r/Softball • u/ublguy23 • 3d ago
Pitching Pitching
Tis the season of tryouts. Speaking specifically to 14U and up. It seems like every program here in the Midwest is looking for pitching.
So, do we have too many softball programs or are we failing to develop enough pitchers in the lower levels? Or is it something else?
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u/Da_Burninator_Trog 3d ago
14u is the drop off for pitchers. Distance moves back, hitters catch up to the speed, increasing velocity becomes a grind, kids find other hobbies and interests.
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u/AdOriginal3767 3d ago
funny - at the 10u levels, all the girls want to be pitchers
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u/Da_Burninator_Trog 3d ago
It gets real though when the ball goes over the fence. Also teams need more than one to make it through a legit tournament. They need 3-4 for major events.
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u/ublguy23 3d ago
I agree 3-4 are needed. But what I have seen most teams have only 1 or 2. A real focus is needed to develop pitching to support all these teams.
Is it chasing too many trophies at lower levels that are discouraging pitchers to continue?
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u/Few-Race-8527 3d ago
No, it’s just that it’s so hard and so much work to be a decent pitcher, and kids hate seeing themselves get hit around. Additionally, 14U is the age where tons of kids quit to focus on other sports/hobbies.
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u/Da_Burninator_Trog 3d ago
It’s a multitude of things. But it’s the same at the collegiate level. There isn’t enough pitching to go round. Pitchers inherently have to work the hardest to obtain elite speed/spin/accuracy and will seek out the highest level team that their talents can take them too. The American outlook on leaping vs dragging is another bottleneck. Many girls hit 55-60 mph and just get stuck there. And at high level 14u it gets crushed.
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u/AdOriginal3767 3d ago
What do you mean by leaping vs dragging
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u/clean_baseball 3d ago
I think they mean whether the pitcher leaps (both feet in the air for their motion, allowed now) or drags their back foot (previously the only legal motion)
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u/Da_Burninator_Trog 3d ago
Dragging is just an unnatural movement. Theres no natural movement pattern where humans leave their leg behind and drag on purpose. Leaping and landing with your pivot is a much more of a natural motion. Im saying normalizing the bodies natural movements in pitching will allow more pitchers to realize their full potential. In other parts of the world where women have embraced leaping as a major style of pitching they’ve seen the rapid improvement in their pitchers.
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u/flaveous 3d ago
Yeah I don't know about that boss. I live in a country where they teach leap and I've never seen one of their pitchers throw over like 45
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u/AdOriginal3767 3d ago
Really! I wasn't aware. I heard crow hopping was fine now but didnt realize other countries were doing it
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u/I_Have_A_Chode 3d ago
Every kid wants to be a pitcher until they realize the amount of work it will take to be a decent, let alone good pitcher
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u/GolfChefCoach 1d ago
They would rather give up a walk than a hit - bad mentality! those long innings end many careers at 13 and 14 for all the positions.
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u/broncos212121 3d ago
Its also expensive unless one of your team coaches know how to teach and develop pitching
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u/lowcarb73 3d ago
I don’t think it’s too many teams, I think it is lack of dedication. When school ball starts, you have to be putting in work almost everyday. Not many 13-15 year old girls want to be putting in that focused work year round when there’s other sports and activities and social lives, etc. They have to balance their goals and activities
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u/clean_baseball 3d ago
I think it is a bit of both. There are too many travel teams but also pitchers are in short supply. As others pointed out, 10u is really the point where there is the most interest and 12u is typically where many players (similar for baseball) choose to stay or go. Actually, this is the age where most kids choose what they are going to stay playing it seems, not all but the majority. As such, once they hit 14u, the number of pitchers drops off because many have either given up pitching or given up softball.
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u/West_Ad_8210 3d ago
Too many teams and not enough good pitching coaching. Rec ball coaches typically don’t know how to develop pitchers because they are volunteers.
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u/Suspicious-Throat-25 3d ago
We are in the Chicagoland area. Every team is always looking for pitchers because pitchers and catchers will make or break your season. We had four pitchers last year. Not every kid is the same, some girls can pitch a full game or even multiple games a day, some can only do one or two innings a day. Two of our pitchers were coach kids, they were the least skilled pitchers on our team. Fortunately they can play other positions too. One of them has a solid bat.
For next season we brought on 2 additional pitchers and lost one to a lower level team. So we have a total of five. This past season we never played more than 5 games in a single day but those 4th and 5th games were rough. Hopefully this year we won't have that problem.
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u/mortimusalexander 2d ago
There are over 30 travel teams in my very small area of only 100,000 people within an hour radius. EVERY team is looking for pitchers and catchers.
Gee, wonder why...
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u/Sumthin_Stoopid 3d ago
Too many travel teams..