Tiny Pitchers Get No Love

[stox]

Other than a trite phrase, what is the reason? Or is that the "reason" you are referencing?

Taller players have longer wingspans so they can accelerate the ball faster during the windmill motion. I'd also expect that they have larger hands on average, which will make it easier to grip and put spin on a 12" softball.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

 

[daywalkerdad]

Coaches are afraid of the exception. Pretty soon you have a team full of exceptions.
Most players at top schools are 5’8” or taller. That is in the top 10% for women.

 

[Tide_will_Roll]

Taller players have longer wingspans so they can accelerate the ball faster during the windmill motion. I'd also expect that they have larger hands on average, which will make it easier to grip and put spin on a 12" softball.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

Fair enough. Though for the women you mentioned, and others unnamed, extremely hard work and countless hours of practice comes into play. Being taller may have gotten them started or looked at but it didn't make them exceptional.

I'll see your trite phrase and raise you, "Nobody cares how hard you throw ball four."

 

[CoachCeetar]

Taller players have longer wingspans so they can accelerate the ball faster during the windmill motion. I'd also expect that they have larger hands on average, which will make it easier to grip and put spin on a 12" softball.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

If only that was 99% of velocity, but it's not. Maybe their absolute cap, perfect mechanics, etc is higher, but most pitchers are far from that. Plus the longer wingspan means less control by the same logic, with that longer lever.

There's a lot of confirmation bias. coaches pick taller pitchers because they think it matters, so taller pitchers are the ones that succeed, the next coach sees a lot of tall pitchers succeeding, so decides that must matter.

but whether or not it does is very much still up for debate. And especially at anything except the top levels, using height as a metric is just sloppy.

 

[stox]

Fair enough. Though for the women you mentioned, and others unnamed, extremely hard work and countless hours of practice comes into play. Being taller may have gotten them started or looked at but it didn't make them exceptional.

I'll see your trite phrase and raise you, "Nobody cares how hard you throw ball four."

Totally agree, and there is probably some selection bias: Tall girls are (perhaps unfairly) given more opportunities on the mound which means they get more development earlier and stay with the sport. Short girls are not given the opportunities they deserve they are more likely to quit pitching.

My daughter is in the 20th percentile of the general population, which means it's like 5th percentile amongst girls participating in sports. She needs to work twice as hard to get the same opportunities as "athletic looking" kids. She's not a pitcher, thankfully.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

 

[NJZoo]

I love when teams underestimate the 2 shortest girls on our team. One is our best pitcher (enough speed, + control, + spin), and the other has the strongest arm on our team and a brick wall at SS. Oh, and they are the 2 best hitters on the team in avg and extra base hits.

If you are moving from team to team, I think some of the issue is that your daughter is new to the coaches. Sure, size could be a secondary bias, but any coach needs to see a girl in game action before they understand what they can do to help the team.

 

[ninthgirl]

Totally agree, and there is probably some selection bias: Tall girls are (perhaps unfairly) given more opportunities on the mound which means they get more development earlier and stay with the sport. Short girls are not given the opportunities they deserve they are more likely to quit pitching.

My daughter is in the 20th percentile of the general population, which means it's like 5th percentile amongst girls participating in sports. She needs to work twice as hard to get the same opportunities as "athletic looking" kids. She's not a pitcher, thankfully.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

I have one tall kid and two short ones. Two of those are serious at softball. There's 100% no doubt that the tall one gets more opportunities at every position than the short one, even in house ball. In fact a travel coach looked my spouse in the face and said "If only the shorter one were taller like her sister," with the implication being that was what was holding her back.

The funny thing is, while both kids work incredibly hard the shorter one has a lot more natural athletic ability and instincts plus more desire to play at a higher level.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

Taller players have longer wingspans so they can accelerate the ball faster during the windmill motion.

lol, there it is. So the taller you are the harder you throw? You are missing the rest of the equation....

 

[RADcatchers]

I have one tall kid and two short ones. Two of those are serious at softball. There's 100% no doubt that the tall one gets more opportunities at every position than the short one, even in house ball. In fact a travel coach looked my spouse in the face and said "If only the shorter one were taller like her sister," with the implication being that was what was holding her back.

The funny thing is,

while both kids work incredibly hard the shorter one has a lot more natural athletic ability and instincts plus more desire to play at a higher level.

Height thing, Have noticed that happens, shorter having more natural control.
Desire is also a factor non-height related. That is more Heart!

Taller lengthy kids in many cases have to go through the goobery awkward baby giraffe stage. That in itself can be an entirely new learning situation. Can affect mechanics dramatically.


While I see a chunk of this conversation jumped to the top 1% of pitchers in softball. Those 6 footers....

The reality is there is a mixture of sizes pitching at all levels!

 

[LEsoftballdad]

lol, there it is. So the taller you are the harder you throw? You are missing the rest of the equation....

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.