Another rant

[radness]

This one:

Haha there it is RISER

 

[Orange Socks]

I was thinking about this lefty kid we faced in 10U all-stars that was DO-MO-NA-TING! 1-2-3 STRIKES YOUR OUT KIND OF PITCHER. Coaches calling pitch and location. At that age we were praying for our pitchers to throw strikes with a change mixed in. Me and my other coach would make up movies about her. Kind of like, Kid shows up in Travel Bus. Exits bus in slow mo with shirt unbuttoned, flicking her cigarette to the side with 2 little player cronies offering her beers and beef jerky. She waves it away and walks to the dugout picks her glove, stretches side and side and says Let's go! You can imagine the rest.

3 years later we see her playing for a High Caliber 14U team and was still throwing gas. I followed her success in HS and travel and we played against her as my kid aged up. Still doing very well, but not quite as well as 10U beast. Took her HS team deep in the playoffs and played on the top Gold team. Verballed to a Big 12 team in 9th grade. Gets to college: Saw that she got more playing time her freshman year than her soph yr and then 0 innings her Jr year. She transferred to a different college D1 mid major out west. Someone said that she kept getting called illegal pitches and it messed her up. I really don't know what the real story is/was, but she did transfer. Who knows and I hope she does well.

We knew she was illegal EVERY pitch (ala Barnhill) and I don't know if she worked to fix it. As Bill says, what works for you at the younger ages, won't fly at the higher ages.

 

[quincy]

Please, please spare me the rise ball.

I think the point of rant is you might need to go backwards to go forward?

 

[Josh Greer]

by the way, does the riseball really rise? Asking for a friend. Thanks.

If the catcher pockets it higher than the release point, yes. Otherwise no. That being said, most "riseballs" don't rise.

 

[Sweet Lou]

This one:

We never get the close calls.

 

[_MIA_]

On Facebooks "The Fastpitch Zone" I started a massive argument just for fun.

How is that place? I got kicked out for making fun of too many parents...

 

[Lance Steckler]

i commented very early on in that FB argument, know it was a fishing expedition. And Mr. Hillhouse hooked a whopper!

Let's start the next one "breaking left and right is a waste of time....up, down and change up only"

 

[Tatonka]

you're right. It won't change. I can only hope this message is shared with parents of young pitchers and this hits home with them. The pitching coaches out there, mostly no H/E coaches, know of what I speak. But, if this message can save just one pitcher from mediocrity instead of greatness, I'll feel good about it. Until then, no I don't feel better Tatonka. But thanks for asking.

Bill - I understand the motive. While I am certainly not a PC I've been through the ringer with a few (good and bad) and did a deeper dive into it than I would have ever expected. Because of that and the level of success that my DD has had and is still having, I've been caught up in too many "discussions" about pitching mechanics and all that it encompasses. Very, very few are willing to even consider changing anything when their stud is striking out all those fabulous hitters in the B or C leagues or in most HS programs (at least around here). I've had PC's go off on me defending the HE mechanics and their style (even when it's obvious they never threw like that). I had one lengthy and whacked out message that I saved for years from a PC in our area that was highly recommended by our Head Coach at the time. That girl/women was bat s**t crazy! I did everything possible to help others avoid that scene!

These days it's definitely waaay more fun to sit back and laugh. I do feel bad for some of these kids, great kids with a lot of potential if they could only be reached but it's NOT my job! Every now and then even a blind squirrel finds a nut...and so it goes with these coaches and many parents.

 

[Hillhouse]

I've never seen bat s**t, but if I did that'd be crazy.

 

[JOHNN]

That thread was comedy gold. Some of the responses made me really wonder if some of these parents really believe the things they write.