Pitching and Pitchers Discussion Pitching Limitation Rules...A Modest Proposal

[Bekah24]

IMO I disagree with one aspect mentioned in this entire post. Teams do not develop a pitcher. The pitcher, a parent, and a pitching coach develop a pitcher. My DD is a pitcher, and the amount of work she puts in with me and her instructor is crazy. No team has that kind of time to develop a pitcher, it is up to the individual. The team coaches should be responsible to know what pitches are working that day, and call the pitches if they do not let their catcher, monitor her pitch count, and decide if a switch needs to be made. As for circle time, that is on them as well.

I could not agree more! Not sure if everyone realizes how much time a successful pitcher actually puts in! You can not expect to step onto a team, and get the same amount of circle time as the ace without putting the hours upon hours they are putting in. Throw in also trying to develope them in other aspects of the game as well! Being a pitchers parent/pitcher is such dedication/sacrifice, and it's on the parent to find the right team that she will be getting the appropriate amount of circle time. I think a lot of the reason pitchers stop is realizing how much work it takes to be successful. If you don't put the work in it shows when you are in the circle, and it's not fun to be in that circle, and not do well

 

[Pacerdad57]

not losing perspective at all... just commenting about how things work when some daddy's (a lot) DD don't pitch, then they start their own team. Didn't mean you do that but many many do. lol and if you see teams use 1 pitcher 70% of the time to only have her get blasted... then blame the coach because he doesn't understand how to keep the offensive off-balance good discussion but still don't like limitations. Its the coaches job to coach the team with some type of strategy using more than 1 pitcher for sure!!!.

Definitely will not disagree with you on the coaching aspect. Makes no sense at all when it happens that way, but sadly it does.

 

[Pacerdad57]

More surface area allows more.air to be displaced allowing for bigger pressure differential at different areas of the ball surface=more movement

 

[coachjwb]

Agree with others that most of the hard work and development for pitchers doesn't take place between the lines or with their travel or school coaches, but part of the point is that if she doesn't get the time on the rubber during games to get some game experience and gain confidence that 95% of them are going to lose interest, and others who might think about it will say "why bother?".

 

[Pacerdad57]

I could not agree more! Not sure if everyone realizes how much time a successful pitcher actually puts in! You can not expect to step onto a team, and get the same amount of circle time as the ace without putting the hours upon hours they are putting in. Throw in also trying to develope them in other aspects of the game as well! Being a pitchers parent/pitcher is such dedication/sacrifice, and it's on the parent to find the right team that she will be getting the appropriate amount of circle time. I think a lot of the reason pitchers stop is realizing how much work it takes to be successful. If you don't put the work in it shows when you are in the circle, and it's not fun to be in that circle, and not do well

there's a caveat to what you're saying. no one on here assumes that just any slouch can get in the circle and throw, yes it takes hard work and lots of it. that being said, if a girl is a good quality pitcher and is stuck behind one of the 70% circle time pitchers, all that hard work can seem like it was for nothing. they still need the circle time in games. practice and game experience are two different things as i see it. you never get the nuances in a practice session that come in a game. you have to know how the game differs to be successful. i've seen kids that practice lousy and throw great and kids that practice lights out and can't replicate it in a game situation, so if a coach wants to have 2 to 3 successful pitchers, it IS on him to get them that valuable circle time they need to be game ready, or his team will pay for the lack of experience. that old catch 22, you could be a really good pitcher, you just need more experience but i'm not gonna give you the playing time to get it. that never works and it leads to kids quitting the game, or at least the position, unnecessarily.

 

[FastBat]

To get more experience, rec or fall ball league play, is a good idea. I know it's harder to find leagues when the players are older, but it's an idea!

 

[wow]

there's a caveat to what you're saying. no one on here assumes that just any slouch can get in the circle and throw, yes it takes hard work and lots of it. that being said, if a girl is a good quality pitcher and is stuck behind one of the 70% circle time pitchers, all that hard work can seem like it was for nothing. they still need the circle time in games. practice and game experience are two different things as i see it. you never get the nuances in a practice session that come in a game. you have to know how the game differs to be successful. i've seen kids that practice lousy and throw great and kids that practice lights out and can't replicate it in a game situation, so if a coach wants to have 2 to 3 successful pitchers, it IS on him to get them that valuable circle time they need to be game ready, or his team will pay for the lack of experience. that old catch 22, you could be a really good pitcher, you just need more experience but i'm not gonna give you the playing time to get it. that never works and it leads to kids quitting the game, or at least the position, unnecessarily.

With all the talk about lack of pitching out there, playing second fiddle to a 70% pitch time pitcher seems like maybe you are not in the right position. So may teams, at every level, looking for pitching. The other option is get better then the girl who is the #1...

 

[initfor51]

I don't understand when coaches at tryouts say that a girl needs to be at ??MPH to be on a team. The radar guns crack me up too. At all my tryouts I have never used a radar gun. I want to see them warm up there pitches, how serious are they with warm ups, throw some pitches, stand in the batters box, stand behind home plate, ask them to change the speed of their fastball, ask them to throw their best pitch for a strikeout, then ask them to throw the same pitch but change it for a different look at the same pitch. That tells me who I want-not speed. Any batter can figure out speed, same curve ball, same rise, same speed of change up, etc.
radar guns make me laugh. "Wow lol this girl pitches 65+" if that's all she has, batters will pound that ball using her speed against her. Give me a 50MPH pitcher with movement, spin, and discipline with different looks all day.
Thank gosh I didn't think that a radar gun would make my team-I found 4 pitchers for my team that are all my #1s based on who we are playing. Each girl has different looks.
Sorry for the ramble. Sometimes coaches don't understand pitching like they should.

 

[Pacerdad57]

playing 2nd fiddle to a 70% pitcher doesn't mean anything about your qualifications, desire to compete or work ethic in most cases. i've seen way too many coaches get enamored with a pitcher regardless of whether or not shes even the best on the team. what he perceives and why, and what talent is really on his team do not always match. sometimes it's just a case of not throwing all the kids you need to, and the results usually bear this out.
i've seen too many situations where diversity in styles, speed, etc. are forsaken because of what the coach thinks someone has. not a question of work ethic or quality at all in most cases. not every case of course.
but when this situation happens it's awfully easy to lose a quality pitcher because she doesn't get the circle time. perceived or not, no one likes to work their butt off for nothing, especially if the talent is there and not used.

 

[Fairman]

Was on a team once that recruited 5 outstanding pitchers but only threw 2 until they couldn't lift their arms. At the end of the season those two where getting jacked out of the park and taking heavy medication just to get through a game. They made the hitters look great. The coaches never gave the other 3 the ball. My dd learned to play every position on the field that year, added 5MPH to her pitch but didn't throw in a game. Made the best of the situation.

All the players left the team that year and organization eventually folded. The two pitchers had lousy high school season as they recovered but all 5 pitchers eventually went onto play college ball. (Three D-1, one D-3 and one at NAIA)

 

[FastBat]

sometimes it's just diversity in styles, speed, etc.

In my experience, having multiple pitchers on one team with differing styles or they look different pitching, is a serious advantage! Especially if they are switched in/out mid-game and at younger ages.

 

[Pacerdad57]

this is exactly what i'm talking about.
thanks for sharing Fairman. sometimes all you can do is make the best of what you've got, then move on next season.