Who is going to catch for her?

[Ken Krause]

That's ok. I know several HS catchers (and coaches) who won't call a drop ball because they can't catch them, and they won't get down and block them. It's a real shame when a pitcher has a great drop ball and doesn't get to use it when she needs to (like against the other team's big power hitter) because the catcher isn't good enough.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I don't expect anyone to call the pitches, anyway. Yes, she has a change up and a drop ball. I don't know if she'll even get a chance to use the CU.

 

[PA SB Dad]

We've had similar problems in our rec league. We had a dominant pitcher in 12U the past 2 years - the first year she played majors and the girls just could not catch for her. Last year she played up in juniors, where we had a bit more luck with the older girls catching, but not much. The problem is two-fold - you don't want an inexperienced catcher getting hurt, and the pitcher surely doesn't want to be responsible for hurting a teammate. Usually what happens is the pitcher backs off, doesn't throw as hard, and messes up her mechanics. This year she is playing only TB (not even MS ball, since the same problem with catchers exists) - luckily next year the HS has a few good catchers. You want to retain your best players in rec, but it takes a lot of work at the younger age groups to retain them as they get older. It's too late for the older girls at this point (14U), but for the younger ones we've really started to emphasize catching in addition to pitching.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Well, this problem solved itself. She earned 25 of 25 points at tryouts, while other 12 YOs earned 6. The director called her folks and asked kindly that she either not play or move up to the HS level. That age group only has 4 players registered, so she is back in TB.

 

[liviking]

I am curious , how fast are these girls pitching at their age groups ?

 

[Amy in AZ.]

McKayla has been with me 4 full years. She can top out at 52. But generally she's at 49. It is her movement on the ball, that makes her hard to catch. She is the hardest one to catch, that I have.