- Feb 3, 2011
- 1,880
- 48
Did she join the TB team? Or is she still in rec? There's generally a huge difference in the overall quality of the pitching between the two. If she wants to pitch right now, then she should be playing rec ball.
My DD has been pitching for a little under a year and she still has control issues. On days when she's hot and has gotten a great warmup, though, she can fire 8 strikes in a row in a practice situation. What I'm seeing as the weeks go by, however, is that the 'window of wildness' seems to gradually be shrinking. She'll still throw the occasional whoa! ball, but it happens a lot less now than when she started and you should be experiencing this, too. It's normal.
It's so hard to effectively judge a pitcher's potential at age 8-9. The bodies they have at that age are going to be gone in 4 years. A kid with all the desired physical gifts at age 9 might be totally passed up in size and strength by another kid in just a few years. But if your DD wants to put in the work, give her the opportunity to do so. Not every kid is going to become an ace pitcher, but the one sure way to guarantee failure is to not even try.
Chasing balls is Daddy's job, so smile and enjoy it while it lasts, because someday, she won't be throwing the wild ones anymore and I suspect a whole lot of dads miss it more than they let on.
My DD has been pitching for a little under a year and she still has control issues. On days when she's hot and has gotten a great warmup, though, she can fire 8 strikes in a row in a practice situation. What I'm seeing as the weeks go by, however, is that the 'window of wildness' seems to gradually be shrinking. She'll still throw the occasional whoa! ball, but it happens a lot less now than when she started and you should be experiencing this, too. It's normal.
It's so hard to effectively judge a pitcher's potential at age 8-9. The bodies they have at that age are going to be gone in 4 years. A kid with all the desired physical gifts at age 9 might be totally passed up in size and strength by another kid in just a few years. But if your DD wants to put in the work, give her the opportunity to do so. Not every kid is going to become an ace pitcher, but the one sure way to guarantee failure is to not even try.
Chasing balls is Daddy's job, so smile and enjoy it while it lasts, because someday, she won't be throwing the wild ones anymore and I suspect a whole lot of dads miss it more than they let on.