Why your DD cant throw 60mph by Coach Charlie Dobbins

Sent you a PM.

 

From where I sit . . .

this evening . . . Mannheim Germany visiting our DD who is pitching here I'd say Charlie nailed it. I attended three showcases this summer and watched a lot of pitchers, most of whom were very average. The primary issue was leg drive. Very few girls seem to have been taught explosion off the rubber. Most are 'step and throw' pitchers. Tough to break 60 this way. I contend most pitching coaches spend too much time on 'spin pitches' and not enough on the developing the necessary mechanics the throw hard. This requires throwing lots of balls as hard as you possibly can (fastballs). I hear too many 14 year-olds bragging about throwing five or six pitches. There's no way to do this well and throw enough hard stuff in practice to really develop velocity.

The problem is many girls simply aren't willing to do the repetition it takes to really learn to throw hard and many Dad's don't think they are getting their $$ worth unless their kid learns a new pitch every few weeks. Lots of junk pitches at a young age is 'fools gold'. It often work great at thru 16U but if a girl can't throw late breaking stuff and 62+ she's not going to be a top flight pitcher.

 

DD I agree with you 100%, if a young pitcher spends her time not working on speed, it is doubtfully if she will ever throw hard, I have seen a lot of young kids spend half of there lesson working on getting the puck to spend correctly, most of these kids never made it to hs pitchers...(granted there will alway be the exception.)

 

Just food for thought

Hey TBR, I remember a kid who was 12 or 13ish and she would make a teams batters look awful with her off speed stuff. Over and over we hear the hitters say, "the offspeed junk is killing us".
We've all been there.
As this kid grew up she got stronger and as she got stronger her speed of pitch increased.

JMO, when a kid is young teach her the best mechanics period and let her have fun.


The kid I'm referring to now throws 70 and will play at Louisville next year.

Props to CL.

Fish

 

Taking your word for her younger years, that is the best example! She's the best pitcher I've seen recently.

 

Gamer

Chelsea is a student of the game as well as hard worker! She used to come in the dugout after pitching an inning and ask, "why did you call that pitch on batter #2", "what about a change up on first pitch, they seem to be trying to catch up with fastball", my point she wanted to understand our pitch calling and the batter tendencies. She also noticed particular batter tendencies and would share with her catcher. What a pitcher!

 

this is good stuff. a very good article.