In response to the original post..... she hasn't gotten there yet. Topped out at 58 on my pocket radar this spring after oodles of work prescribed to her by a pretty smart guy on this forum. Not sure how much more she has in her. She's a whopping 5' 1" and is basically done growing. Her aspirations of pitching even at a D3 school in college have been inspired by Kylie Ball. She cares not about playing for a big D1 school......but rather just having an opportunity to play if she chooses to at the time. I don't want her to choose a school because of softball. I want her to go to a school that fits her academic goals. Regardless of how far she wan's to continue her journey, she'll have my unconditional support in either the decision to play through college, or quit tomorrow. I worry more about her classroom work than I do her on field work. Her future will be far more determined by her classroom work than her work on a diamond. I can only hope that she has learned over the years that she is as successful on the field as she is because of a ton of hard work and determination. If she realizes that and that hard work and determination shifts to the classroom.... then.... mission successful.
obbay
Banned
Sounds very familiar, except that at 5'-2", my DD towers over your DD
