Which is harder to achieve?

[Slugbug27]

I am a 12U pitcher, and I think that speed is easier than control. If you pitch fast and cannot hit your spots then you will not become a succesful pitcher. You can pitch slow and hit your spots and be an excellent pitcher and strike everyone out. Control is more important than speed because as you keep practicing and work on control your speed will automatcially come.

 

[redhotcoach]

I am a 12U pitcher, and I think that speed is easier than control. If you pitch fast and cannot hit your spots then you will not become a succesful pitcher. You can pitch slow and hit your spots and be an excellent pitcher and strike everyone out. Control is more important than speed because as you keep practicing and work on control your speed will automatcially come.

I have exactly the opposite view. Yes if you can pitch slow and hit your spots you will be an excellent "12u pitcher". Half our 12u can't hit every ball in soft toss. Take it to 14u or high school... you won't be a pitcher at all when batters can hit a ball. I don't think a goal should be to be a excellent 12u pitcher, but look down the road. Alot of young girls that have good control and are slow at 12u have to relearn all of the mechanics to pitch hard. If you start by pitching as hard as you can, control is only a matter of a straight windmill and good release timing.

 

[Mark H]

I have exactly the opposite view. Yes if you can pitch slow and hit your spots you will be an excellent "12u pitcher". Half our 12u can't hit every ball in soft toss. Take it to 14u or high school... you won't be a pitcher at all when batters can hit a ball. I don't think a goal should be to be a excellent 12u pitcher, but look down the road. Alot of young girls that have good control and are slow at 12u have to relearn all of the mechanics to pitch hard. ...

Exactly. The ability to throw well is the foundation to build pitching on. The ability to throw accurately slowly is the end of that road.

Learning control is one thing. Learning speed is another thing. Learning control with speed is another. Learn control at slow speed you just have to learn it again after you learn to throw hard and you will always be tempted to reduce the speed to throw strikes. But that's info you needed years ago. For now I'd keep doing what you are doing in games and practice but add regular long toss with the Jaeger protocol to your practice regimen. Let that sneak into her regular pitching as it will.

 

[Izzy's Dad]

Daughter pitched against a very good 14U team a couple of months back in a scrimmage games (this team took 3rd place in a national tournament 2 years in a row). Since it was scrimmage, coach had all 3 of our pitchers pitch. She was 1st pitcher (2 innings) and they did not score off her. Struck out #2,4, and 5 batter. Only one on base. This was before we played our 1st game this Spring.

Daughter has pitched 3 shut-outs this year. We have only been able to play in 4 tournaments this Spring due to rained out tournaments (13 scheduled).

Just recently, something has changed in her pitching. I have always pushed arm whip, but I don't think she really got it. Then one day, it just started coming on. She started throwing faster, and her 1/2 pitches (warm-ups) were as fast as a full pitch. Now, her pitches are 3 or 4 mph faster.

For 12U, what is fast?

 

[Dusty]

On a general statement of which is harder to obtain, speed or control I would have to say speed is. If you were watching two pitchers and one had plenty of speed but no control you'd probably observe a bunch of obvious mechanical flaws that need correcting. Conversely, the other pitcher who had control but didn't have speed would presumably (certainly not always) have better mechanics and it would be less obvious what changes could be made to improve her speed.

My 11yo dd has pretty good but not overpowering speed and we've picked up a few mph here and there when her coach would take a slo-mo video of things like how she was holding and releasing the ball. The few girls I see that throw faster (all 12 yo so that could be a factor) seem to all do what I call the "dry heave" move where their shoulders close and lurch forward towards home plate upon release. That would seem to run counter to the philosophy of gaining power through your legs and hips by placing emphasis on the upper body but Uneo appears to me to also do this so I couldn't say for sure that it isn't the way to go.

 

[Dusty]

For 12U, what is fast?

Most would say these guidelines are low but I prefer to think of them as free of message board hype. I think 50+ MPH is fast for a 12yo.

What is an Average Pitching Speed? PITCH SOFTBALL: Valuable softball pitching advice for girl softball pitchers

 

[Izzy's Dad]

Most would say these guidelines are low but I prefer to think of them as free of message board hype. I think 50+ MPH is fast for a 12yo.

What is an Average Pitching Speed? PITCH SOFTBALL: Valuable softball pitching advice for girl softball pitchers

Gonna get speed checked tomorrow at lessons using the Rev-Fire. She had been checked last fall, and her fastest pitch (which was an accurate pitch, btw) was a one time 54 mph (on her 12th birthday). 3 pitches were 53, which it takes 3 to get an update on the speed board at lessons. Most were 50 to 52, with a change-up of 36.

It seemed liked she got slower thru the winter, but now it has really picked back up the past few weeks.

 

[redhotcoach]

If you were watching two pitchers and one had plenty of speed but no control you'd probably observe a bunch of obvious mechanical flaws that need correcting. Conversely, the other pitcher who had control but didn't have speed would presumably (certainly not always) have better mechanics and it would be less obvious what changes could be made to improve her speed. (end quote)

but! I see almost every game 10 to 12 year old girls that have great control, but look like my 6 year old throwing a ball (she's not good). They don't stride or leap, just a small step, shoulders and hips are closed and square to the plate, and slow pitches for strikes to untrained batters (that is about 70% of them).

I am going to keep teaching my dd to pitch as fast as she can. Big leaps, hard arm whips. It was painful to watch at first, but several months down the road she knows on her own, "if I am left or right, straighten my arm circle, if I am high or low, adjust my release, but keep throwing hard."

 

[Dusty]

In my above post I was pretty much discounting the typical 10u consistent strike thrower who's always closed mechanics are better suited to bowling than fastpitch and who's rec coach dad's idea of coaching is to shout, "just throw strikes babe! Give 'em one to hit!"

 

[redhotcoach]

In my above post I was pretty much discounting the typical 10u consistent strike thrower who's always closed mechanics are better suited to bowling than fastpitch and who's rec coach dad's idea of coaching is to shout, "just throw strikes babe! Give 'em one to hit!"

Sorry!
I don't understand how you can have good mechanics and not have some speed. All other factors like size and strength being the same. I understand what mechanical flaws you can have and not have control (although I think the whole pitching motion is pretty simple and don't know how you could have more than maybe two flaws). Also, if you do have good mechanics, what "flaws" could you fix to gain speed?
Sorry, this sounds kind of snotty when I read it, it is not suppose to be, I am just trying to learn.