Strike out

[Tango]

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.

It's extremely odd. DD seems to get two strikes very fast on most hitters. They both have good movement. Most will tell you my DD has better spin (I do not necessary agree). I think my DD is two accurate. Meaning that if you call it two balls off it is normally two balls off and they don't swing. Friend maybe 1.5 or closer. DD has pitched 16 innings and walked one. The scouting report is to swing. Friend 18 innings and walked 4. Both hit spots really good but it appears my DD stays off the middle more.

 

[Towny9]

One girl may be “pitching for the strikeouts” more than the other. What I would interested in would be how many 2 strike counts each of them got to and what percentage of those resulted in a K. My guess is the other girl is getting to a two strike count on the batter a lot more often than your DD.

 

[Towny9]

It's extremely odd. DD seems to get two strikes very fast on most hitters. They both have good movement. Most will tell you my DD has better spin (I do not necessary agree). I think my DD is two accurate. Meaning that if you call it two balls off it is normally two balls off and they don't swing. Friend maybe 1.5 or closer. DD has pitched 16 innings and walked one. The scouting report is to swing. Friend 18 innings and walked 4. Both hit spots really good but it appears my DD stays off the middle more.

I guess as I was typing my reply you were writing this ha ha. There goes that theory. If your daughter has only walked one batter in 16 innings then she is probably too accurate. If she is over 70% strikes she is probably throwing to many strikes. She needs to use her accuracy more to her advantage because when you are accurate like her you can afford to throw intentional balls more knowing that you can come back and throw a strike. She also needs to learn when to go for a strike out and when not to. For example, if there’s a runner on third and one out it’s a great time for a strike out

 

[Tango]

This^ plus

Pitch calling.

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

I call the pitches for both. FB for both are normally strikes and spotted well. Curve is according to which day who has the best movement, IMO. Both normally throw for strikes outside. Drop/curve can be nasty but DD most inconsistent pitch. Friends drop can be really good but day to day. Change DD is really good. Friends also. DD rise is better and use it more to get them off the plate up and in. Very similar.

 

[Tango]

One girl may be “pitching for the strikeouts” more than the other. What I would interested in would be how many 2 strike counts each of them got to and what percentage of those resulted in a K. My guess is the other girl is getting to a two strike count on the batter a lot more often than your DD.

Very possible. DD gives up more two strike hits than normal, IMO. I do think the friend (2nd DD), is more cut throat. My DD is fine with just getting you out.

 

[LW23]

They both are it's just odd to me.

What about spin rate and efficiency? Something is different between the two of them.

 

[Tango]

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?

DD pitches out of her glove and most think she hides it well. Very smooth though and no wasted motion. I don't think their is a fear factor. Friend, is all wild looking but it appears she is going to throw harder than she does. I really don't think the friend has more movement but it's probably day to day.

 

[Tango]

What about spin rate and efficiency? Something is different between the two of them.

Never recorded the spin rate. It appears that my DD has more spin.

 

[LW23]

The main thing is that your DD is successful. Don't get tied up in comparing too much. I made that mistake when mine as younger and it wasn't beneficial to us.

 

[adm793]

Sometimes it really is a guess. My daughter has never been the fastest. Parts of her motion could be perceived as deceptive and I have fought her for years on mechanics. I’ve given up at this point. She owns her motion. She is also a lefty and I’m sure that helps.

She has always lead the team with K’s. She gets more swings and misses then any pitcher on her travel or HS team. She is not the fastest on either of them. In travel she is the #1 and will normally see the harder competition. In HS she is the #2. Even when her and the #1 share a game against the same team, she will often have 2-3 more strikeouts. Our #1 is bigger, faster and moves the ball just as well as my daughter.

I’ve honestly stoped trying to figure it out and just roll with it. Sometimes, I think there is a competitive factor that needs to be factored in. If my daughter gets ahead in the count. She is going after the batters.