Curveball speed

[RADcatchers]

Not my decision. Middle School coach asked all our pitchers at the start of the season what pitches everyone knew and what pitches they were working on. My DD has repeatedly told him every time she has taken the mound that she is still in the process of learning curve ball and that it is her least effective pitch. However, even with her constantly reminding him that, this last game he called about 70% curveballs. I'm not joking at all. He only called 4 fastballs over 3 innings. It was mostly curveball supplemented with screwball. Her screwball is great but he loves to call curve. Needless to say, it got hit ALOT lol.

Let's remember that there are different strategies. Some coaches are going to utilize opportunities to help develop. While other coaches might stifle the development by holding back trying to develop it.
And in avoiding the development hold players back.

It's Middle School, could look at it like- she said- I'm still working on it, still developing it.
Coach knows! And the coach is giving her that development chance against batters.

 

[ArmWhip]

Curveball velocity typically depends on the type of curve, palm up or roll over, (drop curve), with the roll over being faster, the palm up being slower. But it is very much an individual thing, I have seen off speed roll overs. I am very much a skeptic when it comes to throwing spin pitches because most experienced pitchers that come to me have no clue about spin itself and how it effects the ball. When I ask them how they know the difference between their pitches inevitably they show me a specific grip, and release, but never mention how it spins. Too much of the time their rises, curves and screws are bullet spin and they don't know that their beloved breaking pitch is dead straight. With this in mind make sure that her spin is correct by marking up a ball so that the spin is easier to see. If the spin is correct then her curve is getting hit because of location.

 

[Vaydoe]

Curveball velocity typically depends on the type of curve, palm up or roll over, (drop curve), with the roll over being faster, the palm up being slower. But it is very much an individual thing, I have seen off speed roll overs. I am very much a skeptic when it comes to throwing spin pitches because most experienced pitchers that come to me have no clue about spin itself and how it effects the ball. When I ask them how they know the difference between their pitches inevitably they show me a specific grip, and release, but never mention how it spins. Too much of the time their rises, curves and screws are bullet spin and they don't know that their beloved breaking pitch is dead straight. With this in mind make sure that her spin is correct by marking up a ball so that the spin is easier to see. If the spin is correct then her curve is getting hit because of location.

Great points. Forgot to mention it is palm up curve that she has been working on.

 

[RADcatchers]

Needless to say, it got hit ALOT lol.

Generally, in a game, there will be more contact with the bat on the ball then there will be strikeouts.
Look for the type of hits/contact the other team is making.
Are they making good solid contact?
Or
Not as good,
*Defense cleaning up productively getting outs!

 

[Vaydoe]

Generally, in a game, there will be more contact with the bat on the ball then there will be strikeouts.
Look for the type of hits/contact the other team is making.
Are they making good solid contact?
Or
Not as good,
*Defense cleaning up productively getting outs!

Good points. They were making solid contact on the ball pretty consistently. I think it was because her curve was a much slower pitch. It looked objectively slower. The coach wasn't mixing them in with fastball so it was pretty much a bunch of slower pitches with a little outside breaking over and over again. The batters just got use to it. We had a few fielding errors but it was most just solid hits. I could see it being more effective if she pitched some fastballs in the mix to mess with the batters timing, but that wasn't the case.

 

[tomorrow]

Speed difference could be a good sign that she is actually throwing the ball differently and possibly with correct spin axis. Speed is not the goal for a new pitch, body mechanics, spin axis, spin speed, location, consistency, being able to change between pitches all have higher priority than speed. For any pitch that the fingers are trying to go around the ball rather than being behind the ball at release should be slower.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

When coach calls a curve. Tell your DD to throw an outside fastball. See what happens.

This. Unless the coach is sitting behind the backstop he isn't going to know either way. If you have an "A" level catcher who does know the difference she might get you in trouble, but I would doubt it.

If he calls slow and you throw fast (or vice versa) coach is going to have questions. Short of that make lemonade...

 

[CoachJD]

This. Unless the coach is sitting behind the backstop he isn't going to know either way. If you have an "A" level catcher who does know the difference she might get you in trouble, but I would doubt it.

If he calls slow and you throw fast (or vice versa) coach is going to have questions. Short of that make lemonade...

Not sure if I want to agree with this or not because you're probably right that most random middle school coaches probably can't tell the difference, but I'll say that I have a pitcher who is starting to slowly work a curve into games and from the side I can see when it breaks. It definitely looks different from the fastball.

But, yes, just throw an outside corner fastball if you're not ready to use the curve in games.

I had to tell this same pitcher that when her old travel coach would "make" her throw pitches down the middle (she's good, but not "throw it down the middle and blow it past hitters" good), she didn't actually have to do that because he wasn't going to know or care if she was hitting corners.

 

[RADcatchers]

Sooo? There are people on here that are telling the pitcher to not follow the pitching sign they have been given?!!!

imo~Yucky and Bad Adivce!!!

Here are some reasons~

1. That is creating a conflict situation. Absolutely could create more pressure on the players, because now, not only do they have to perform their pitch, they are not following respectfully the coach.
Two pressures!
Or one middle finger. & still have to perform.

2. Catcher should always know what the pitch is. The results could be worse for a pitcher if the catcher doesn't know what's coming.

3. Better to teach (work on) communication than to teach insubordination.

4. High probability pitch calling scenarios will continue throughout the entire softball Journey. Learning to communicate NOW will help that path greatly!

5. When you tell somebody not to do what the coach says and the coach realizes they are not being listened to could have MUCH greater consequences!

 

[RADcatchers]

I'm going to further my stance on communicating is better than telling players not to respect or listen to the coach.

If your solution is don't listen to the coach. Then, right now, acknowledge that there is no reason for any player to ever respect you/coaches on the field at all!
If your answer is don't listen to the coach,
don't communicate with the coach,
just pitch what you want...
You are making a decision to remove any coaching authority/ respect/ influence off the table!

Ohhh heck just remove the word coach because it will no longer matter...