? for parents of established pitchers

[jofus]

Just curious...does your DD know about the stories that you are posting while using her name?

[katjoebenmom]

My dd just turned 16 in Dec, and doesn't have a lot of different pitches, but what she has serves her pretty well.

fastball---at 16u, a good hard one can still intimidate some hitters

off-speed---general one for hitting spots and messing with batter's timing

change up---my personal favorite ~ when it's good, it's gold

drop---every bit as useful as the change up, and even harder to hit

(still working on the screw and the rise---probably two of the last most pitchers add to their arsenal)

[Lannie]

LOL,,,,,, You got to remember, she lives with me......... She thinks Im crazy and my wife thinks Im full of it.... But yeah I showed them the post. My wife just shook her head and walked off. Lannie of course gave me the DADDY speech!!!! And then laughed. Never a dull moment at our house. Now here is where its gonna get sticky. I have been blessed with 5 yr old son. He thinks ol Dad hung the moon and wants to do everything Dad does. Round here the staple food source is Pinto beans, corn bread, etc. High gaseous foods...... Welllllll, ol dad has slipped a few out every now and then and yep you guess it, ol Jake is doing the same! Well we were coming back from a tour with the ol SUV packed to the brim with girls and Ol jake was in the back in his car seat. We were sitting at a light and for some reason the girls were quite. Ol Jake barks one out that gave me an overwhelming feeling of envy and then yells out. BEAT THAT ONE DADDY!!!!!! Of course Lannie and my better half are completely embarassed. All the girls just thought that was the funniest thing they had ever heard. I look in the mirror and see ol Jake brimming with pride and all I could think of was... How am I gonna beat that one?

[DonnieS]

>> and see ol Jake brimming with pride and all I could think of was... <<

Just kind of brings tears to an old dad's eyes. Back when coaching 10u rec, you know the kind of group you get, you draft and get 2-3 that know the proper order around the bases and then the rest you draft because they look like decent kids. I had one of these kids, even at 9, that you could tell was destined for greatness. Her dad and mom were both attractive people and this young lady was just as pretty as she could be, not the cute kind, but beautiful - and a great kid on top of that. She did the ballet and gymnastics stuff that a future Miss Texas should do and on the field she ran on her toes, crack you up to watch. I dont remember her glove anymore but the kid could hit the ball and then she would run on her toes to the bases. The skill that girl had though, that could out do any barroom sailor or marine I have ever seen was belch. We are heading for a game and the suburban is loaded with girls and I hear this tugboat blast come from the back seat - I look back - fully expecting it to be one the spitters or seed chewers - nope its Miss Texas. And she is sitting there with the prettiest smile - like she had just finished one of those ballet jumps or something.
Its 8 years later now, I open the paper this morning and she is running for queen of a local very popular beauty contest. I would love to be there for the talent contest.

[DonnieS]

Regarding pitching, my kid started pitching at around 7 by copying older kids that she was watching at pitching practices I took older kids to. She turned 14 a month ago and has been playing 18u for a while. She has an instructor that she loves that she has been going to since she was 8 - we went through several locals but didnt find a fit, even though most of the locals do a decent job with kids I know. My biggest complaint with instructors is trying to get too many complicated pitches before they master the previous pitches. From my time on the bucket, calling pitches, helping kids work out, the most important pitch a kid must have - not should - not hope for, but must have is a good SIMPLE changeup. Once the kid has speed enough for their age group and can hit their spots, its time for a changeup, a simple one. Save the world famous backdoor monster changeup until the kid already has one changeup that works. My pitching dd has pitched a lot, and she sticks to a few good pitches that work. Not real fancy - but thats what works. She has never thrown a plain fastball over the plate on purpose but she does throw a fastball. And I might add, just like most every pitcher I watch including college pitchers. You will hear people say my dd has never thrown a fastball, she only throws inside curves, outside curves, upside down out your booty reverse screwballs, etc. The amazing thing about 90% of those pitches is they look amazingly like fastballs, no break, but moving the pitch around, keeping the batter guessing. I tape most every college game on tv to watch the pitchers and I play and rewind those games until I break the tapes. What I see for movement pitches - that are real - this is from Cat, Finch, Mowatt, Abbot, NCAA CWS pitchers, is that the top pitchers throw that outside curve - this is where the ball is thrown near the outside low spot that most good pitchers love and it curves in to be a strike or depending on the pitcher is thrown at the strike zone and curves down and away (Cat's killer pitch). The rise ball is the next most common 'movement' pitch - and I know very well what rise balls really do, Scott and Rick's tests proved what my kid and I suspected for along time. Then an offspeed pitch - a 45-48 mph pitch from kids that normally hit 58 or better and a changeup. I think its Hillhouse who says that he works a whole lot on a very few pitches - he believes in vertical movement, not horizontal.

I think its very important when your kid is starting out to have a good role model around for her to watch. My kid was lucky to have a very talented pitcher at our league a couple of years before she got to play and the high school had a very talented pitcher that she watched - she would sit and watch these girls, specially the high school kid.

[DonnieS]

Regarding your instructor that wants to introduce new pitches every week, that is very common. Your instructor probably has a lot of respect for your kids ability or he wouldnt do that. My opinion is be respectful about it but just say 'Thats great coach, but she is having problems with her ..' whatever and keep her and the coach focused on what you are trying to perfect right then. These guys are enthusiastic - specially with kids who work hard. Maybe for some working on 3 new pitches at the same time is good - but I dont want my kid to get frustrated and stop working on new pitches. I want her focused on getting one to work well.

[jofus]

My DD's pitching coach told her that as she progressed, she should eventually settle on 4 or 5 pitches that she felt comfortable with as her "normal" pitches, and that a plain straight fastball probably shouldn't be one of them at the older ages. Obviously he's big on placement, "never hit the red zone", which is the middle 50% of the plate, etc., but also on movement.

He hadn't shown her any new pitches for a while, but I think he showed her the rise-cut and she did well with it, so he got excited and showed her some kind of funky screwball-something else. They even went a half hour over, I think because he was enjoying it

I heard some announcer a year or 2 ago say that Cat Osterman very rarely throws a pitch that is a strike if not swung at, that almost every pitch she throws moves out of the strike zone. Unless of course it's obvious the batter is taking.

Donnie, does your DD handle the 18U pretty well. A buddy of mine is coaching a team that is going to play some 18U and some 16U this year, and he has asked me about mine playing some for them in 16U, but I'm not sure that's not too aggressive a move up (she could play 12U this year), and I don't think she is comfortable with it. We're going to start going to their winter workouts in a week or 2 (about all of them are playing HS ball), and maybe there she will see if she thinks she could play with them or not. I think she could, softball wise, but I'm not sure I want her in the dugout with a bunch of 15 and 16 year old girls (and maybe even 17)

[DonnieS]

Jofus, my kid turned 14 in november. In general, I would be tense about a 12 y/o playing that far up. The reason(s) she plays up are several, one, her sister is 17 and its great having them play on the same team scheduling wise, two, she is an 8th grader and once you are in 8th grade or above, you might as well play 18u since that is what high school will be. The second reason is more important but the first reason is important for our family. Did it scare off some kids from playing with us - maybe - but my younger dd gets to play against better talent and as long as she can handle it, safety wise, its good.

A very important thing that has happened in the last couple of years is the sprouting up of all these gold teams. They have drug away the top echelon of kids so when you go play 18u and you win a lot, you think, damn we're good. But thats not the case - you then have to get your team ready and go play the gold teams and thats what we have to do.

Regarding the bad influence on the girls, as long as I keep my younger dd away from the other girls on the team, it decreases the bad influence that SHE has on the older girls - she is a stinker. Seriously, the older girls we have are protective as heck over her and have gone to guns more than once to protect her. We are extremely careful about who we bring on the team.

[kevin]

Art, who do you take your daughter to for pitching? Kevin.

[artomatic]

Art, who do you take your daughter to for pitching? Kevin.

Hi Kevin.
Hope all is well.
I sent you a pm.
Art