Schmick wrote:In 6 years of pitching lessons I've not heard any of those terms. Course I'm not in the cage or really even close enough to hear everything being said.
I have a few questions for the pitching coaches here.
1. How long should a pitcher go to the same coach before changes are made?
2. Is it normal for a pitcher to lose velo as she grows? For example my pitcher could routinely hit 60-61 MPH at age 13. Now at age 15 she is only hitting 57-59 MPH. Her coach says she's too tight and over thinking, Im hoping she just isn't tuning the coach out and regressing.
3. Would pitching coaches be upset if one of their students worked with other pitching coaches from time to time to maybe emphasize something the normal pitching coach hasn't emphasized?
From about 10u to early 14u I was constantly gunning my kid who was somewhere in the 50's and seemed stuck there. She developed her riseball in her first year of 14u and started racking up the K's so I didn't care if she was throwing 55 or 75 and stopped looking at her speed. During her breakout HS season a couple of parents asked me what her velo was and replied that I had no idea.
That summer she went to a showcase camp where they posted pitcher speeds online so I looked up her jersey number and saw 62-64 mph speeds posted for her with only a couple of other pitchers throwing that fast or faster. Now entering her Jr year of college she still throws about that speed although the camp setting was indoors w/no batter vs current live outdoor action.
My point being that I see a speed drop off from high 50's to low 60's as maybe not being a speed drop off at all. My Rx would be to try putting the pocket radar away for awhile and after about a year sneak a reading in without her knowledge and see what you get.