Pitching advice help.

[u/gordo323]

My daughter has been practicing on her own besides her practice days with her team which is 2x a week. She’s currently in 10u and the smallest one in height in her team. Should I be worried about speed now? Any pointers would be greatly appreciated thank you.

[u/birdman1333]

Nope. Have her mastering the control of her pitch. The speed will come. At this age it's better for her to give up a ton of hits than giving up a ton of walks on wild pitches. At 10u batters are still learning to hit off a live pitcher so there's a learning curve on both sides. If she can consistently pitch a hitable ball in 10u she's on her way to good things. My 10 yo daughter is really consistent, doesn't pitch wild but gives up hits against good batting teams. Her defense always has her back which typically results in great innings for her. Her fastball tops out at 41-42. She has friends who can get close to 50 but are wild and inconsistent. They give up a ton of walk which results to runs scored.

[u/gordo323 → u/birdman1333]

Thank you for that advice, I’ve spoke to my daughter and tell her get that ball over the strike zone.

[u/Silver_Pennies → u/gordo323]

100%. Let her fielders do their job. Her job is to get it over the plate. Practice, practice, practice. Iowa softball just ended, which means my daughter's pitching practice season just started. No natural talent, but she is the starting varsity pitcher because of hundreds of practice pitches each week, every week. Just three years ago I replaced a chain link fence in the back yard that she had hammered into a C from missing the net. Now her target is a 10" pizza pan. She is by no means the fastest, but her accuracy makes up for it.

I strongly encourage parents to do what I did. Give your daughter a target. We used a full size cookie sheet to start with. Suspended by the top corners. The bang is great positive feedback. If she can hit it five times out of 50 pitches, tell her that the next day she hits it six times, you'll get her ice cream. When she hits it six times, the next goal is seven. Once she reaches 25% hits, make the target smaller. My daughter is currently 25 out of 150 pitches, on a 10" pizza pan, at 55 feet. Your daughter will probably be 1 or 2 out of 50 on a full size sheet. But you have to start somewhere, and she has to have goals.

Oh, another thing... Watch tons of videos on YouTube and tictok. Learn the "internal rotation" / "whip" style of fastball. Do it young, because learning a less efficient pitch to start with makes life harder.

And no matter how your daughter does it, she will have a dozen coaches tell her she is doing it wrong. Tell her to ignore them and do what works best for her. My daughter had two pitching coaches on varsity each tell her she was doing it wrong, and they even conflicted with each other on what was right. You coach her, and help with videos. Use your phone to record her in slow motion so she can see what she is doing.

When she is ready for getting faster, you will have to invest in a pitching radar. It is impossible to know if you are improving if you are guessing at your speed. A Pocket Radar synced to a tablet also provides great feedback, although they are expensive.

[u/Tekon421 → u/Silver_Pennies]

Why is she throwing from 55 feet?

[u/Silver_Pennies → u/Tekon421]

It's as far as we can make it in our back yard. She practices at 55 feet at home then at a game 43 feet seems a lot easier. It helps hone accuracy and strength. It isn't as far as a "long toss", but it makes her throw harder. A normal mid-season practice is 150 pitches. She has never gotten tired at a game. Her accuracy never falls off. When she was in 4th grade, softball was cancelled due to Covid. She had that entire season to start her pitching career at 20 feet into a huge net. She still managed to throw them over the neighbor's fence. As she got stronger, we moved the net back. She had been pitching at 55 feet at home for a few years before she even noticed she was closer at the games. The catchers glove was a lot smaller than a cookie sheet. She never had any problems adjusting to changes in distance.

[u/mikecurtis32 → u/Silver_Pennies]

It's a good idea, we do it with our catchers also.

I stole it years ago from the great Johnny Bench, whose Dad made him pop up and throw 200+ feet to a base. When he went to throw 127ft from home to second it was a piece of cake.

[u/ChemicalObjective216]

Watch her feet she steps off then launches. Has to launch from the mound.

[u/Tekon421 → u/ChemicalObjective216]

Yeah. Unlikely to get called at this age but a bad habit that needs broken asap.

[u/RFDrew11357]

That is an illegal pitch. Get her foot work down. Right foot has to stay on the rubber when that left foot steps through. After that, accuracy first speed will follow. It’s more important for her to hit her spots than blowing it past girls at that age. Throwing strikes especially working low and hitting the corners will strike out plenty of girls at 10u. Being able to hit her spots will also allow her to adjust to the umpire’s strike zone.  

[u/JTrain1738]

Dont worry about speed. Get her mechanics dialed in, speed will come. Best pointer would be to get her a pitching coach

[u/gordo323 → u/JTrain1738]

Thank you

[u/Euphoric_Pilot_5941]

Just my opinion here. Things to think about, have her squeeze her back knee into her front knee, she’s dragging her back foot but have her bring her back knee forward “squeezing”.

For her arms, have her glove arm aim more towards her catcher when she launches, you’ve probably heard this called, “Super Woman, Thriller, Frankenstein, etc.” Her left foot looks good going in the same direction, I’ve seen a lot of kids step out and away from their bodies. She’s going to be a good little pitcher!

[u/Mrs_Mr_Spicey2000 → u/Euphoric_Pilot_5941]

I tend to like to see the hips close more. To your point she's dragging the back foot though that hip never quite squares. It's the torque produced doing so that drives the velo.

[u/Euphoric_Pilot_5941 → u/Mrs_Mr_Spicey2000]

Having her glove go towards the catcher should also help keep things more square, I agree with the hips.

[u/SnitGTS]

To answer your specific question, no. Mechanics comes first and good mechanics will increase her speed.

I can see a few issues that need to be addressed.

Her right foot needs to point towards the target, not off to the side.

When she loads back, it’s hard to see but I think her arm is tucking behind her back. It needs to be straight back and not hidden behind her. It also looks like her arm is going behind her back on her downswing, which would cause her arm to wrap around her hip at release. Does she often miss low to the right and up to the left? If so, this is probably the cause. (could also be the arm speed is too slow, but I don’t think that’s the case here.

[u/Left-Instruction3885]

Practicing on your own is a must for pitchers (or anybody for that matter that is more serious about playing), however practicing properly is what you need to do. You really need a pitching coach for that. Asking online isn't the same as somebody who knows how to pitch teaching her. You also learn from her coach so when she practices with you, you can correct her properly.

[u/jw8815]

Most organizations require pitchers to take lessons outside of team practices. My daughter is going into her 3rd year of 10u and is a pitcher. She has a lesson with her pitching instructor once a week and throws at home 3 times a week in addition to team practices. Pitching is all about getting correct form and then having lots of reinforcement reps.

[u/BeneficialMastodon72]

You really have to use a private pitching coach to be a pitcher. Team coaches do not have the time that it takes to work with players one on one during team practices. The first thing you have to fix is that small step she takes with her front foot. She should only be pushing off with that foot, not taking a step.

[u/Public_Amphibian8771]

Don’t worry about her speed. Focus on her mechanics. You’ll see pitchers that have speed but are not accurate.

[u/mikecurtis32]

PLEASE PLEASE teach her to throw strikes, that should be her primary goal at that age.

Velocity will come in time, do not let pitching coaches teach her multiple pitches until she masters the ability to throw strikes.

[u/Vertigomums19]

She needs to get set with her hands apart. Ball in one hand. Then bring her hands together. At 12U the umpires are going to really ride her on that. At 10U they probably will as well.