Tiny Pitchers Get No Love

[CoachCeetar]

No, but the taller player is at an advantage to the shorter player. If all other things are equal, a taller player will throw the ball harder than the shorter player.

Take a golf swing as an example. If you take a driver head and place it on a sand wedge shaft, the ball will not go as far as it will with a driver shaft. Of course, the swing mechanics have to be equal, but if they are, that will be the outcome every time.

I'm not a golfer so ignore me if this assumption is incorrect, but isn't the idea that the golf clubs get a little shorter the closer you get to the hole, because you can control small clubs better? arguably this is the same thing with a pitcher's arm. So even if height WAS the significant driver of velocity, velocity isn't the whole picture of pitching and the shorter person would have a control advantage.

But regardless, you're not getting "all other things are equal" because there are a lot of other things and we're almost exclusively talking about kids still improving year to year, season to season, game to game. You're never comparing two finished products that have reached some plateau of 'perfect mechanics'.

Also no one's ever in a situation where you're just picking a pitcher off the shelf, no data or information besides height. It's not like the coach shows up one day with two new pitchers and has to "eenie meenie miney moe" it. And even then, I think you'd be more informed watching both warm up for 5 minutes than just choosing on height alone.

 

[jdint]

No, but the taller player is at an advantage to the shorter player. If all other things are equal, a taller player will throw the ball harder than the shorter player.

Take a golf swing as an example. If you take a driver head and place it on a sand wedge shaft, the ball will not go as far as it will with a driver shaft. Of course, the swing mechanics have to be equal, but if they are, that will be the outcome every time.

Ahhh.....physics....what does it even matter really?

 

[LEsoftballdad]

I'm not a golfer so ignore me if this assumption is incorrect, but isn't the idea that the golf clubs get a little shorter the closer you get to the hole, because you can control small clubs better? arguably this is the same thing with a pitcher's arm. So even if height WAS the significant driver of velocity, velocity isn't the whole picture of pitching and the shorter person would have a control advantage.

Considering I stopped playing golf when my daughters started playing softball in 2014, I have no control over my clubs.

That's not always true with the golf swing. A driver is designed to hit the ball as far as possible, and it's not just club length that makes it do so. It's also club face angle and head size. But I try to hit all my clubs with equal power unless I am chipping near the green. I used to be able to hit my driver 300+ yards, and sometimes it went straight, but I could never hit my 5 iron more than 200 yards. The point is that even if I put my driver head on the 5 iron shaft, I could not hit it nearly as far because of the shorter club length.

Yes, other factors are involved, but the taller athlete could throw harder and run faster if everything was equal.

 

[stox]

Also no one's ever in a situation where you're just picking a pitcher off the shelf, no data or information besides height. It's not like the coach shows up one day with two new pitchers and has to "eenie meenie miney moe" it. And even then, I think you'd be more informed watching both warm up for 5 minutes than just choosing on height alone.

There's more than zero data and coaches are able to see pitches during tryouts or other evaluations. However the eye test still exists, coaches are biased and imperfect, kept game changer stats are biased and imperfect.

Small players just need to be way better, like so much better that it's indisputable, that no matter how much potential a bigger girl has, she cannot surpass her, because like it or not smaller players have a lower ceiling. Coaches always look at potential, and think that the taller girl will give their team a higher ceiling by the end of the season, even though that may not be true.

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[Tide_will_Roll]

Taller always equals "better" or "higher ceiling."

When we generalize, we tell general lies.

 

[stox]

The biggest lie we can tell to smaller girls is that they don't need to work significantly harder than bigger more athletic girls to receive the same opportunities.

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[daywalkerdad]

Longer arms I would think would increase accuracy at least up and down.
A shorter arm pitcher has to have a faster rpm’s than taller pitcher to throw the same speed.
Even though the ball would be traveling at the same speed a longer lever will take longer to go from 0-5 degrees.

 

[Tide_will_Roll]

The biggest lie we can tell to smaller girls is that they don't need to work significantly harder than bigger more athletic girls to receive the same opportunities.

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Incorrect. The biggest lie we can tell kids is that you don't need to work hard period. I've seen kids who started out not nearly as good as others who are absolutely special now. Why? Because they want/ed it more.

The tall kid on your daughter's 8U travel team may be average to below average compared to her peers height wise in a few years. My other daughter plays club soccer at a very high level. I tell the parents who complain saying "the bigger kids get more opportunities than my small kid," there is always, ALWAYS, room for a good player who works hard no matter their size. Maybe your small player doesn't put in the work outside of practice some of the bigger girls do? I am not the coach, just a realist who has been around youth sports for more than ten minutes.

I can tell this is topic is very dear to you. Therefore, I love this journey for you.

Good day.

 

[canyonjoe]

There's a great scene in Moneyball (RIP Billy Beane) where Pete explains how certain players get overlooked because they look different.

 

[CoachCeetar]

There's a great scene in Moneyball (RIP Billy Beane) where Pete explains how certain players get overlooked because they look different.

not selling jeans here.