Pitching and Pitchers Discussion 10U Pitcher Speed

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Fact: Few Ohio pitchers fit into this mold, although there have been a few good ones.




just out of curiousity, can anyone name some. ?Would like to know. ?Thanx

 

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( Thread hi-jack alert )Groves with Portsmouth Clay may be close - I have not seen her pitch enough to fully judge her on all the criteria mentioned. She has the speed and accuracy and movement , not sure bout the change of speeds , only saw her throw 2 innings MD

Not back to the 10 year olds or at least 11's --can an 11 throw 10 different pitches ? Or only thru mommy/daddy glasses ? I'm not saying they can't , just because I have not seen it does'nt mean it does'nt happen. Educate me. MD

 

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flashes - Chain (OSU) and Leary (Kent State) are two that come to mind. I'm sure there are others.

Why would a young pitcher even NEED 10 pitches?? What's the purpose? Why not MASTER the basic pitches that are effective at getting batters out, and forget the fluff?

Planes of motion, change of speed, and ACCURACY.

 

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We had an 11yr old make us look silly last sunday , with accuracy and movement . She was uncanny at painting the outside corner, girls refused to crowd the plate therefore we saw approx 14,000 weak grounders to 2nd. She was slick , never caved in , outside , outside,outside, outside, outside , I think you get the picture. MD

 

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I have noticed that in 12U, especially second year 12U the girls are learning to recognize the change up and is able to keep their weight back and drive the ball. We use more offspeed than change up. But if even you use a regular offspeed and try to paint inside, outside corner the ball is sure to get hit. We use a offspeed screw, movement to inside corner (right handed batter) and use the triple pitch, which is offspeed that curves outside and drops.
My dd knows several change ups, but only uses one, maybe two in a single game. There is no advantage of knowing this many change ups, she would learn one and if it wasn't working she would learn another, we practice all of them so she won't forget the muscle memory of the snap, etc. But a change up is a change up know matter what grip she uses.
We never ever, use the fast ball in a game, only when she pitches to her team mates does she use this pitch. Use the breaking ball high and tight, back the batter deep in the box, then come in with a drop ball that drops right behind the plate, next pitch outside curve where she can't reach the ball or with a inside curve where she is bailing out of the box to a strike on the inside corner.
I would have to say if she was just pitching to a catcher with no batter. She will not be able to pitch 10 perfect curve balls in a row called for strikes. Or for any pitch for that matter, she gets her strikes by making the batter chase. In all reality in a game she is probably pitching alot more balls than strikes. She usually allows one walk a game, maybe two. Last weekend she struck out the first 7 out of 8 batters faced. Went on to strike out 20-23 batters in three games.
What I am saying is that movement is the key. In 12U you have to have more than a fastball and a change up.

 

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Ace6, 20 out of 23 is impressive, care to say who she pitches for?

 

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Aces - you will notice a change in hitters from 16u and up. The competitive kids that are looking to play in college are far better at recognizing moving pitches, and waiting on "their pitch". A lot of those "chase" pitches where younger batters swing will become balls, and strikeouts become walks. Where a good high fastball up in the eyes is a good strikeout pitch at 12u, it becomes a homerun against a good 16u hitter.

IMO, a sub-60mph pitcher at 16u and above who has good, accurate command of speed change pitches - change-up, offspeed - will fool good hitters more often with change of speeds than movement. Slow movement pitches, and rise balls that don't rise are destined to raise the opponent's batting average. Those are things that older hitters excel at. Pitchers have to learn to counteract good hitting.

 

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Sammy yes I figured it will all change in the matter of time, we are teaching our girls right now that are batting to watch the pitchers steps and motions to pick up on if they are pitching a curve outside or a screw inside etc.
Forgive me, I went back and read my last post. It sounds that I may have been bragging on my dd which was truely not my intent. My dd is by no means the exception in our area. Just in the county we live in alone they are 6 (12U) good established travel fastpitch teams. Not to mention the teams in the surrounding counties with bigger populations. She plays on a "B" team. That is why in my first post I was questioning whether she was on track or not with other pitchers you have seen. I am usually on the other end of the bragging scale, I often dont give her the credit she deserves. Although I am proud that at an early age playing softball she recognized that the game is more mental than pysical, most of the time.

Thanks to all for the feedback. I have a few questions about slap hitting that I will ask later. I guess I should make that a new topic instead of posting here?

 

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ACE6: If you use the search function above we had some very good conversations about slapping under the Coaches Corner section. My dd is a slapper and I try to read anything I can find, along with attending college camps on slapping.

 

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If you are in central/southern ohio keep an eye next fall/winter for one day clinics in Ashland Ky, cross the river from Ironton. Championship fastpitch holds them. We saw Larry Ray last year in a group of no more than 8 or 9 kids. They also brought in Jackie Joseph and Don Slaught from right view pro. They post info on here in the coaches clinic. I spent all winter collecting info, my DD practices it, but I'm not sold she can do it productively yet. We will see once the 2-4 times a month tournies start. Lots of info out there , use the search function. or just go back to dec/jan. Search function seems unreliable ---good luck. MD

 

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Dan she is in GA. Click on her profile and it will list where they are located in most cases. You are right all those guys are very good. Wright State and Casssie Cunningham at OWU also do a good slapping clinic up in our neck of the woods.

 

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I don't know about you guys but at this point I don't really focus on how fast she throws. My DD is 10 and right now I'm concerned with proper mechanics and her having a good time! I know she throws fast, probably somewhere above average and that's great. Her tourny team coach offered to clock her with a radar gun but I'm not interested. I don't want her to think about how fast she is throwing, I just want her to think about throwing with good mechanics. If she does that right, her speed and accuracy will be there. There are years ahead of her to worry about how fast her ball is. She gets noticed at games partially because she is pretty quick, but usually people comment on her form. She looks like a little tiny college kid out there! And because her mechanics are good she is pretty darn accurate most of the time and her ball moves great! She is too young to worry about placing the ball, although she can and does. But I don't focus on it. At home whe she practices she is usually not even throwing into a glove or target at all. She throws a softy into a wall and works on the mechanics of the pitch. I'm patient and so is she. The rest will come!

 

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pitcher98 - Great attitude and it sounds like you're right on track with your DD. One thing I might caution is to ALWAYS throw at a specific target, whether it's at the catcher's mitt in a game or a piece of tape stuck on the wall in practice.

IMO, EVERY THROW, whether thrown by a pitcher, catcher, infielder or outfielder, should be thrown "with a purpose". How many off target throws do you see in a typical game? Outfielders just "winging it" somewhere towards the infield, nowhere near a cutoff or target? Routine throws from 3rd to 1st sailing 3 feet over the 1st baseman's head? Accurate throwing just doesn't magically happen. Like everything else, accurate throwing take lots of practice.

Pitchers can make a game out of it in practice - even when throwing the sock. Put a piece of tape on the back of a door or a wall. See how many hits - with good mechanics - she can get. You can even make a strike zone box and work a count. Put green dots on the corners and a big red dot in the center. See how many greens she can hit. Obviously a red (down the middle) is bad, so avoid that. She'll build a habit of always seeing that invisible strike zone.

For infielders, they can pair up and stand about 60' - 70' apart. In throwing warm-ups the "receiver" must ALWAYS give the thrower a glove target. You can make a game out of this too. The reciever's body from the shoulders to the waist is 1 point. Hitting the glove without the receiver moving it to make the catch is 2 points. Again, this builds a habit of always throwing to a target.

Sorry about getting off topic. I now return you to the regularly scheduled program...

 

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MD Mr D's times are inflated by about 6mph. Gun not accurate and the way he times them is pushing gun towards pitch as fast as his arm can move. Which will give faster reading then actually throwing. ?

 

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It has been my experience that the higher the age group the less important a blazing fastball is. Most girls who are studying hitting, fielding, and the game in a year round program will sit on a fastball and in most cases prefer a fastball. Those pitchers who can command their spreed, spot their pitches, understand hitters stances, and the strengths and weaknesses of those hitters by the way they approach the pitch, are truly the elite pitchers....just hitting 60 mph will get you killed at the higher age groups if you don't have command of your other pitches. 90% of pitching is from the chin up, the older one gets. Just one man's opinion!