Strike out

[Tango]

I know this is hard without seeing the pitchers. My DD (15) and her best friend (16) take lessons from me. My DD throws a tad harder both mid 50's. Most people will tell you my DD has better spin but it's daily, IMO. My DD has an awesome change and the friend has a good change. My DD hits spots at an unreal percentage and her friend is almost as good. My DD pitches out of her glove and friend swings back. My DD has a slightly better ERA and slightly better in all stats except. Here is the question.

Friend has 19 strike outs and DD only has 5. Basically the same opponents. Through the years it has always been this way and I really have no clue why. Any thoughts?

 

[Hawk_]

Do they have the same pitches? Does the pitch caller call them the same? Is your DD getting outside enough on an outside pitch? Is your DD facing tougher competition, getting the hard games? These all factor in.
My number 1 pitcher had 5 or 6 strike outs this weekend (game and a half) My number three pitcher had 11. All because she was catching outside corners better, and she was pitching to worse competition. It all comes into effect though really

 

[cnardone]

deception? Is one motion herky gerky? One of my pitchers (12U) does something where the ball totally disappears (to me as a catcher) then explodes from her hip. Like a freaking magician. It is gone, then it is on top of me. As a first year 12U she pitched REALLY well against some good competition last year. Way better than her control and velocity would suggest.

Could it be that there is more movement on the pitches? Just a little more run, sink or fade on each pitch?

 

[uncdrew]

My DD is part of a very good 12U "three girl rotation". All have ERAs and WHIPs right around 1 playing A ball. It's an impressive staff.

However, the other two girls average 1.5 Ks per Inning. My DD is right at 1.

They all locate well, all spin well, all have good breaking balls. The most discernible difference is speed. One is at 60, one is at 58, my DD is at 56. Perhaps the speed in games isn't what you're seeing in lessons? Just a thought from my one data point.

I do think the two answers above mine are more likely.

Another likely answer is the Law of Small Numbers (Pattar can correct me if this is something I'm making up). But the numbers might even out with more games and more data. Your DD might have pitched against the teams with better batters who strike out less. If you really want to dig, go find the teams both your DD and her friend pitched against in Game Changer and review all their games played and total up the strikeouts. Perhaps the friend pitched against teams that whiff more often.

 

[Nimrod]

I know this is hard without seeing the pitchers. My DD (15) and her best friend (16) take lessons from me. My DD throws a tad harder both mid 50's. Most people will tell you my DD has better spin but it's daily, IMO. My DD has an awesome change and the friend has a good change. My DD hits spots at an unreal percentage and her friend is almost as good. My DD pitches out of her glove and friend swings back. My DD has a slightly better ERA and slightly better in all stats except. Here is the question.

Friend has 19 strike outs and DD only has 5. Basically the same opponents. Through the years it has always been this way and I really have no clue why. Any thoughts?

Great mystery. If a pitcher is faster than another and also possesses an awesome change and hits her spots at an unreal percentage, as you say, then it would seem impossible that the other pitcher who is below her in all those areas has nearly 4x the number of strikeouts.

But if I had to wildly guess ...

1. Pitcher B has more movement, a better breaking ball, pitches that cause swings and misses.
2. Pitcher B is wilder and gets more swings and misses but at the price of walking more batters, or at the expense of getting behind in the count, which could lead to more fat pitches when the count is 3-1, 2-0, etc. All that might explain why she's harder to hit yet has a higher ERA.
3. The assessment of the pitchers is somehow inaccurate.

 

[Lance Steckler]

id rather have the pitcher that induces 3 soft ground balls with 3 pitches than the strike outs. LOL

 

[Cornbread]

I know this is hard without seeing the pitchers. My DD (15) and her best friend (16) take lessons from me. My DD throws a tad harder both mid 50's. Most people will tell you my DD has better spin but it's daily, IMO. My DD has an awesome change and the friend has a good change. My DD hits spots at an unreal percentage and her friend is almost as good. My DD pitches out of her glove and friend swings back. My DD has a slightly better ERA and slightly better in all stats except. Here is the question.

Friend has 19 strike outs and DD only has 5. Basically the same opponents. Through the years it has always been this way and I really have no clue why. Any thoughts?

Know the goal: weak contact, Missing the hitters barrel
Sounds like your dd does that well

 

[Tango]

My DD is part of a very good 12U "three girl rotation". All have ERAs and WHIPs right around 1 playing A ball. It's an impressive staff.

However, the other two girls average 1.5 Ks per Inning. My DD is right at 1.

They all locate well, all spin well, all have good breaking balls. The most discernible difference is speed. One is at 60, one is at 58, my DD is at 56. Perhaps the speed in games isn't what you're seeing in lessons? Just a thought from my one data point.

I do think the two answers above mine are more likely.

Another likely answer is the Law of Small Numbers (Pattar can correct me if this is something I'm making up). But the numbers might even out with more games and more data. Your DD might have pitched against the teams with better batters who strike out less. If you really want to dig, go find the teams both your DD and her friend pitched against in Game Changer and review all their games played and total up the strikeouts. Perhaps the friend pitched against teams that whiff more often.

Radar says DD is one to two mph faster in games. I have coached both pitchers since they were 11 and 12. This has been the case every year but seems to be getting a little wider as they get older. They have both pitched in 5 games this year. 4 were the same teams with one coming in for the other.

 

[Tango]

Know the goal: weak contact, Missing the hitters barrel
Sounds like your dd does that well

They both are it's just odd to me.

 

[Shiloh]

Great mystery. If a pitcher is faster than another and also possesses an awesome change and hits her spots at an unreal percentage, as you say, then it would seem impossible that the other pitcher who is below her in all those areas has nearly 4x the number of strikeouts.

But if I had to wildly guess ...

1. Pitcher B has more movement, a better breaking ball, pitches that cause swings and misses.
2. Pitcher B is wilder and gets more swings and misses but at the price of walking more batters, or at the expense of getting behind in the count, which could lead to more fat pitches when the count is 3-1, 2-0, etc. All that might explain why she's harder to hit yet has a higher ERA.
3. The assessment of the pitchers is somehow inaccurate.

This^ plus

Pitch calling.

Being able to read batters, i.e. see them swing and know where their weak spots are.