whats the average speed

[mrslug01]

Top Pitchers in the Midwest . Notice how few hit above 60 !
NFCA.ORG

Also same data when I attended the Queen of Diamond North and South. Few hit over 60.

They need to hold an NFCA recruitign tournament in Georgia obviously lol

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

The bottom line is that it doesn't matter what coaches, daddies, mommies, friends say about a pitchers speed is. What matters is which college picks our DD up.

As a parent, you need to help your DD focus on what you both think is important to get picked up by a college team. If college isn't the goal, then the bottom line is whatever your DD thinks it is.

 

[mrslug01]

Saying there are top players by region these days is plain wrong. Yes there is alot of talent in California but it's the most populated state in the Union. But look at some of the SEC teams and you'll find players from NY and CT all over them now. Indoor training facilties have changed the game. Some people have this notion that the NFCA camp numbers don't mean anything because all of the best players have signed already. Maybe, but the re are still 400 smaller DI and DII schools and many of the girls they sign come from the NFCA recruiting camps and those are the numbers.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

Saying there are top players by region these days is plain wrong. Yes there is alot of talent in California but it's the most populated state in the Union. But look at some of the SEC teams and you'll find players from NY and CT all over them now. Indoor training facilties have changed the game. Some people have this notion that the NFCA camp numbers don't mean anything because all of the best players have signed already. Maybe, but the re are still 400 smaller DI and DII schools and many of the girls they sign come from the NFCA recruiting camps and those are the numbers.

I agree that the population of CA helps in the talent pool from this region. One of the other important factors is the weather, especially in SoCal. We can and do practice outdoors year-round while most other parts of the country are practicing in basements and warehouses during the winter months. But its nice to see other regions of the country catching up and they are producing tons of talented players, leveling the playing field (so to speak).

 

[CPSBDad]

Lastnight I was fortunate to watch sisters RH and LH pitch at a practice. Soph and 8th grade. They were in the upper 50's. This is a small town in SE Washington and the girls are from NE Oregon. Another girl in the third lane, 7th grade, was throwing 55 MPH fastballs. Don't need to be from a big city to find girls that can throw. We like our softball around here and are very supportive of the sport.

 

[starsnuffer]

It's a shame that most California elite teams just said "well screw the National's, we'll do our own thing" and went the Premier route. I think that this was largely why you did not see a lot of California teams at ASA Nationals.

If you look at the roster of most SEC college teams, far and away the vast majority of players come from California TB programs.

Out in California, college sports are no big deal. College athletes are just regular students, and it seems like every kid under 25 in California is a college student, in other words, they're just another nobody in the eyes of society. At SEC colleges, athletes are treated like celebrities, at least that is the notion that recruiters at those schools try to ingrain into prospects. A lot of kids will go 3000 miles to play in Alabama or Athens with the idea that they're going to be "somebody" on campus.

I do think that softball is getting a lot more momentum in other parts of the country, and that is truly an awesome thing. California has always been a trend setter, but rarely sticks with the trends it sets. Cricket seems to be the big thing out here now, and more and more teams are getting pushed off of fields by cricket clubs and having to compete for players, so you guys out east might have to start thinking about that 10 years out.

-W

 

[absdad]

I quoted that and someone told me the girls there are not top players, not that I agree with that.

I recall that conversation; and I didn't think that is what was said.

 

[Catching Coach]

Here is a reprint of a post I made a while back. While the data is from 2008, the numbers from 2010 are similar.


Refering to the 53-57MPH as being ave high school speed I have reposted the data from another post on this site about the speeds recorded at the 5 NFCA Administered camps held in 2008. Those camps are attended by mostly high school age girls and the 53-57 ave holds up well,....see the data below.


Lots of discussion on what is ave pitch speed for fastballs at different ages. I downloaded the results from the 5 NFCA Administered Camps held in 2008.

NFCA Pennsbury Recruiting Camp, Yardley, Penn., June 12
NFCA Great Lakes Recruiting Camp, Toledo, Ohio, June 19
NFCA Colorado Sparkler Recruiting Camp, Westminster, Colo., June 30
NFCA Colorado Fireworks Recruiting Camp, Aurora, Colo., July 1
NFCA Elite College Showcase Recruiting Camp, Plano, Texas, July 24

Now I have no way of knowing if any of the pitchers went to more then one but here is how the numbers worked out.

633 different pitchers results were tallied from the 5 camps

Each pitcher had the speed of 2 fastballs recorded.

The data for 1266 recorded fastballs showed an average MPH for all 1266 pitches as 56.5MPH

123 girls had at least one pitch at 60mph or faster

63 girls had both pitches at 60 or faster

Maximum MPH was 66, thrown 3 times by 3 different girls

Not sure what would be the ave age of these 633 girls but seems likely they are at least sophomores in high school.

 

[rowdy]

We played in team at nationals last year and lit up their starting pitcher. She threw 55-58 but like you said it was a speed we do most of our work in practice. The brought in a girl that might have hit 43 and we didn't catch up to her until the sixth inning. What I am saying is speed is not good or bad if you are a competitve team. I would stress how well your pitchers change speeds more than just top speed.

 

[absdad]

I would stress how well your pitchers change speeds more than just top speed.

Totally agree.