Pitching and Pitchers Discussion Pitches vs power

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I have talked about this subject with Bill Hillhouse and speed is over rated. Few throw a fastball. He was one of the best in the mens game. I also got to talk about this game with Crystl , since she hit against this lady. Movement and mixing speeds are more important to keep a hitter off balance , at least from what I'm being told.

 

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Agree with keeping hitters off balance, My dd is a junior in HS she never pitched a day in her life untill her freshman year and when she was learning to pitch she had nothing but a little acccurate (threw 38-40 mph) All freshman year she threw nothing but fastballs(sort of) and it worked (at freshman level) because she moved the ball inside-out up-down and changed the eye-leval for the hitters after her freshman year we went to a pitching coach and she worked with her on fundamentals first before she tought her any specialty pitches. once my DD was ready (according to pitching coach) she learned a change-up. Now as a junior she has a change and is working on riseball, My DD`s coach once told me its not the speed of a pitch as much as it is the location and movement up and down. She also said a pitcher should have 2 or 3 pitches they can throw for strikes all the time instead of 7 that they struggle with.( i agree) Which is the same thing I was told when I pitched in HS also. Hitters are WAY to good and powerfull nowadays... you have to set them up as a pitcher to be succsessfull.

 

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643dp: You stated it better than I did. We have some very good hitting instruction going on now in this state, Thanks to the hard work of people like Howard Carrier. . The hitters now have gotten better than the pitching. Yes you have a few stand outs, but go to a good hitting camp and you have great attendance. You take a hitter that has been taught correctly and put a new bat in their hands , watch out Fence! I Look at the number of Home runs now and the number back ten years ago , big difference. If you read the posting on this on J J Huddle, it is in regards to the speed of the game. That is why the conversation has now switched to moving the bases back to 63 feet. 43 feet didn't change the college game on offense, it's trying to get better pitching at the college level out of high school to equal the hitting advances..

 

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SBFAMILY..the thing that scares me is with all the GREAT hitting coaches like Howard and others is that being a father of a pitcher I am getting very grey on top and very empty in the wallet... but it is what she like and it is all for the kids..... ;D

 

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To clarify - speed is not everything. I am saying it needs to be a focus. Bill is far from being a slouch at the speed. He would not have been where he is if he didnt have overpowering speed and if he tells you any different he is trying to sell you something. Also at high levels there is not a dramatic difference from the burners to the pitchers with great breaks.

My point is that I have seen girls throwing different pitches instead of focusing on more power. There are alot of girls that were good but got disapointed later on when they do not have enough power to keep up.

 

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Pitching is like real estate, LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. Unless you are throwing 12-15mph above the average for your age group, flat and fast will get hammered! Give me a pitcher with average to below average speed that can hit a spot and make a pitch move any day. Back to the original post, you should never slow down a pitch to gain control of the pitch. having said that, I have seen girls that throw so fast they lose control of their body and that needs to be slowed down, but at that point we are talking about poor mechanics. If you slow your pitch down to try to "aim" where it goes, you will lose every time, and as you progress you will have to start to throw harder to keep up with your peers and all of the control you "gained" from slowing down is out the window. As so many have stated here, master the mechanics of the basic fastball, and then add the junk.

 

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Good fundamentals are important to a pitcher's physical well-being as well. Throwing the elbow out ("chicken wing&quot and other flaws are really hard on the shoulder, knees, etc. especially at the older ages. DD#2 is throwing 5 different pitches this year and there are unique issues with each pitch that you need to watch for. Hard to do when you're cringing on the bucket trying not to get killed!!!

 

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643dp and PGM, sounds like we all have something in common. I set on the bucket and pay the $$$ for the pitching coach to tell us what we need to improve. I have found it impossible to watch for something she is doing wrong, when I'm trying not to get killed with her drop ball. Shin guards helped, but now that we are playing around with the rise, next investment is a mask. Howard is making many kids in this part of the country better hitters. You can't talk to him without learning something about this game and hitting. You are right it is a double sided sword. Having a dd that pitches, and is second on her team in batting average makes it tough. She learns things from hitting camps she can apply to pitching. I think hitting is catching up or passing pitching. Money and time are big factors. If you want to be a pitcher it takes both. I see many pitchers , not even pick up a ball till now, because high school is starting. But that is another post on this site.

 

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Yes - she nicked my ear with a rise ball last week. I would hate to be the first Dad in the gym to get a mask but...

 

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I am learning alot about the parents experience catching their daughters. I have been a catcher before and have still got nailed a couple times and my daughter is only 10

It would be lame to be the only one wearing a mask but all it would take is one person getting seriously hurt and everyone will be wearing them. I hope people start wearing them so when my daughter starts throwing rises it will be commonplace

 

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a couple of thoughts....

power, location, and control are critical. i hear a lot of "i throw 5 different pitches or 6 different pitches" the one college coach that i have spoken to about this... he wants three quality pitches that can be spotted at any time in the count. he's also the same guy that has never seen a screwball be effective. i see so many parents and pitchers get hung up about the number of pitches they throw they end up throwing them all half*@*.

another one for the u11-u13 crowd...."my daughter thows low to mid 50's".....well folks... she probably doesn't. low to mid 50's in reality is really bringing it. 99.5% in this age do not break 50.

had a friend who took his radar gun to the colorado sparkler 18u tournament last year. out of gunning literally hundreds of kids he gunned only a hand full at 60. give me a kid who has command of herself and three pitches who throws "hard enough" and i'll take her over the private lesson prima donna and her dad any day.

crosley

 

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http://www.pitchsoftball.com/Page.html Crosley read this site on speed and it says the same thing. Hard to convince a parent that dd doesn't throw it at 55.

 

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its unbelievable really... coaches too fall into the trap. i'm the parent of a 15 year old pitcher and a 12 year old pitcher. i know what its like to catch a 53 mph fastball. it is humming. serious spin and also noise. hardly any 11-13 year olds throw like this. when i hear this from a parent or coach about their 12u pitcher throwing mid 50s its ridiculous. not saying they're not out there... but..they're not really. this is very rare air.

and on top of that the coaches or parents who have convinced their kid that they're actually throwing 6 different effective pitches. when a kid starts throwing high 40s to low 50s she can make the ball move with a slight grip change or change of grip pressure or even the slightest change in her wrist snap. this will make the ball move. its all about the spin. you see very few perfect 6-12 rotation. they may think they're throwing a drop.. they're really not. watch cat. that's a drop. you want to see a change up.. watch lisa. you want to see a rise.. watch jenny. these pitchers aren't throwing 5 and 6 different pitches. they're spotting their speed and they're throwing their money pitch to get people out. that's what pitching is about. getting people out.

crosley

crosley

 

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I f you scroll down to the bottom of this link, there is a good short article on this subject. http://www.fastpitching.com/news.html

 

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thanks SB... one of my favorite pitching sites. i agree with a lot of your comments regarding pitchers and pitching coaches. we've always looked at it as a process. methodically improving. this is the main reason to continue outside of spending the invaluable time
with your daughter. the time spent alone with her just traveling to and from the lessons late in the evening is priceless. this is what the non pitching parents are missing. it'd be boring to have a 5 tool shortstop as a DD.

crosley