Pitching speed

[8u/10udad]

What I am saying is that so many times you will hear coaches TB and Rec All-Stars say they won't take certain pitchers, because, they can't dominate with heat or they are not "Beasts". All the while, the girls who hit their spots, make the ball move, are winning all the games.

Here is a good example of what I am talking about: viewtopic.php?f=147&t=52396

[hit4power]

Yup, completely agree. But when you are watching DI playoffs you are watching those pitchers that have (with some exceptions) all the tools (speed, spin, location) in spades. Those kids that maybe lack a bit of speed or a bit of spin are pitching at smaller schools. Those that can't locate or change speeds aren't pitching at all.

Those TB coaches that believe it's all about speed will figure it out when they start getting beat by teams with better pitching.

[teamdoc]

For good to great hitters hard in= hard out. If you throw hard and miss a spot... not good. Will take the pitcher that can locate and keep a batter guessing and off balance.

[aojr03]

I'll take the pitcher who can sling it hard and spin it hard with control. But if you're talking at the younger age i'd take the hard thrower. If you can identify a 11/12 yr old that has "natural" pop on her pitches, with the right teaching she can develop the spins and control. At the older ages of course the control/spin pitcher would be preferable.

[softball65]

So then why are there pitchers playing for DI's that pitch no higher than 60 - 63 and they are getting the job done. Because they now khow to spin the ball and hit their spots. Don't need to overpower people to get outs, just be smart.

Over the years my kid has taken lessons from multiple pitching coaches, mainly due to the fact that we found a person who excelled at the thing or things we needed at that time, and then would move on to others as needed based on what we needed to focus on next. This approach was actually recommended to me by several of the coaches we've gone to (i.e. take the best from multiple inputs because there is no one that is all knowing and perfect at every aspect of pitching). My kid has taken lessons from ESPN recognizable names in the Div 1 softball world (doesn't make them authorities, it just means they come from a point of experience.) Additionally she also takes lessons from a former professional men's pitcher. ALL of them have said to me that it's great to have speed but what gets kids out is movement and location. Cat Osterman has said publicly that she could throw harder if she wanted but her movement suffered. She felt 60-63 mph was the optimal speed for her to get both the compromise of good speed with movement. She is referred to as among the best ever. Make no mistake, we still work to develop power/speed but our primary focus has always been movement and location as we've been encouraged to prioritize. But darned if I don't still see coaches advertising for pitchers looking for pitchers that throw hard versus "can you get people out?" Makes me laugh frankly.

I saw a team last year that had pitchers with multiple pitches but all they called were two pitches: rise ball and fastball. Riseballs up, fastballs down. They called change up occasionally just to show it (chase pitches in pitcher counts) but this team was not good at change ups and thus it was really just a show me pitch. So they were two pitch pitchers with two pitches basically at the same speed. The difference was location: up, down, in, out, which these pitchers did very well. They had great success. The former pro pitcher we still see sometimes, he has said for years that pitchers only need 3 pitches: Rise, Change, drop. Hillhouse says the same. He brags that he only has 3 pitches. So do I want my kid to throw 70mph? Absolutely. Will I lose a moments sleep if she doesn't? Nope. Get girls out, that is the goal.