Problem is that us rec coaches start with our little daughters and frankly have no idea what we're doing. We just assume the fact we played baseball when we were 14 and follow the Yankees, along with help from YouTube, will be enough to coach a team.
Why we need some kind of pitch/inning count in softball!
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Problem is that us rec coaches start with our little daughters and frankly have no idea what we're doing. We just assume the fact we played baseball when we were 14 and follow the Yankees, along with help from YouTube, will be enough to coach a team.
- Apr 14, 2022
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I am more for education than a limit just in tournaments. I cringe when I see young pitchers saying they practice 4-5 hours a week. I have never counted but have heard average number of pitches in 30 minutes is 90-100. Makes since 20 seconds a pitch. Could even see 15 seconds a pitch in practice.
In 5 hours a week I do not think 800-1000 pitches would be unreasonable.
In 5 hours a week I do not think 800-1000 pitches would be unreasonable.
- Jul 2, 2013
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This is definitely an issue that isn't talked about enough. And another problem that we propagate by constantly telling pitchers that they have to work like this to be the best. Maybe that's true, but their is a point where it does more harm than good.
When DD was 9 or 10 we used to play a team that had a pitcher that looked like she was 14. She could throw in the low 50s and blew the ball by everyone (they played mostly C and some B). The dad told everyone that would listen that she threw 200 pitches every day...at 10 years old. He was proud of how "dedicated" she was.
We practice pitching about 3 hours per week. In a one hour session, it's usually:
5 minutes overhand toss
10 minutes warm-up drills (at half and 3/4 speed)
5 minutes walkthroughs (10 pitches)
5 minutes fastballs (10 pitches)
10 minutes long toss (including walking to area we do this and back) (12 pitches)
5 minutes fastballs (10 pitches)
10 minutes movement pitch (15 pitches)
10 minutes different movement pitch (15 pitches)
What's that come to, about 80 pitches?
We go slowly. Quality over quantity. We warm up gradually. We talk between pitches. We have lots of water breaks. We pitch with intent.
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I think you got that backward, Drew.
- Jun 8, 2016
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I don't know, I see huge drive-thru lines at McDonald's every day...
- May 17, 2012
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How many people did it take to make that strawman you got there? Good grief.
- Jun 18, 2023
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well there's the "time" part of that triangle too. If you've got limited practices you're arguably better served doing a bunch of different things rather than just having a quality hitting practice, particularly at the lower levels.
If you've got two softball games and a training session with the pitching coach, you hit the drive thru, who's got time to sit down and grill a burger?
- Jun 8, 2016
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Since my comment was a joke regarding people going for quantity over quality, I read through your whole post waiting for the punch line..to no avail.
If we are going to go with serious responses, with regards to eating junk food, if I know I am not going to be home to eat for a good amount of time, I pack my food ahead of time (but yeah, it isn't burgers). I eat something crappy once a week.
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- May 13, 2021
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You were the one that said we didn't need rules in place to prevent this, and implied that there was nothing wrong with pitching 6 games a day. You also said pitch counts sound like a good ideal until you look at research and data that suggest otherwise. I would like to read the research and data.
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