Since pitchers and catchers are vital positions . . .

We teach everyone to hit. We teach everyone to catch and throw.

Why do we not attempt to teach everyone to pitch?

I remember a couple of years when we did 12-week clinics at Grand Slam in Raleigh. We had all the kids go through the pitching stations for the first 4 weeks. After that 4 weeks if they weren't interested in continuing pitching they were able to go to other stations instead. We did the same thing with the catchers. I remember there were a couple of kids who did well but didn't have any idea before that that they could be pitchers. If we hadn't required it they never would have tried it.

Why shouldn't we do this with all teams at the appropriate age?

This past Saturday one of our JV coaches had 6 players starting to learn pitching basics. He really has no choice; he has no pitcher at all. Two of those players are right at 6' tall.

Is 9th grade too late; considering they'll have 3 years until they're a senior?

How many guesstimated hours would it take to become a game-level pitcher? Average HS level? I'm not talking about a Lexi Betancourt level.

How many kids could possibly be a good pitcher who may never try it unless it is at least basically required. How many hours before you could be pretty certain they shouldn't pitch?

Same question for catchers.

 

phreak, I think that is a great idea! In baseball, you know you're going to need more and more pitchers as the kids move up in age. Softball, it seems, from the beginning in rec ball where one decent pitcher is a blessing, through school and travel ball where two seems to be the norm, doesn't motivate coaches to develop new mound talent. This is a shame! Who knows what kind of talent has never been discovered.

 

two skill intensive positions... there is simply no way that a kid can learn to pitch without countless hours of someone on the bucket working with them. Catching a bit less of a learning curve but many otherwise good players are "bat blind".

You build your players for these two positions in the off season.

 

HMMMMMMMMMMMM !!

Recipe For Trouble:

Add 6 pitchers to one team , and 3 catchers and conclude with 9 parents, after the bad taste has disappeared discard into garbage can !!! Here is the most spoken comment...Little Suzie isn't seeing any pitching time..WHY ??? Well maybe because I have 9 pitchers..Sorry guys this isn't the "KINGS COURT" sorry Charlie..we need more than 4 players !!


---- Guru

 

These are six kids with zero experience on JV; hoping to get at least one that will get it to the catcher and somewhere near the plate. Otherwise, all the parents will be disappointed!

But the broader question is how to get more kids interested in pitching. A team without a pitcher is really bad for the sport. This happens a lot in HS. I believe we need to have more focus on getting kids interested in pitching at younger levels. There can never be enough pitchers and catchers.

 

If you have an organization such as Little League etc. that will focus on developing pitchers it may work to a certain degree. Having a great program at your high school doesn't hurt either. When the girls get to the point where the bats start catching up and the practice must increase to 4-5 days a week that is when you lose the girls that like the "idea" of being a pitcher.

 

Cheeze I think you nailed it down pretty good, catchers are a rare breed, and pitchers the consistent work required is enormous and most kids won't commit to it for very along. Then throw is trying to find quality instruction, there seems to be several different thoughts on how to develop pitchers. Glad my DD was never a pitcher.

 

tough at JV level when so many frosh & soph's play Varsity

JV's many times have to scrape the bottom of the barrell just to find a pitcher to throw strikes, and avoid walkathons.

 

Different Angle ??

Ask a kid what position she wants to play, and the majority 10 U to 12U will say pitching...What percentage of these kids will become a pitcher ?? A fair assumption would be 5% maybe a little higher, but to be fair to the kid, you need to be up front with the kid, and the parent if you don't see this future for her...

Guru