Throwing Faster

[halskinner]

You say she has the mentallity to be a pitcher, fine. And she's strong, fine. What about her athleticism?

In my years of instructing I have found that MANY young pitchers have simply NEVER pushed themselves to the point of giving 110% and that, many times, is just not going to happen unless the instructor drags it out of them. I have had first lessons with students 8 to 14- years-old and them throwing with what "I" know should be 110% just isnt happening. Why, because they are sweet young ladies that have never been in the position of having to be 'athleticaly aggressive' before. So I had to find ways to make that happen.

Every student was a new and different challenge when it came to doing that. Sometimes, I would be talking to the parent and would simply whisper "I'm gonna tick her off". Then I would start insulting her speed, telling her that batter just hit that one to the wall, or, that one swung twice it was so slow and she hit it for a double! Things similar to that. AND I would say it loud enough that anyone within earshot heard it and was looking. I would also have a tone in my voice that said I was not happy.

At some point almost all of the students would get angry for me embarrassing them like that and they would start throwing noticeably faster.

I would then walk up to them and say "YOU MAD?" "YES" "ARE YOU REALLY MAD?" "YES!" "DID YOU NOTICE YOU'RE THROWING ALOT FASTER?" "YES". "GOOD, CAUSE I GOT NEWS FOR YA YOUNG LADY. IF YOU CAN THROW THAT HARD WHEN YOU'RE MAD,,,, (now in a soft voice) you can throw that hard when you're NOT mad,,,, am I right?" Usually about 10 seconds would pass and they would quietly say, "Yes". "You had all that speed in you all this time. You just needed somebody to reach down your throat into your gut and pull it out".

Next session, if I thought she was NOT throwing that fast,, "AAAYYY, DO I NEED TO START INSULTING YOU AGAIN FOR EVERYONE TO HEAR?". I would get a resounding 'NOOOO". Just saying that one line would irritate her enough that she would reach down and throw harder. Just thinking about the first time would make her just a little bit mad again and that was all it took.

I dont know how many parents left our training facility with their mouths wide open and saying "Why didnt I think of that".

Kind of a physical issue that a little pitcher psychology can fix. You might be very surprised what a good swift kick in the pride can accomplish!

 

[quincy]

I agree with what you are saying.

On a scale of 0 – 100, DD is about 80 during practice. She has not really got going yet, feeling her way thru the whole thing.

Manager has her at about 20, she is a lot better he just is not comfortable with pitchers.

He thinks P lose games, not P wins games

 

[Blue76]

My daughter went through a very tough time this past summer for about three weeks. She was throwing hard but was all over the place. It was also happening at the wrong time. We were in showcases playing against the best teams in the country. It was a nightmare for her. Here she was with the stand fulls of Major D1 coaches and could not throw a strike. Everyone had some advise for her but none of it was working. When she started "trying" to throw strikes she got hit hard... very hard.

It was so ugly.. she was so distraught and I was feeling so helpless to find a solution for her.

Finally... a SEC head coach who has saw her throw for two years told her summer coach that she had stopped attacking the hitters and was trying to be a finesse pitcher. She told my daughter to simplify everything and just attack the hitters with her best stuff. Not try to get them to chase or try to fool them by painting the corners but to got out and attack every batter with the intentions of striking every one of them out... whether you do or you dont is not the point... the point is that you pitch with the intent of striking everyone out.

Your mileage my vary but it transformed my daughter back to where she had once been. So when she does begin to strugglea little now our que is to attack the hitter... not throw strikes. It may just be the way my daughter processed the information but she responds to this a lot better than telling her what NOT to do.

 

[Jojo]

On the talk of getting a pitcher mad.
Whenever my DD struck out, especially if she was the 3rd out, it usually meant a 3 up 3 down next inning

 

[quincy]

, funny how that happens.

 

[halskinner]

My daughter went through a very tough time this past summer for about three weeks. She was throwing hard but was all over the place. It was also happening at the wrong time. We were in showcases playing against the best teams in the country. It was a nightmare for her. Here she was with the stand fulls of Major D1 coaches and could not throw a strike. Everyone had some advise for her but none of it was working. When she started "trying" to throw strikes she got hit hard... very hard.

It was so ugly.. she was so distraught and I was feeling so helpless to find a solution for her.


Finally... a SEC head coach who has saw her throw for two years told her summer coach that she had stopped attacking the hitters and was trying to be a finesse pitcher. She told my daughter to simplify everything and just attack the hitters with her best stuff. Not try to get them to chase or try to fool them by painting the corners but to got out and attack every batter with the intentions of striking every one of them out... whether you do or you dont is not the point... the point is that you pitch with the intent of striking everyone out.

Your mileage my vary but it transformed my daughter back to where she had once been. So when she does begin to strugglea little now our que is to attack the hitter... not throw strikes. It may just be the way my daughter processed the information but she responds to this a lot better than telling her what NOT to do.

Watch out! Fiveframeswing should be attacking you any moment and saying you have an overly aggressive military confrontational attitude or some other similr crud.

 

[Jojo]

quincy, you didn't say how old your DD was or how long she has been pitching, so I'll add this;

I had one of my beginner 9yr olds pitch for the first time last weekend.
The feedback from her mother was, she did okay, she was VERY nervous. She walked a few she struck out a few and the coach kept yelling her to JUST THROW STRIKES.

I instructed her mother to tell her coach. So & so has been told by her PC that when you scream JUST THROW STRIKES, you are no better than the other team shouting cheers to frustrate her and she is to tune you out like she is taught to tune them out.

If you want to be on her team, please refrain from saying this to her. By yelling this to her you are telling her to 1. Stop pitching like you are taught. 2. Slow down and try and place the ball, which is 3. NOT going to be a strike, and 4, take her longer to eventually get the control you want her to have.

Another update on this pitcher.
This team she plays on is a first yr 10U team --all 9yr olds. elite team.
She had another outing this weekend and the coach proceeded to scream at her, call her names and came right out and told her that he expected strikes out of every pitch she threw and she had no business claiming to be a pitcher if she couldn't do that.
He also yelled at her for not covering home and her mother explained to her that this was her first time in 10U and she didn't know she was supposed to do this yet. He explained that is the pitching coaches job!
She also explained to him that she told him when she joined the team that she had never pitched in games before and to not expect perfection out of her. He then told her if she wasn't pitching strikes then she needs a new pitching coach---As she was telling me this I could see the......I have a PC that your DD needs to see.......He did tell her she had to $ for a hitting coach he advised but she explained she already had one.

I couldn't believe this coach was asking so much out of 9yr olds---around here, girls do not pitch until 10u.
I asked her "Do his other pitchers pitch strikes all the time?" She said "No, but their parents are friends and so they get left in longer".

She asked my advice, and I told her to run not walk off that team. There is a local league team she can play for and get experience before she needs to move on to elite play.

Man, these coaches truly amaze me!

 

[redhack]

On the talk of getting a pitcher mad.
Whenever my DD struck out, especially if she was the 3rd out, it usually meant a 3 up 3 down next inning

About a year ago I watched my DD do this on the road. One game the PU (local guy) would not call strikes for her anywhere on the inside, she gave up two runs was getting mad. Went up to bat and he called 3 strikes on low inside pitches, she turned and looked at him with fire in her eyes. She pitched harder than I had ever seen her before that day. The other coach looked at me and said "whoa she looks pissed". She did not have one more hit on her that game. 3 innings 3 up 3 down, every pitch fired hard as she could, right down the middle of the plate. There was not a person there that didn't see how mad she was, she made it known. At the end of each inning she walked out of the circle scowling at the ump. Never seen her do it again though.

 

[undergroundga]

There are 10u elite teams?

 

[Jojo]

About a year ago I watched my DD do this on the road. One game the PU (local guy) would not call strikes for her anywhere on the inside, she gave up two runs was getting mad. Went up to bat and he called 3 strikes on low inside pitches, she turned and looked at him with fire in her eyes. She pitched harder than I had ever seen her before that day. The other coach looked at me and said "whoa she looks pissed". She did not have one more hit on her that game. 3 innings 3 up 3 down, every pitch fired hard as she could, right down the middle of the plate. There was not a person there that didn't see how mad she was, she made it known. At the end of each inning she walked out of the circle scowling at the ump. Never seen her do it again though.

Yup, that was my DD right there, had a coach tell me once, "The next time she comes up to bat, were walking her!"