12U pitchers throwing 58-60 mph

[_MIA_]

DD plays for Hotshots now, not the 08 Premier team, but we play them pretty regular. That team is legit good.

We tied them once in a pool game. I'm not much for moral victories, but will take that one.

We have been playing a lot of tournaments at that level this spring and the interesting thing is, while those team are crazy good, their pitchers are not blazing fast. They move the ball, hit spots, and change speed. More than anything, they will out hit you all day long and play consistent defense.

Agree. DD’s former team played the IG National team last year and while the kid they threw was good, she wasn’t overpowering.

 

[Tango]

I do not clock my DD but at 12 she pitched on several fields with a radar on the scoreboard and would hit 55 some. Not sure if that was correct or not. Only saw a few pitchers throw harder in 12U and nobody in the 60's. She plays as a 14 now and 56 is where she is at. I hear all these stories about 61 and 62 at the HS level and we have a dad that clocks every pitcher we have faced this year. One hit 61 (Jr. with D1 offers) and one 59 (committed to JUCO) and nobody else better than 57. Maybe we have a slow gun.

As a pitchers dad, I know kids can vary a lot from one day to the next. But had a scouting report of 67 and I saw her in the fall 59 was her best. Report from one guy today on a kid 62 and the other coach 56 tops. I don't even listen anymore.

 

[BrianTx01]

I do not clock my DD but at 12 she pitched on several fields with a radar on the scoreboard and would hit 55 some. Not sure if that was correct or not. Only saw a few pitchers throw harder in 12U and nobody in the 60's. She plays as a 14 now and 56 is where she is at. I hear all these stories about 61 and 62 at the HS level and we have a dad that clocks every pitcher we have faced this year. One hit 61 (Jr. with D1 offers) and one 59 (committed to JUCO) and nobody else better than 57. Maybe we have a slow gun.

As a pitchers dad, I know kids can vary a lot from one day to the next. But had a scouting report of 67 and I saw her in the fall 59 was her best. Report from one guy today on a kid 62 and the other coach 56 tops. I don't even listen anymore.

Get you a Pocket Radar

 

[Tango]

I have one but don't use it. I call pitches for our HS team. Have a dad on the team that checks everyone. We had the conversation about varsity pitching on Wednesday and I ask him after most games.

 

[BillyB]

I'm late to this party. We have a pitcher at the training facility we go to that is 11 and pings 56 on the radar, she turns 12 in two months. My daughter just turned 12 and gets to hit her at our live sessions/rotations as well as faced her during the season. She's not huge either, she's certainly bigger for a kid that age, but she's not some 6 foot monster.

 

[Rolling Hard]

Single digit, special in game. I have seen 2 or 3. Balls in the dirt, catchers have a tough time.lot of passed balls or wild pitches depending on who is running GC. Gotta play small ball against them.

 

[uncdrew]

My DD is a good pitcher and a tall girl. She's 11. Has 1.5 years left in 12U.

She's in the low 50s.

We have some A-level players in our (Atlanta) area who are already in the mid-50s, and are only 11. They also have another 1.5 years of 12U ahead of them.

We played in a 12U A-level tournament in Birmingham last fall. Really good teams. I clocked everyone who looked fast. At least 10 girls were over 55.

All that said, most weekends we don't see anything over 50.

Interesting bump.

My DD has a PR of 58. But of course that was in a lesson, in a gym, etc. etc. We're on our "DAD MANDATORY 6-8 week annual break". I'm eager to clock her this Spring. Every year thus far she comes off break up about 2 mph. Hitting 60 will be a huge milestone.

 

[LEsoftballdad]

Interesting bump.

My DD has a PR of 58. But of course that was in a lesson, in a gym, etc. etc. We're on our "DAD MANDATORY 6-8 week annual break". I'm eager to clock her this Spring. Every year thus far she comes off break up about 2 mph. Hitting 60 will be a huge milestone.

60 was such a proud moment for my daughter. She hit 59 in June, 2020, and she couldn't push through, although I suspect she broke 60 without proof. She finally clocked above 59 in February of this year when she hit 62 on a PR in a lesson. The next week, she was at a tournament in Gainesville where she cruised at 61-62 in game.

She stayed at a top speed of 62 until June when she hit 64. Each jump seemed to happen because of a slight mechanical adjustment to her motion. Her goal this winter is four-fold. 1) fastball command improvement. 2) Change-up improvement. 3) Learn a drop. 4) Break 65. If she can do those four things, it should be fun school and summer TB seasons.

 

[Towny9]

It’s pretty common where I live to see 12U girls in the 48-54 mph range. Around that range it all seems pretty similar to me. This fall we played a team from NJ and their pitcher let the first warmup pitch fly and I said to myself “that looked different”. I watched a few more before grabbing my pocket radar and sneaking it to one of our parents to radar her. She threw consistently in the 57-59 range with a few that hit 60. She wasn’t the typical “big kid” either, but her arm action was really nice - long and loose.

 

[PJR202]

We weren't a great hitting team at the time, but my MS team faced an 8th grader last season that was clocked at 61 by someone unaffiliated with her team. She had movement as well. She torched us. 3 inning run-rule. 8 strikeouts on 29 pitches. The only contact was a couple of fouls and a dinker to 1B for an easy out. She was on a whole other planet vs everything else we saw that season. Big kid, too.