- Jul 5, 2016
- 682
- 63
As long as this isn't a symptom of a parent not being able to assess the skill level of their daughter. I always found it a bit sad when parents think their child is a better athlete than indicated by actual performance.You guys keep referencing this fictional 10 year old who's got all the pitches but doesn't really, but two things about that..
1. Why shouldn't a 10 year old (or a 12 year old) be fooling around with all the pitches? they're learning to pitch, they're learning the pitches, they're learning all the different things they can do. Touch 'em all! Yes, obviously they're not masters of these pitch, and we don't have to take that argument seriously, but so what? Let them be excited about learning and pitching! Most of the time they're gonna have to figure out that they don't really have that pitch the hard way anyway.
2. That doesn't mean having more than 3 pitches is necessarily bad because some over-excited to see what she can do with a softball kid (or her parent) is a braggart. It's not a binary between three pitches at 90% mastery versus 6 at 50%. It's a blend, there's a time and place for everything. Maybe one kid really masters one pitch, but struggles with getting pitch 2 and 3 to that level, but maybe gets 4-5 more pitches to say..70% mastery. Who's to say she can't be MORE effective that way, than if she'd mastered the three?
To soft-toss another cliche onto the pile, it's about being a pitcher not a thrower.