Speed isn't everything

[Spicolo]

Curious that so many coaches prefer location over speed. On these boards and amongst those that love the finer points of the game, the discussion favors location over speed. I have yet to find a coach, competitive or high school, that shares this belief. So I figured seeing is believing right?

Here is a pitcher that is considered 'slow' throwing 3 no hit varsity innings. Look at the ball movement and locations.

(note: I edited my atrocious sentence structures from the original post.)

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[coachdan]

I like the shortstop much better than the pitcher. The pitcher may be getting by with those mechanics now but not at the next level. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Mark H]

She does have some pretty filthy stuff as they say in baseball.

 

[DonnieS]

I like the shortstop much better than the pitcher. The pitcher may be getting by with those mechanics now but not at the next level. Just my 2 cents.

Agreed - and I like who ever is calling the pitches.

 

[Jojo]

It is a shame that most coaches judge speed as talent. I cannot count how many young pitchers stop pitching because they sit the bench because the coaches daughter pitches faster.

In high school it's hard watching a team do poorly with a mid to upper 50's fastball pitcher, while the JV team blows everyone away with their low 50's pitcher that's moving the ball.

My DD played with sister pitchers. The elder was long and lean, threw hard, came into her high school as a freshman and went straight to varsity.
Little sister was small, so she just moved the ball. Came in during her older sisters Jr. year, and had such success she beat out the older sister for the starting varsity spot in her Soph yr and her sisters Sr. year.
I can tell you this, whenever her high school team played my DD high school, it was always nerve wracking, the hitters "Hated" her!
To make matters worse, when my DD's college coach made a visit to watch her high school game, that girl was the one we were playing against! MY DD won the game 1-0, whew!

 

[bigboyk]

My DD has been with a pc for about three years, he stresses speed and he will tell you that the few students he has had over the years that made it to the college level were the girls that threw hardest. Yes they had control and decent movement but the one thing they all had in common was above average speed. He says the first thing any scout or recruiter will do is clock her speed, even if control isn't great, speed will get you noticed. He could be wrong but he knows alot more than I do.

 

[Mark H]

Lots of coaches are in love with speed. I'm in love with command, movement and speed pretty much in that order but the bottom line is, can you send hitters back to the bench. I like this kid. Spicolo, check your pm's.

 

[go4fpsb]

She does have great change of speeds, which I really value in a pitcher. Ouch, the catcher took a nasty foul tip off her right knee cap. That'll sting!

 

[lhowser]

She looks good and effective. I've coached and watched a lot of games. From what I've seen control and movement are much better than speed without control BUT in nearly every good tournament or high school state tourney run you'll eventually run into the pitcher with speed and movement and she'll usually win the tournament. My personal experience is 8U - 16U and at the end of the day speed is very important. All other qualities being nearly equal 4 mph is a huge advantage.

 

[halskinner]

Good grief. The pitcher in the video is a step style pitcher and is also leaping. Get her to a pitching instructor.

I dont care if you can throw 80mph, the hitters will catch up to you after a few innings,, if that's all you have.

Speed is a weapon and it is only a weapon, just another weapon in a pitcher's arsenal that must be used intelligently to be the most effective.

The faster you CAN throw, the more choices you have when it comes to changing speeds. Changing speeds constantly takes the bats out of the hitters hands.

I will take a smart pitcher over a dumb fireballer any day. Unfortunately, most coaches have that old baseball mentallity that speed is the ONLY thing that matters.