Pitching and Pitchers Discussion A little data on the height of college pitchers...

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With all of the talk about height being a factor in pitching I thought I'd take a look at a some rosters.

#1 Tennessee list their pitchers at 5'6",5'8",6'3" and 5'7"
#2 Arizona 5'6", 5'9",5'6",5'8"
#3 Arizona St 5'10",5'10"
#4 Alabama 6',5'8",5'11"
#5 Texas Am 5'7",5'5",5'7",6'1",6'
#6 Oklahoma 5'9",5'11",5'6",5'8"
#7 Northwestern 5'6",6',6'1"
#8 Texas 5'10",5'9",5'5"
#9 Michigan 5'11", 5'5",5'7",5'7"
#10LSU 5'11", 5'7", 5'11",6'

#12UCLA 5'10",5'6",5'9",5'8"

Ohio State 5'10",5'11",5'4",6'
Indiana 5'9,5'7,5'3

of the 47 pitchers listed 18 were 5'10" or taller and 10 were 5'6" or smaller
19 were between 5'7" and 5'9"

The shortest is 5'3" and the tallest is 6'3" (Abbott at Tennessee)

I'll leave it to you to draw your own conclusions.

 

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Re: A little data on the height of college pitcher

Thanks for compiling all those stats. Guess it really doesn't matter then, does it?

 

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Re: A little data on the height of college pitcher

As suspected, height means nothing. Ball movement is everything.

 

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Re: A little data on the height of college pitcher

I don't agree that ball movement is everything. I think there are several things working together to make a good pitcher at any level. And a top speed of 70 mph will get you NOTHING if it's fastballs in the strike zone.

Elite hitters have learned to hit most any pitch. They are elite because they have learned to hit just about anything near the strike zone. They have also learned to lay off bad pitches (balls).

The elite pitchers have learned to disrupt the batters TIMING. 70 mph is great, but give hitters a steady diet of this, and watch the home run derby start! I see this in high school all the time around the third inning - 2nd time through the order. But mix in unpredictable change-ups, off-speed curves, drops and an occasional rise, and you can humiliate most good hitters. Of course, I'm assuming at the elite level that accuracy is not an issue.

Young pitchers get used to blowing batters away with fastballs down the pipe. Usually by about 16u the better travel ball hitters all catch up. If the pitcher hasn't learned an effective change of speed pitch by then, she will probably get whiplash watching balls fly over her head destined for the fence.

An interesting statistic to compare would be the average team height to the average pitcher height.

 

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Re: A little data on the height of college pitcher

i find it interesting that the only pitcher who in my book qualifies as elite is abbot and she is 6 3.

 

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Re: A little data on the height of college pitcher

Sammy I totally agree. Pitchers have to keep batters off balance with a steady diet of variation. An elite hitter will make any pitcher pay for a mistake of anything down the middle. A drop ball pitcher can be punished with an adustment in the battter's box, same for curve ball pitchers and etc.... Pitchers today need to throw a wide variety of pitchs to keep a batter guessing, and that is what will make a pitcher elite. Height does help, but is not everything, long fingers are an advantage to maximize spin. But any girl who works her butt off, and pitchers have lots to do, can overcome so called disadvantages.

 

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Re: A little data on the height of college pitcher

Ball "movement" is speed change and plane change so I think we are all in agreement. A good mix of speed, off speed, and change ups as well as rise balls and drop balls is one road to succes.

 

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Re: A little data on the height of college pitcher

i find it interesting that the only pitcher who in my book qualifies as elite is abbot and she is 6 3.

Selden at UCLA is 5'9". I think most people who know anything about softball would say she's an elite pitcher.

 

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Re: A little data on the height of college pitcher

If a pitcher is starting in a top Division I program, I think that classifies her as "elite".

 

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Re: A little data on the height of college pitcher

i still dont put her in the same catagory as finch, cat, or abbott