pitching practice

When working out, is there a ball park number for how many pitches should be thrown in a practice. I will be having pitchers throw once or twice a week and don't want them to over-do it.


Also, other than just working on their pitches, is there anything else they could do to better themselves.

Thanks

From my understanding from my dd pitching coach the # to throw during practice depends on age , size, and how long they've been pitching.My 12 yr old throws about 3-4 times a week at a minium of 100 pitches each time.

They should also be working on there drills and warmups which is included in their pitch count during practice

I would agree with regan about 100 minimum, but it does depend a lot on the girl, her physical well being, how long she been pitching, age, and ect. ?Also just pitching once or twice a week, is better than none, but I would suggest at least 3 or 4 times a week. ?I suggest that for most girls 100 is minimum however, I do differ with my students and do not count the warm up as part of the 100. One reason being they could do 25 wrist snaps and count that as part of the 100 since it is a warm up. ?I acutally have my girls do nearly 100 warm up tosses before they actually make the first full pitch. ?It is a matter of each indivual pitching coach, to some extent and the number of pitches is not as important as doing them correctly for each pitch she is throwing. ?Some girls will try to rush and get to the magic number but does not cncentrate on basics and technique which in turn causes more problems than it helps. ?

I would suggest to warm up normally, then watch each pitcher as she pitches each pitch correctly, once she gets tired it will usually show up as the speed slows and or flaws in her delivery, so it is probably time to quit. ?Just be sure she is not deliberatly slowing down or showing flaws just so she can stop pitching early. It is a fine line, and the coach must be very observant and knowing the individual is a big help. ?

Hope this helps, but keep in mind each coach and every player is different to some extent, but the most important thing is doing what works and everyone is staying happy and enjoying fastpitch softball.

Good Luck

I agree that much of it depends on the age and skill level of the player. My dd has a 1 hour lesson with her pitching coach 1x/wk, and then practices 2-3 times/week during the off season. She does skill drills, placement drills, speed drills--have no idea how many pitches she throws during this time, but it always takes an hour worth of continuous throwing time (not including the 15-20 minute warm up time). She is 13 and this is her 4th year pitching. :

The bigger question is "how many pitches is her dad willing to catch--especially after she broke his toe last week

Thanks so far. Is there a maximum number of pitches per session?

These are high school girls.

If possible, could you list specific drills?

Thanks again.

This is a very broad question Witz, and it's a little tuff to respond to, except with a scatter-shot answer.


A. ?Are the girls seeing an actual pitching coach on their own, already? ?Usually a pitching coach will give "homework" for the girl to be practicing between sessions, and so she will probably be working on this several times a week on her own.

2-3 times/week in addition to the session with the coach should be plenty, (nobody needs to pitch every single day, imo.) ?In fact, it may be harmful, you have to let the muscles rest, and almost all coaches will advise the girls to ice the arm/shoulder after a session (a bag of frozen veggies works just fine, and you can use Saran wrap to hold it in place ) , and possibly take an anti-inflammatory afterwards, as well (Ibuprofen or Motrin).


B. ?Much depends on age and skill level. ?Beginners are working on basic mechanics and getting the ball in the general strike zone. ?More advanced are working on "hitting their spots" and on the details of specific pitches (change-ups/drop/rise/screw).

I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but when my dd started pitching, her coach stressed speed over accuracy. ?Get the mechanics of a great fastball down first and then just pitch literally thousands of balls without worrying over location. ?It's amazing, but in time, ?the accuracy will come on it's own.

For the older girls, hitting their spots is one of the most important parts of their arsenal. ?One drill is to have a girl pitch 25 balls to each of the strike zone "spots" (high inside, high outside, low inside, low outside). Tip---have the catcher keep track of which ones are actually hitting their intended targets, and then do an extra 25 of the particular pitch that is NOT as accurate. ?(Have girls actually write down these numbers, and save them to show you, and to compare themselves to when they next practice).



C. ?Will the girls each have a catcher at their disposal? ?Many girls do not have a parent/friend capable/willing to catch for them. ?Girls, don't let the unavailability of a catcher stop you from practicing. ?DD would sometimes go down to the local school and pitch against the side of a windowless brick wall. ;D ?She would take her boom-box, a bag of balls, and mark her spots with chalk on the wall and just have at it. ?(Bonus, sometimes they would come back at her pretty fast---so she got in a little fielding practice, too! )


D. ?There are general conditioning exercises pitching coaches will recommend (most are easily done at home and require no special equipment).

Can't overemphasize the importance of good quality push-ups. ?A favorite of dd's coach is to put a softball on the ground at center of chest spot, then try to lower yourself down far enough to touch softball each time. ?Tends to prevent the girls from just dropping to the ground---OUCH!

General stretching is very important for a good fluid arm swing. ?Big, fast arm circles (forward and backward) are good basics, also having the girls clasp their hands behind their backs and lean forward and attempt to bring their arms up over their backs as far as they can. ?A loose, smooth arm swing generates more speed than just trying to "muscle" the ball over the plate.


WELL---I've gassed on wayyy too long, (longest post I've EVER made) ?but I hope you can pick out a few things to help, or at least point you toward a more specific question.

They are working with a man who was a men's league fastpitch pitcher, not an actual pitching coach. I don't think they do much when they aren't with him because of a lack of a catcher, but I will check further- I've been relying on the adult for feedback, but one of the girls came to school pretty sore.

He has brought a Finch machine for them to use.

I love the drill ideas and the idea of counting the spots hit.

Thanks again

I would have to agree with the 100 pitches. In the off season, after volleyball, my daughter goes to a pitching coach once a week and pitches 2-3 times a week. She also spends one day hitting and works out with weights. As far as drills goes, it depends on what they can throw. We have a full basement and one side is only brick. We put a "strike zone" on the wall and she throws to that. She can actually see where the pitch is landing and practice hitting her spots. That way she doesn't need mom or dad to catch and break a toe or knee.
Some warm up drills
wrist snaps, single, double, triple, wind-ups. She also practices her spins for drop, curve, rise, and screw.
After a good warm up, she throws every pitch at least 10 times each (fast, change, drop, curve, rise, screw) hits all her spots (inside high, inside low, outside high, outside low) And always finishes with 5 good strikes in a row. With the warm up she pitches for about an hour.

My dd usually practices 5-6 days a week for about 1-1 1/2. Mainly she works on throwing different pitches out of each drill. In the off season, her pitching coach likes to drop a throwing drill or two and add several strenght building exercises.

I'm a pitching coach and I find some of these answers to be very interesting as they all seem to focus around this "100" pitch count as though it's some magical number.

A girl can pitch and pitch and pitch until she doesn't want to anymore basically. As long as she is fundamentally sound, there is no reason why she cannot throw every day, all day (theoretically). Of course I do not have my pitchers do that, but there is not a "magical" number or a pitch count I stand by or make them do each session. You should have your pitchers throw the amount that they are comfortable throwing depending on what shape they are in (usually less in the off season until they are throwing more), how old they are and what types of pitches they throw. Work on all of your locations, spin, and different pitches (i.e. change up, drop, etc). Work through all drills and condition on days off. Ideally I like to have my pitchers throw a minimum of an hour long workout every other day to every day pre and during season. Off season, I like to have them throwing a minimum of three days.

I was curious as to what Hillhouse thought of this topic as well so I asked him about it as it seems to come up a lot and he doesn't use a pitch count either.

JMO though.

With the pitchers that I have worked with, I have used pitch counts to some degree. ?My biggest concern is that they are throwing long and hard enough, so they do not become fatigued in a game. ?If you are holding your pitchers to 100 pitches or fewer, thats about how long she will last in a game. ?They need to throw longer to be able to adjust to game situations.
If you pitch for my HS team, you better be able to throw 150-200 pitches, because the defense isn't that good. ?LOL

With all of the pitches thrown in a typical practice, and again I am not up on pitching practice, should they simulate a game as far as numbers go and take breaks for the half innings that her team bats, or just be energizer bunny and keep throwing and throwing?

Witz----can't speak for anyone else, but my dd pitches wayyy more than 100 balls in a session with her coach.

She pretty much pitches her behind off for the entire hour, (sometimes a minute or so off for a sip of water about half-way thru, but sometimes not). ?

Her coach tries to get in as many pitches as she can handle in the hour (never counted it before, but would estimate about 3-4/minute, for total of about 200 in an hour?) ?She works up a pretty good sweat.

If you pitch for my HS team, you better be able to throw 150-200 pitches, because the defense isn't that good.[/size] LOL [/quote]

Funny but true for most H.S teams!!!

Between volleyball practice and games, travel basketball practices twice a week, drama club once a week, I`m lucky to get one time in a week anymore working with my daughter, LOL!

I havent really did the count thing with her. I usually let her warm up for 15 minutes with her drills then work on each pitch for atleast 10 minutes. Then at the end have her mix all her pitches up (game like situation).
We get a good amount of pitches in overall. Just never counted them. I can tell when she is thru and had a good workout.

From October till the season opens we only pitch once a week with her pitching coach for one hour. Rest of the time is spent on drills in our basement into a net from 15 feet. She does that twice a week. I don't use a pitch count