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Final Word On Rotational
by Dave
Friday, July 18, 2008
I guess I have gone and done it again. I'm caught dissing rotational hitting yet again! I am going to try hard not to get into this discussion anymore and I want to close the book on my opinions about it. Good enough?
OK, so now lets move on to another subject. It is championship season. Loads of teams are or shortly will be travelling to far-away locations to play against teams from all over the country. I have a little piece of advice for some of these teams, the ones which may be playing in higher level rounds. When you see teams from the east coast, you are likely to run into more than a few which hit using rotational mechanics. I want you to: 1) be able to identify them, 2) pitch them a certain way, and 3) learn to adjust to any adjustments they might make to deal with your pitching.
First of all, you need to identify the rotational swing. Ted Williams is the father (if not god) of rotational hitting. So take a good long look at his swing and commit it to memory. Here is a video of Williams: http://youtube.com/watch?v=JwogLVGtDa8.
Notice the front foot on which the heal is lifted and slammed down. The front knee turns inwards as the heal lifts and then out as it is slammed down. Next the lower half comes forwards and the hips explode open before the hands really begin. The backward loading of the hands by Williams is unimportant - most rotational softball hitters do not do this. Most of them will keep their hands stationery - the upper body load being accomplished by the flying open of the hips. If you see the front heal lift, get followed by the front knee turned inward, and then by the hips exploding open, most likely you have a rotational hitter. Actually, the only element you need to look for is the hip explosion but that has to be before the hands come forward. Every hitter should explode their hips at some point. Rotational hitters do it much earlier.
When you are in game, you may recognize rotational hitters by the movements they make in their practice swing before entering the box. Most will not make a complete swing. You won't see the foot or knee work that is evident in William's swing. But what you will notice is the hip explosion before the bat moves. They are doing this in the practice swing to remind themselves to explode open their hips. Almost every rotational hitter does this right before she steps into the box.
Please take time to watch the Williams video over and over again. You want to form an impression of the rotational mechanic so you can identify it in the heat and exhilaration of games. You want to commit it to memory so you can use a strategy against it.
Once you have identified it, you need to consider what might or might not work against it. I suggest to you that anything low and inside is a decidedly bad idea. If you are facing predominantly right handed rotational hitters, the screwball from righty pitchers is inadvisable unless you have command up and down and can bring it inside and high (at or above the hands) most of the time. If you throw it inside and low, it had better be off the plate - almost hitting the batter - or it will be sent a long distance.
Additionally, pitches which are too fat will be hit by rotational hitters. Anything out in the middle of the plate from the hitter's hands down are going to get hit. The best way to pitch these hitters is with an "inverted L" view. That is, anything outside and/or above the hands . The best pitches to use against this are drop and rise curves from same-side pitchers (righty to righty / lefty to lefty) and screwballs from opposite-side pitchers (lefty to righty, righty to lefty).
Riseballs (particularly outside ones) can be effective but how many youth pitchers do we see with a really effective rise? How many youth pitchers who have decent rises have command of it? You can also use change-ups because many rotational hitters get themselves off balance as they explode open their hips. Not all will do that but it can be an effective approach. The best rotational hitters will be schooled to keep their hands back fairly long to deal with changes If you use the change, you should still use the same "inverted L" approach. But because a change up in the hitter's eyes is a bad idea, I'd stick with the outside corner, preferably moving away from the hitter. If your change is a backhanded one with little lateral movement, I'd keep it low (below knees) and from the middle out.
If your pitcher relies on the fastball, you may struggle against these hitters unless she has very good command and the ump is giving the outside corner (maybe a little beyond it) as a strike. The fastball can be effective against rotational mechanics when it is kept on or off the outside corner. It can also be effective as a high and tight pitch. But if your command isn't all that great and you make mistakes, you are going to pay.
As the game progresses, many rotational hitters and coaches will get wise to your "inverted L" approach. They'll move in on the plate to better deal with the drop curves. The thing you'll need to do in this case is get them to move their feet - throw inside, preferably at or above the hands, without fear. I say without fear because you may have to hit a few batters to get them unsettled in the box. If they move in on you and you succeed at getting them unsettled, now it is time to make more use of the change-up. If you can't get them to move off the plate, you'll need to stick with stuff up in the zone.
If they move up in the box to catch your drop-curve before it slides away, you will also need to make adjustments. You'll have to try to get your curve further out. But with them up in the box, you may be able to sneak in a screwball, even a lower one. If the batter is at the very front of the box, you can probably throw inside and high fastballs but a better pitch might be the screwball starting just inside and moving towards the batter. Rotational hitters can deal with inside pitches very well but nobody can hit a pitch which moves from the inside part of the strike zone, thrown on an angle in, and spinning as much as a good screwball should. They may hit these but they won't hit them anything like they want.
If the hitters move both in and up, you are going to have trouble getting them with drop curves anywhere near the plate. The rise curve and fastball will be more effective, resulting in lots of pop-ups and miss hit balls. You may try high fastballs to deal with this approach by the hitter. And this approach should open up the inside corner quite a bit.
As an aside, rotational hitters generally, though not always, pull the ball. It is when good rotational hitters make adjustments, in their second and third at-bats, that they sometimes will hit balls to the opposite field. A few very strong rotational hitters may actually hit the ball pretty far to the opposite field. But most will hit it weakly there. So position your players in accordance with this expectation.
If you've got a smaller, apparently weaker hitter coming up for her second at-bat, you are pitching her outside, and she is making adjustments, expect balls hit to the opposite field to mostly be little dinkers. Move the opposite field outfielder in a bit. If the girl is big and strong, keep them at regular depth and move your 2B back a few feet to cover pop-ups that might normally be expected to fall out of her range. The balls rotational hitters hit to the opposite field will usually not be line drives. Most of the time they will be pops and grounders. Balls that end up being well hit to the opposite field will almost always be mistake pitches in a little too far and find the opposite field - center gap. They'll have some air under them. So, if you are making use of this strategy, I suggest moving your CF a bit towards that gap.
I offer this tip sheet as a way to deal with the kinds of hitters you are likely to see from certain areas of the country in which the Ted Williams approach has become very popular. It is relevant to note that Williams, a lifetime almost .350 hitter who blasted more than 500 home runs, struggled against lefties. In fact, he hit far less than 100 homers against lefties (as opposed to Babe Ruth who hit nearly 200). He also hit for a sub-.300 batting average against lefties. Why do you suppose that is? I am of the opinion that any lefty who can't hit lefties is vulnerable to outside pitches, particularly curves. My approach is based on that analysis. It has been ratified in high school and 18U games I have observed over the years.
Finally, the real reason I wrote this piece is not for you. Rather, it is for my wife because she will be with my daughter at a tournament this weekend. I cannot be there so I initially wrote this into an e-mail for her use in my absence. My daughter has been schooled in this approach but she is a bit slow to identify rotational hitters. I want my wife to become a second set of eyes for her - a set that is adept at identifying rotational hitters.
I hope this helps someone besides my daughter!
Best of luck to you at whatever nationals you attend. Please forward your stories from nationals. Let me know how many pure rotational teams you saw. Let me know if you beat them. Let me know what strategies helped you get their hitters out.Labels: game strategy, pitching, rotational
Permanent Link: Final Word On Rotational
 
My New Favorite Pitch
by Dave
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
I have a new favorite pitch. OK, so that's not entirely accurate. I can't say that I have any "favorite pitch." I like almost as many different kinds of pitches as I do various kinds of musical genres. (For the record, I appreciate Mozart as much as I do Hendrix, punk rock, progressive and everything in between but no, I don't like gansta rap or any other rap.) I have about equal appreciation for all pitches but when I see a particular one thrown very well, I usually proclaim that it is my "new favorite pitch." So that's what I'm doing today.
My "new favorite pitch" is a backdoor, underhand curveball. I saw it thrown well and used properly the other day. The girl who threw it is a high school sophomore who is known to be a very successful pitcher, even at high levels for her age. A few years back, she and her team went pretty deep at NSA nationals. The girl is not the fastest pitcher around. She is known to have good movement, use the screwball very well, and to throw moderately fast. Her fastest pitches usually come on those with which she hits a batter!
The girl was working against a very well schooled rotational-/western-/hip-first-load-/Ted Williams-style hitting team. This pitcher has a good screwball but I do not believe she has command up and down with that pitch. She also has a good riseball but she sometimes leaves it down too low. Those two pitches, when thrown badly, can be death when facing a good rotational team. So she resorted to the backdoor curve and cut them down, one by one.
The girls who were facing this pitcher, while well-schooled, were pretty young. Ordinarily one might expect a rotational team to hit anything inside very well. But these girls were unaccustomed to this pitch. Many backed out of the box and then were stunned when blue called it a strike. They made adjustments as each one fell in succession. They either positioned themselves further from the plate or stepped in the bucket as pitches were released. This opened the outside corner and the pitcher continued to mow them down, using her other stuff. This made the backdoor curve even more effective.
To my knowledge, there are two ways to throw a curve. One is with the hand coming over the ball and the other is with it beneath the ball. In either case, the hand finishes in front of the lower belly. I believe it is possible to use any curve through the backdoor. I'm not partial to the underneath version per se. But what I observed the other day was one thrown underneath so that's what I am talking about.
I have worked my daughters on curveballs (underhand and over) for a couple years. One throws a good one, the other is still struggling to get any sort of command. The one throws more drop curves in games than any other pitch at present. The other does not have a curving pitch which is ready for primetime - she has only thrown a few in games, usually with bad results.
With my older one, the one with decent curves, we are now going to work on the backdoor variant. I believe this pitch takes a lot of work to perfect. Most young girls work curveballs which land from the middle of the plate out. Ideally, a girl should be able to clip the outside, front corner of the plate with some of her curveballs before the pitch is game ready. Getting the backdoor variant takes still more work.
When curveballs are thrown, the right-handed pitcher lands her front foot just slightly to the right of her power line. She then swings her arm back towards and beyond the power line after she begins to release the ball. The backdoor curve needs, obviously, a little more distance to the right in order to get to where you want it. From what I can tell, that involves a slightly more to the right step and a slight change to the arm angle. Big changes to either or doing one without the other seems to yield bad results. If you step too far to the right, you are probably going to hit the batter and/or not get enough sideways torque on the ball to make it move back to the left. Similarly, changing the arm slot too much is going to result in stress and strain to the arm and shoulder as well as less torque and an overly inside pitch. Doing one adjustment and not the other is going to mess up the pitch entirely. You need a slight adjustment to both to get what you are after. I'd say start with a one inch step to the right and very slight modification of the arm angle and work from there.
You really need to find ways to practice this pitch off the field of play. I suggest getting your life-sized cardboard cutout of Jeter, A-Rod, Bustos, or some other right hand batter and setting it up in the right-handed batter's box. As an alternative method, set up the batting tee where a righty usually stands. Then try adjusting your curveball pitch delivery ever so slightly and see if you can get a good moving curveball to land gradually to the right of its usual spot. Set a goal of moving the pitch back to the right a couple inches at a time and be happy when you get it to go where you want. Over a lot of time and effort, you should be able to have a curveball which curves and which you can use on the inside corner.
It is difficult to find an aim point which suits your backdoor curve without seeing it in person. Everybody's curve moves a bit differently. If it swings two feet to the left, I suppose you want to throw it as if you are trying to hit the batter in the side. If your movement is less, you might want to aim at the front knee of the batter - obviously depending on where she positions herself. That will bring the pitch to the inside corner or just off it on the inside.
Remember, you still want the thing to catch corners. There's a term for a curveball used in games which lands in the center of the plate. That is "extra-base-hit." It is OK to throw the pitch too far inside in games but you don't want to hand anyone a free trip to first. While there is definite value to landing the thing for an inside strike, it's OK to get a very close ball call since the batter presumably can see just how close she was to getting punched out. But if you are not able to ever land the pitch for a called strike, it definitely loses much of its effectiveness. Batters need to know that they have to guard against it rather than just letting it go by.
Also, as you move up, I caution against a low inside backdoor curve thrown to rotational hitters. That one time the hitter does not step into the bucket or positions herself at an optimum location, she is going to hit this pitch a very long way if it lands in her hitting power slot. Most hitters of whatever variety strugle to hit a backdoor curve that is thrown along the height of their hands or just below them. Anything belly button down should probably be avoided, particularly when throwing against rotational hitters.
The underhand curve is a nice pitch even when it is thrown as a slider, a dropping pitch (though again, not too low) or a flat sweeping curve. And it can be even more effective when its got a bit of rise. The girl I saw throwing the underhand backdoor variety could throw it on each plane. One hitter saw it drop, another saw it rise, and some saw it remain flat (slide) as it curved back into the inside corner, right at their hands. Nobody hit one of these. Discussing the rise curve in detail is beyond the scope of what I wanted to discuss today. Suffice it to say that if you can throw curves which rise, sink and slide, you could consider learning how to make any of these come through the backdoor. You decide which you want to try first. Perhaps a little experimentation will indicate which is easiest to do first. But I think the rising curve is probably the most effective. That's just an observation. Feel free to disagree. And anytime you can get the curve to come in via the backdoor, it is going to make your other pitches, including a curve on the outside corner, more effective.
Having a good inside backdoor curve can open up the outside corner for fastballs. It can also confuse hitters when you rely on a nice tight screwball in at the hands but off the plate. It can make a batter unsettled in the box causing her to move her feet around. Everybody wants to adjust to a pitch they are having trouble hitting. The beauty of an inside backdoor curve is the adjustments most hitters make to deal with it are really bad for their hitting mechanics.
As I said earlier, this is merely my "new favorite pitch." I have seen some top level college pitchers use it effectively. This well-known experienced high school soph. used it effectively more recently. But all these pitchers already had sound mechanics and were throwing effective curveballs before they tried the pitch. One should not simultaneously try to learn a curveball (or general pitch mechanics) and the backdoor curve. You've got to have a good curve before trying to make it come in via the backdoor. I have observed coaches try to teach the backdoor curve while just really teaching the curve. The result is a girl who can't throw a curveball that actually moves but thinks she has something because she is hitting the inside corner with her non-moving curve. Get the curve down first to a useable-in-games degree and then work on bringing it to the inside corner.
Sometimes when you try to learn a new pitch, the old ones feel neglected, get angry and leave. I haven't experienced this per se with the backdoor curve. But I caution against ignoring the curve you use to punch out most hitters on the outside corner when you try to land the thing inside. If anything, you need more repetitions with your old reliable curveball once you start trying to land it inside. Give it more love and attention than ever before so it won't leave you for being unfaithful. Let both pitches and all your other ones know that you are one big happy family and nobody here is unloved.
Best of luck!
Follow-up posting
Steve writes in to comment:
"A 'backdoor' curveball and/or 'backdoor' slider has always meant a pitch from a LHP to a RHB or from a RHP to a LHB that starts OUTSIDE the plate and breaks BACK into the plate. Thus ... breaking in the 'backdoor.' This is opposed to, as you note, starting into a batter and breaking out over the plate. Backdoor is an 'old school' definition that shouldn't have any difference in softball as it has in baseball. However, I've heard this mis-definition now 2-3 times in softball. I believe what you describe is just a good old fashioned inside curve. I can cite many articles, definitions etc. from a quick google search, but I am assuming you can do that on your own if you so choose. The oldest definitions and MLB notes/articles always demonstrate the opposite handed pitcher throwing to a batter (Left to Right or Right to Left) ....therefore the 'backdoor' pitch must be how I described."
Steve, I wonder about the "mis-definition" you've heard "now 2-3 times in softball." I disagree with your characterization of the backdoor. I'd prefer not to Google this in order to prove a point since it seems to be a difference in symantics but here goes:
Performing a Google search of the "back door curveball" yielded me:
1) Entirely irrelevant result - not sports related
2) According to "The Language of Baseball - Dictionary and Research Guide"
a curveball that appears to be outside the strike zone but curves in to cross the corner of the plate.
3) A video called "Vin Scully gets his first chance to broadcast Clayton Kershaw's curveball" in which a lefty pitcher back doors a lefty batter.
4) A Wikipedia article briefly discussing the slider which makes no mention of backdoor.
5) A forum with nothing much on point.
6) An article entitled "4 Reasons to Throw the Backdoor Curveball" written by former college All-American and professional softball player, Cindy Bristow, which refers exclusively to the backdoor consistent with the way I have defined it.
7) Entirely irrelevant result - not sports related
8) An article about a pitcher trying to make it to the big leagues which does not describe what is meant by backdoor curveball.
9) An article and video describing the result of a backdoor curveball consistent with your definition.
10) Entirely irrelevant result - not sports related
So much for Googling terms. The results in no way resolve the argument. My definition of back door curveball is not right because I found consistencies on Google. Your definition is not right because I found an instance consistent with it. I believe what we have is disagreement over a slightly ambiguous term.
Finally, I will add that the term "back door" does not really refer to the fact that the pitch starts "OUTSIDE" the strike zone and breaks back in, but rather that it catches the back end of the strike zone, over the back corner of the plate, rather than clipping the front corner.Labels: pitching
Permanent Link: My New Favorite Pitch
More Numbers
by Dave
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
For those of you looking to kill time via anything having any relation to the sport of softball, you may want to peruse the results from some of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Administered and Endorsed Recruitment Camps. Just pick a camp that has already taken place and then take a look at "Camp Quick Links," go down a bit and click on "2008 Camp Results." There are other interesting pieces of information accessible here aside from the results. Enjoy!
Several camps have not yet taken place and, as such, have no results posted. In these instances, the names of participants are usually listed. If you want to spy on your friends and neighbors to see exactly who may aspire to a college softball scholarship, take a look! Actually, that's a joke. What is interesting about the lists of participants is the graduation years. This is a good way to understand what aged girls usually participate in case you are contemplating applying for acceptance to a camp.
There are few 2012s, a few more 2011s, many more 10s and 9s signed up for one camp I looked at. In my many perusals over the years I do not think I have seen very many girls at these camps who are just going into their freshman years in the upcoming school year. Those are a relative rarity and for good reason. As soon as they set foot onto a high school campus, they are untouchable to college coaches. They'll mature and ripen into prospects late in their sophomore years, become approachable July 1 after their junior years, and while there is a lot of buzz about those early "verbals," I suppose one must really be a standout, approach the coach on their own, or otherwise catch the attention of a coach to attain that kind of status. What I mean is college coaches, to my knowledge, don't jump out from underneath their radar guns (reading 67!) at recruitment camps, walk by next year's freshmen, and pretend to drop their business cards and piles of papers detailing their programs' attributes. A little birdy tells me that there are other ways to skin that cat.
Another piece of information concerns the teams these girls play for. Lots of times I hear from people looking to find a team which can garner their kid some exposure to college coaches. The list of teams who have players at the NFCA camps doesn't really provide that information but it does show you some teams which might be a bit more serious about the college recruitment process. I believe all of these camps conduct a tournament in addition to the recruitment camp so you can cull out which of the teams with participants don't play the tournament. From there you can supplement this limited information by looking at which of these teams play some of the more serious showcases. This should give you at least a snapshot of teams from your area which may be of interest to you.
I suppose some of the more important figures folks might be interested in viewing are pitchers' pitch speeds, catchers' pop times, and all players' throwing and running speeds. The available stats vary depending on whether you look at administered or endorsed Camps. The administered camps list 20 yard dash results under the SPARQ testing results. Some of the endorsed camps list results for times from home to first. I don't have much knowledge regarding SPARQ but from what I can tell, the 20 yard dash does not resemble the home to first runs. I say that because there are few sub-3 20 yard SPARQ runs and many sub-3 times to first.
One of the things I like to do with data like this is pull it out of the charts and combine multiple camps results for a particular position, like catcher, and then post it into an Excel spreadsheet which allows me to manipulate the data. Once everything is pulled into a single spreadsheet program, you can sort the data fields by listing pop times, throwing speed, etc. by fastest to slowest. You can determine an average for all participants, pull out the fastest and slowest 10% (or whatever) and then see how that impacts averages, or a whole host of other numbers crunches just to see where your kid stacks up.
In case working with spreadsheets is beyond your capabilities or just plain bores you, there are other pieces of information which the NFCA publishes, not having anything to do with the camps, which can provide some of what you are looking for. For instance, there is a PDF page in the "Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Recruiting Camp Results" which answers the question: "How do my daughter's results compare to that of a NCAA Division I athlete?" But I'm not entirely sure I trust the information provided therein.
The pitching speed range for Div I athletes looks like this:
66 & above Excellent
63 - 65 Good
59 - 62 Average
58 & below Needs Work
To me, this is not all that valid or valuable. I've watched a lot of college games and I'd have to say "66 & above" may very well be excellent but it is also quite rare. The past couple of years I would hazard to guess that there were but a handful of pitchers whose top speeds in games were recorded at or above 66. Those few were not merely "Div I athletes" but athletes at elite Div I programs. It may not be commonly discussed but there are actually run of the mill and even some very weak "Div I programs." Those kinds of programs do not always attract the sort of pitcher who records 66 and up. Besides, there are effective pitchers who never get close to that speed but who have superior location and great movement.
Additionally, while the chart lists 63-65 as "good," I'd have to say that at least in my limited experience, it is a bit better than merely good. if you watched any of the ASA Gold national championships last year on TV, you saw very effective pitchers throw in this range and below. Some of them had already signed or received verbal commitments to top Div I programs. Can you imagine someone approaching you and noting that your or your daughter's recorded speed of 65 after her junior year of high school is "pretty good, keep working and maybe one day you'll be excellent, you're a pretty good little pitcher, keep working hard and maybe, if you're lucky, you might get into a mediocre Div I program."
I don't dispute that 59-62 is average though I haven't crunched the numbers or seen where anyone else has. I do believe I've seen a number of Div I pitchers who seldom hit 59. These girls usually have movement and command on their side, not to mention good mental toughness and loads of experience pitching high level games. 58 and below probably does "need work." But, on the whole, I'd say this chart could use some work. Not that many high school aged pitchers throw at or above 59.
As an aside, I feel the need to mention two things lest I get a bunch of e-mails "informing" me of some facts. Yes, I do know that pitchers in college throw from 43 feet while kids in high school and younger levels of youth softball throw from 40. This should not have any effect on the top recorded speed of any pitch. Obviously, when throwing longer distances, the ending speed of the pitch will be sloser. That is, a single pitch will record a slower speed when it is say 43 feet from the pitcher than it will when it is 40 feet from her. The pitch's top speed, however, is the same whether it is thrown from 40 or 43. If you do not understand that, please do not write to me for a clarification. I can't help you understand this.
Additionally, the way radar works, the gun (assuming you have a good one) will register a more accurate reading if it is pointed on the same line as the pitch. If the catcher were to hold a gun instead of a mitt and the pitch were to come in and hit the gun directly, the reading should be very accurate - though perhaps the gun would be broken! If the radar gun were held by somebody in the on-deck circle, the reading would be relatively inaccurate. That's because of the Cosine Effect which is "called this because the measured speed is directly related to the cosine of the angle between the radar gun and the target's direction of travel." If you want a more accurate reading of your daughter's pitch speed, stand behind the catcher and use a good gun. Don't sit in the stands and get discouraged because she is pitching too slow. Don't stand to the side and measure your daughter's overhand throwing speed from a point not pretty much in a direct line with the throw.
It often amazes me how many people don't understand the Cosine Effect. In fact, it is apparent to me that many, many people have never heard the term. I have been to many tournaments including showcases and watched as somebody, sitting 10 or more feet to the side of the direct pitch line, lifts the gun and takes a reading. You can imagine the lower echelon college coach doing this, looking at the gun and thinking to his or herself, "gee whiz, just 62, that's only average, I'm not interested in her."
So, be careful to not be concerned about getting speed measurements of pitches only at 43 feet, checking speeds from a "safe distance" from the line of the pitch, and/or spending too much time getting stressed out because your poorly taken measurements don't stack up well enough with the recruitment camp crowd or the NFCA's chart of typical Div I pitchers!
I can't say that I've ever timed pop times for some of the best catchers I've seen either in college or high school (or anywhere else for that matter). But if you compare pops at the recruitment camps with the NFCA chart, I do believe that while there are a few 1.8s, precious few are below that mark. And, interestingly, one girl who threw beneath a 1.8 pop also threw one try above 2.0. Her overhand throwing speed was 58 mph which happens to just barely make the mark of "good" found at another location on the NFCA's chart. I cannot judge this girl's prospects because for all I know she could be an 8th grader. She might have had a stomach virus or a bout of insomnia the night before the camp. But the important thing is that there is not a lockstep correlation between throwing speed and pop times. Using the chart, you might come to the conclusion that your throwing speed is so good, anybody would be nuts not to pick you for the Olympic team. Or, alternately, you might conclude that whikle your pop time is better than anybody else, your throwing speed is just average so you might just as well join the chess team and give up this stupid softball dream.
I saw one catcher who threw successively 1.72, 1.78 and 1.65. Those are some great figures. But I've never seen this no-name player catch a game. I can't say if her overall catching mechanics are good, if she is a good, average or poor receiver, if she blocks pitches in the dirt well, etc. I don't know if she can hit. I don't know if she can run to first in under 5 seconds. I expect a kid with that much throwing talent probably has the whole thing together but there's no way to be sure. Besides, while dry pop times are one measure, there's no way to tell if she tenses up too much in games, especially big important ones. That's not even to mention that she might stand, after hours of traction, at no more than 5 feet tall or maybe weigh less than 100 pounds. She may be a gifted 5 foot 11 athlete who plays better under real competitive pressures but whose school grades average around C+ in relatively remedial or basic courses. Pop times are a valuable measure but, as always, just one of many considerations.
The average pop for a Div I catcher may very well be in the range of 1.91-2.00 but I question the usefulness of some straight-A high school honors student freshman (just beyond puberty, who starts varsity, hits the heck out of the ball in competitive Gold games, calls pitches for the all-America, 67-mph-throwing pitcher on her elite travel team, and rarely suffers a PB) using this chart to get discouraged because her still youthful, muscularly-undeveloped arm throws only 57 and her dry pop times come in around 2.05.
Anyways, that's my rant for the day. I get so many questions about numbers that I thought I'd direct everyone to places where I would ordinarily obtain my understanding of them. It is easy to get discouraged by looking at the NFCA's chart. It is also possible to get unwarrantedly optimistic based merely on pitch, running or throwing speeds. These things represent a measurement. They, in and of themselves, should not encourage or discourage anyone.Labels: catching, coaching, college, parenting, pitching, players
Permanent Link: More Numbers
The First? Fielder
by Dave
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Paul writes in to ask:My daughter, a pitcher, has some problems fielding her position defensively. She tends to have a panicked look when the ball is hit back to her and loses focus on what to do with it once in her glove. Part of this is fear of getting hit with an odd bounce and part is just lack of proper fielding technique. After that she needs to understand where her place is after a hit and she needs to move to a back up position. I don't want to teach her the wrong things but need to get her working on this.
Here is my response:
The very first thing I want to address to you is the "fear factor." Pitchers may develop a fear of balls being hit back at them, especially if they have a little scar shaped like laces on the ball or located where their broken nose or jaw was fixed. It's very tough to be so close to the gal with the stick in her hand. I strongly believe that every pitcher needs to be schooled on keeping the pitch away from the sweet spot on the bat, that is, to hit corners on every pitch. If you can paint corners, your fear of having a hotshot hit back at you should gradually diminish.
My personal belief is that in fastpitch softball, pitches should never be on the middle 8 inches of the plate. From 10 or 11 on, pitchers must be taught to work corners. Our game's ball is just too big and bright. 1 thorugh 9 of any team worth its salt can rip it when it is thrown down the midddle.
Some of us out here watch too much baseball on TV and fall in love with a 95 mph fastball thrown down the middle, challenging the hitter to catch up with it. That's baseball, not fastpitch softball. I am an advocate of teaching pitchers to throw hard before learning command. But even I have my limits. I don't particularly care whether your 11 year old can hit 55-60 on your coach's radar gun. If she throws that cheese down the middle, eventually she is going to find someone who can hit it and hit it hard. If the ball is in the center of the plate, chances are pretty good that the 60 mph pitch is going to come back at her at 94-98. And that may end your stud's pitching career regardless of how fast she can throw. Stay on the corners. It is extremely rare for a hitter to hit anything on the corners hard, straight back at the pitcher. That is the first thing you need to teach your pitcher in terms of defense.
(As an aside, to umpires who "require" the pitch right down the middle - who don't give corners, particularly when one team is beating another pretty badly, you must be ready to take personal responsibility for the broken noses, jaws and other body parts, the shortened careers, etc. which your approach has caused. I have seen so many umps change their zone or do other things to make the game move along or to provide the beaten down team with something, anything, to make them feel less bad. Just the other day, the field ump called our runner out when she was obviously safe in order to end the top of the first because we were up by 7 already. He pretty much admitted this to me. He noted to me that the other team was all 11s. So I told them we have 5x11s and 1x10 on the field with just 3 young 12s. I think he was a little surprised but not as surprised as he was when the other team scored 3 runs in the bottom half and then held us down in the top of the second before scoring again in their half. Umpires should never try to control games like that. That's what the time limit and run rules are for. And they shouldn't try to make pitchers throw down the middle unless they want somebody injured.)
A lot of how a pitcher does things defensively depends on her team's coaches and players. General fielding (balls back at her) is a matter of normal fielding mechanics, athleticism, repetition, and confidence. Let me try to develop this topic, give you some advice on what you can do, and try to list some of the issues which may vary from team to team and situation to situation.
A pitcher is in a difficult position defensively, standing about 35 feet from the plate after release. She needs to get immediately in some sort of defensive position after release. She needs to be in shape physically so that her reactions are good. And she needs to practice fielding mechanics the same way any other player does.
The first, most important step, is to get into a good ready position. That means low, balanced, and ready to move. In my opinion, she should not aspire to get quite as low with her glove as the third baseman whose glove should probably be just inches from the ground, if not actually touching it. There's not enough time for that anyway but it isn't necessarily the best defensive position for a pitcher. Most balls hit back at the pitcher are bouncing ones hit hard into the dirt. She should be low but not as low as 3B and her glove should be about knee high, in front of her, and open. Pitchers sometimes close their gloves hard or slap it into their thighs as they release the pitch. They need to be schooled to get it out in front, open and ready to make a play right after this.
Her knees need to be bent, feet even and about shoulder width apart. Her glove hand should be out in front of her. And her shoulders should be square with the plate. You can't do anything without a good ready position. You can't move equally well to either side if your feet aren't squared up. So your first goal should be to finish the pitch with a good ready position after release.
The second consideration is physical conditioning. If you want to react faster to balls hit back at you, being in the best physical shape is the pathway regardless of natural athletic ability. Kids who are in the best shape they can be will necessarily have shorter reaction times. A good off-season, or in, program of speed and agility is advisable for any softball player. The same is true of pitchers. While it is a given that everybody possesesses different athletic ability, engaging in a good speed/agility program can help anyone. It will also help a pitcher's pitching so I encourage you to pursue this.
Pitchers, like anyone else who walks onto a softball field need to be schooled in fielding mechanics. My guess is your daughter doesn't pitch every inning of every game she plays in. She could play many other positions. She should be schooled in fielding mechanics of all varities at this age in any event. If there are good fielding clinics near you, Kobata, etc., sign her up. Aside from this, I would hope your team's coaches work all the girls at fielding mechanics of all positions anyway. If they do not, you need to have her out fielding grounders, linedrives, etc. from all positions just for her own development. If you can get out once or twice a week to hit a half hour's worth of balls, that will definitely help her.
The next consideration is drills for fielding grounders from her position after release. Repetition is the key to sound fielding at any position and this does not exclude the pitcher. I recently saw a pretty good drill for doing this run at an OC Batbusters clinic. Basically, you put a girl at first, a catcher behind the plate, and the pitcher out in the circle. The pitcher pitches the ball like she would in a game and a coach immediately hits a grounder back at her. She fields it and throws to first. You can place fielders at each of the bases or have her throw home as you wish. Obviously the footwork on throws to each of the bases is different and should be practiced.
The coach should hit all sorts of balls to the pitcher. You want hard ones and soft ones, liners at her feet, bouncing balls to either side and so on. Coaches should do something like this in practice but if they don't, talk to them about a "drill I saw done" and describe this to them. You need to have other players to do this drill so it's best done at team practice.
Sometimes coaches will assemble an infield and hit balls to the various fielders including the girl standing around the pitcher's plate. This doesn't get the job done. Sometimes the coaches will have the pitcher mimick making a real pitch. This isn't enough either as she will go through the motion but make getting ready her primary goal. The pitcher needs to throw a pitch and then make a fielding play. And it is really so simple to do. There's no good reason not to spend 5-10 minutes on this at every or every other practice.
If you cannot convince your team to do my (really the OC Batbuster's) drill, I suggest modifying it at your local field. If you can't get somebody to catch or play the bases, use surrogates. A pop-up net will suffice for a catcher. Most fields have garbage cans standing around - move one over to cover first. And then hit away. This is certainly not optimal but do what you have to do to get this work in.
Additionally, there needs to be an understanding between the pitcher, the coaches, and all other infielders regarding what a pitcher's responsibility is on struck balls. My team uses a general rule of thumb which is a pitcher's responsibility for fielding a ball ends inside the circle. That is, she should not have to run outside the circle to field grounders and pop-ups. Bunts are the responsibility of the first and third basemen. There are obvious exceptions to this and the pitcher will end up fielding surprise drag bunts and other balls which do not fit neatly into my general rule of thumb - those will be practiced in the drill I discussed above.
In my experience, there's no need top tell a pitcher to go after balls. Usually she will naturally and reactively go after a lot of plays beyond her area of responsibility. But it is important to let her know that she has a team of four infielders behind her, excluding the catcher who generally will cover anything hit within a few feet of home, and she needs to develop judgment about what she can and cannot do better than the other fielders.
The corollary to this is, while a pitcher should not field a ball outside the circle, even if the ball is in the circle and another fielder can make the play, the pitcher needs to let them do that. This is really a pop-up rule. If a batter hits an infield pop-up with any real height to it, the pitcher should not usually make that play. If the ball is coming down in front of her, that is typically first or third's play. If the ball is coming down to her left at or beyond the circle, that's either 2B or SS's play. If the ball is right in the circle, the SS should take charge and call for it. In these cases, the pitcher should get out of the circle and away from the play, allowing her middle infielders to make it.
About a year ago I witnessed a play on which a pop-up was hit sky-high and came down about where the pitcher's plate is located. The pitcher stood there, hands high, watching the pop-up come down. I'm not sure whether I heard both the pitcher and SS call for it, or if nobody actually did. But in any event, the SS and P collided and the ball fell to the ground. By the way, the bases happened to be full and there were two outs at the time of the "major league pop-up." I don't recall how many runs scored but I think it was two. That left runners on second and third with still two outs. The next girl lined a single into the gap and both baserunners scored. That one simple play allowed four runs to score. And that was a Gold level game. The defensive team never recovered from those four runs.
I think sometimes we, as coaches, coach a little too much to the age group we have in front of us. In 10U ball, often the team has something like 3-5 good players, often including the girls who pitch. We encourage the pitcher to get to everything she can and make the play because it is a matter of winning and losing. At 12U, we should hope to have more than 3 players who can make routine plays every time but sometimes because of conditions beyond our control, we still encourage the pitcher to make every play she possibly can.
Even at 14U, I have heard coaches encourage pitchers to do similarly. I like to think of this as the "BNB principle" which is, the tendency to view the team like one would the Bad News Bears - a few good players who should be encouraged to jump in front of all those kids who "don't belong out there" and make every play they possibly can. But the question is, what does this practice do to the kid who continues to pitch into her later teens, perhaps even playing at the Gold level? What it does is set up the play on which an infield pop results in the pitcher running into another infielder, maybe getting hurt in the process, and allowing 4 runs that should never have seen the light of day to score.
So, in this discussion, what I'm saying to you is teach the pitcher to get out of the way on high pops, to field balls only within the circle, and let her infielders field the rest of them including ordinary bunts. That is true regardless of age level since every 10 year old is eventually going to be 18, God willing. She will naturely field some balls outside the circle anyway. She doesn't need to be told to do that. What she needs to hear is that her fielding responsibility should usually end at the pitcher's circle line. Teach good habits early. Don't subscribe to the BNB primciple.
With this in mind, I certainly recognize that not all teams' coaches will agree with me. And you do have to get along with your team's coaches. But there are limits to what you as the pitcher's parent should tolerate. One of my kid's teams follows the BNB principle due to a certain lack of talent on the roster. For example, we have a first baseman who cannot field a bunt. To me, a first baseman who cannot field a bunt is similar to a slap-hitter who tends to pop the ball up. I call that person by a particular name which is "bench player." A first baseman who cannot field a bunt is not a first baseman.
The first baseman also cannot field a pop-up more than 5 feet in front of her, no matter how high it is hit. She sees her role on the defensive side of the equation as one in which her job is to get to the bag and then catch the throw from infielders. Anything that is too far to her right is left for the 2B to field because she just has to get to the bag.
I'm not a coach on that team. Actually the father of 1B is a coach. And he encourages this errant approach because he is far too steeped in baseball. He doesn't know anything about the FP game. So he has schooled the girl that her primary responsibility is covering the bag. And the other coaches feel there is nothing they can do about this. So, instead of correcting the mistaken approach to playing the position, they tell the pitcher to get everything to her left. This includes all bunts, every soft grounder, and pop-ups. They don't worry about the P colliding with the first baseman since she will see the ball is more than five feet in front of her and retreat to cover the bag.
(As an aside, the 1B also believes any throw that is not perfectly thrown is not her responsibility. If she cannot catch it without moving her feet, it isn't her responsibility. I've never heard her corrected for not pursuing the ball first and the bag second. I just don't understand how any coach or parent can allow a first baseman to continue to play the game at that position with such a wrong understanding of what her responsibilities are. But they do and maybe you've seen similar circumstances too. But to me, a team which follows this approach is a team we won't be playing with any longer.)
As far as backing up bases, etc., this often really depends on your team's approach. Some teams use the pitcher as the primary cutoff between other fielders and home. Some teams teach their first baseman to perform this function. Obviously, if the pitcher is the primary cutoff, she is not responsible for backing up bases. Her work is to get lined up between the catcher and the outfielder or infield cutoff between her and the outfield. My personal preference is for the 1B to be primary cutoff and the pitcher to be a base backup. I think at higher levels this is usually the case. But I don't want to go any further into the topic because I have seen a fairly wide amount of variation and regardless of what I said about the BNB principle or the lack of talent at other positions, the pitcher should perform base back up responsibilities in conformity with her team's practices. I'm not willing to be taken to task on this issue as I was with the other one.
Base backup responsibilities are not something you can handle within a vacuum. You need to have this covered in practice. Yes, I have seen teams which never handle cutoffs or base backups in practice and then scream at the pitcher for being out of position on base backups. This is wrong and maybe there is nothing we can do about it other than to have a discussion with coaches that these things need to be handled in practice.
Aside from this, I think the bottom line is, if the pitcher has base backup responsibilities, the coaches do not handle this in practice regardless of how much you implore them to do so, and you are frustrated about what to tell your pitcher daughter, here are my suggestions:
If the backstop is not a college one where there is considerable distance between it and homeplate, there is no purpose to trying to backup the catcher on plays at the plate. If the play is at home and nowhere else, the best you can do is pick a point to retrieve errant throws. I believe that is a point along the third baseline in foul ground. The first baseman should cover the area in front of home along that baseline. And the 3B should be covering her bag since, if there may be a play at home, there may also be a play at third.
If the backup seems to be most important at third but the fence and out of play are say 15-20 feet from the bag, again, I suggest about the same position though closer to third than home. This way if the ball gets away from the 3B towards home, she can retrieve it quickly. If the ball goes out of control up the line towards the outfield, the LF should get after those. If the LF is making the throw to third, the pitcher would need to be in foul ground along the baseline anyways to back up the throw. Otherwise the LF should be crashing in and handle everything up the line. Some coaches would have the pitcher positioned right behind third to prevent the bad throw from going out of play. But if the pitcher is just 10-15 feet behind the 3B, there is little chance she'll be able to make a play on anything the 3B can't get. I believe along the line in foul ground is the place to be.
On all other plays, where the ball is going to 1B, 2B or just in to some infielder, the pitcher, and everyone else for that matter, need to be aware that the ball may get away and be prepared to retrieve it quickly in such eventuality. Just as I want the first baseman to be wide awake and aware that a throw in to second on a basehit with nobody on may go astray, I want the pitcher to be watching any throw in that might get away. Everyone should backup every throw just as the 2B must backup all throwbacks to the pitcher with a runner on. Outfielders make mistakes just like anyone else, even on easy, no action plays. Everyone needs to be awake on every pitch, every play, every throw in.
As far as learning the situation on which a pitcher needs to back up home, if appropriate, third, etc., given that she is not the primary infield cutoff, I'm not sure what to tell you. Basically, this is dictated by game and inning situation which I'll get to in a minute. More importantly, the coaches need to explain to their pitchers where they want them on certain situations or during the actual play. The best teams conduct drills with this in mind, remind pitchers before the play develops, and then instruct them during the play. This is just like having a baserunner on first with one or no outs and telling them to watch linedrives. You've taught them this in practice, you tell them the situation when they are on first, and then you scream "BACK" when there is an actual linedrive. The same should be done defensively.
When, say, a ball is hit to the outfield and gets past the fielder, coaches should be instructing, for example, the SS to go out and get the cutoff. They also should be judging where the play is going to develop based on where the ball is coming to a rest, the apparent speed of the baserunner(s), etc. In doing this, if they want the pitcher to, for example, back up third, they should yell this to her. What should never happen is a situation in which the coach wants the pitcher to back up third, he or she never says anything (either in practice or before or during the play), and then when the right backup has not taken place, the coach rants and raves at the pitcher for failing to backup. That does happen but it is wrong.
Finally, it is an absolute that every player on the field needs to know the game and inning situation on every pitch and have some idea of what they will do if a ball is hit their way. The CF needs to be aware that she cannot merely soft toss the ball in to the 2B after a hit when there is a runner on second. She needs to know that there may very well be a play at home. Similarly, with runners on first and second, a pitcher needs to know that if a grounder is hit back to her, she is going to third with her throw. I don't need to go over all the possible situations. You ought to be able to handle this in practice if you are a coach or jot it down on paper and go over it with your daughter if you are the pitcher's parent.
The bottom line is, before throwing every pitch, a pitcher needs to check off in her mind where she will go with the ball if X happens. Sometimes, it can be difficult to do this with young kids. It is difficult but it still needs to be done. It is an important part of any player's development. You cannot move up to the next level if you do not think this game through on every pitch. It is as important as getting into a ready position or learning good fielding mechanics. If you have to stop and think after you field the ball, you're dead at least 75% of the time.
In closing, teach your daughter to get in a ready position after release. Do this whether you are conducting pitching practice or running specific drills. Improve her athleticism by engaging in speed/agility drills or by signing up for clinics which do this. Anything that improves her physical condition will improve her ability as a ballplayer and pitcher. Teach her good general defensive skills. She needs this anyway. She may decide to quit pitching in future years but still want to play ball anyways. Good defensive skills are a necessity for every player who wants to keep playing. Conduct drills specific to the pitcher position. I gave you one. Maybe you'll find others in your travels. But do something. Try to convince your team's coaches to conduct pitcher-specific fielding drills. If you are unsuccessful, conduct some on your own. The drills must involve throwing a real pitch and then fielding a ball and making a throw to a base. Teach your pitchers, whether you are a team coach or just a mild mannered parent, what the limits of their responsibilities are - in the process also teach the other fielders to take charge in the right circumstances. Teach your pitchers to think through game and inning situations before making the pitch. If you find yourself on a team which follows the BNB principle, get away from them. You are doing your daughter a disservice if you stay. And eventually, through lots of repetition, discussion, and learning, you should develop your pitchers' defensive skills.Labels: coaching, defense, fielding, parenting, pitching
Permanent Link: The First? Fielder
Numbers Game
by Dave
Friday, June 20, 2008
It is going to come as a shock to you but baseball and softball are not really strict numbers games. I guess it is more accurate to say that they are not always strict numbers games. Certainly from a fan or fantasy league perspective, numbers are important. And sometimes players and coaches have to "play the percentages." But, for the most part numbers are not what rules decision making in this game.
I was very amused once when someone tried to tell me, "In softball, a good batting average is .500 and up. It isn't like baseball where .300 is considered a good batting average." What was most amusing to me is the fellow telling me this was comparing up high school fastpitch softball batting averages with those of MLB baseball. It never occurred to him that batting averages were indeed higher in youth, high school, and even college baseball than they were up in the big leagues of baseball. Also, in college softball, batting averages are quite a bit lower than they are in high school.
In our local high schools, once upon a time there was a girl who hit .700 for the season. I watched her play a couple games against some of the better teams and her results were not quite as good. She had an outstanding swing, made good contact against even the better pitchers, but I would say that in top level competition, she was about a .333 hitter. It is relatively easy to impeach a player's high school stats because these are often reported to newspapers by coaches who really do not take this function particularly seriously. often, the kid or parent who keeps the book doesn't really understand how scoring works or how errors should be assigned. They are well meaning but they just don't know.
For example, we see that in high level NCAA play, balls that are struck back to pitchers who apparently boot the play generally do not result in the assignment of an error because it is rather difficult to field a ball hit in the 90s when you are just 37 feet from the contact point. Usually, sharply hit balls are given hits when the pitcher fails to make a play. But most people do not appreciate that.
Secondly, I have heard more misconceptions about when to assign a stolen base, a passed ball, a wildpitch, etc. than I have heard folks bragging about their daughter's .450 batting average. For example, I have seen "WP" written in books on pitches which hit the dirt directly in back of the point of homeplate and which bounced true. I won't argue the point but to me that's not a wildpitch. Similarly, I have seen "PB" written into books on curveballs which bounce in the dirt a foot in front of the plate and fly past the catcher a full two feet outside of their wingspan. I have seen books which reflect a stolen base for the runner from first on double steals on which the lead runner was thrown out at third. I don;t wish to debate particular plays but my point is, the books do not always accurately reflect what has transpired.
Even if books are perfectly kept, high schoolers sporting those .700 BAs do not usually run off to college and repeat their monumental successes at the next level. In Div I college softball, girls who hit .500 and up in high school generally don't come close to that. A .500 batting average is quite rare in Div I play. Anything above .400 is rather stupendous. .300 is often a quite good BA.
On a related topic, I am often amused by youth softball managers and parents who try to use the numbers to make or change decisions with respect to the lineup. One manager once told me that so and so has a really good on-base percentage so we're going to bat her first this (elimination) game. She had been in the 7th-9th spot all season, had maybe two basehits in 40 games, and proceeded to strike out every time up from the first spot in that important game. During the year, she had walked quite a bit, particularly against weak teams. She had walked a lot mostly because, after the first couple of games, she didn't hit and had gone up there trying to get walked. I worked to make her more aggressive at the plate, but she refused and continued to go up looking to walk. Against better teams and pitchers, she often struck out looking. Still, those 4 walk games against weak opponents had her on-base percentage pretty high and the "by-the-numbers" folks were convinced that this mattered. The kid she supplanted at the top of the order, by the way, went 2 for 3 that game. But because she was deep in the order where some of our weaker hitters were and she was left on base every time.
When I try to make out a line-up, I have my own philosophy and I don't want to really get into that. Some coaches try to spread out the real hitters. Some coaches use a traditional baseball approach. But whatever way you try to craft a line-up, the way you evaluate hitters should not be based on the numbers. Lots of kids get most of their stats compiled in games against weak pitchers and the numbers look really good. But when they face better pitchers, their numbers drop off precipitously. Some girls don't get a lot of hits when the team is up 8-0 after two innings. Yet they are the only ones who hit or otherwise get on base in the later rounds of the tourneys. A coach has to use more feel than that.
Once upon a tryout season, a father came to me to tell me that his daughter had achieved a .300 BA and .450 OBA during the previous season. The idea was I should take her and probably bat her in one of the top 4 spots. But her swing was terrible and she went after a lot of bad pitches when the stress was high. I can judge a kid's potential and swing for myself. I don't need to look at her stats. I'm pretty sure other youth coaches, not to mention HS, college and bigger time coaches, feel the same way.
A very long time ago, I played on a baseball team which produced a kid who had a decent major league career. He had a great swing and was an exceptional defensive player. When all was said and done with our summer travel league, I had a better batting average, more RBIs, etc. than this fellow. I know this because the manager compiled stats at the end of the year and went over them with us. You know, that other fellow batted fourth for us in every game while I batted 5th or 6th. There was never any thought of moving him off the clean-up spot. No coach ever contemplated it. I never contemplated it. Nobody in their right mind would have even considered it. It was a far superior hitter than I. Stats be damned. Anyone, especially the MLB scouts, could see he had something and I didn't.
So the moral of this part of the story is, please don't tell me about, or manage your team, exclusively by, compiling the stats in your scorebook and basing your line-up by your hitters' batting averages or other numbers.
I've gone astray from what I originally wanted to do with this piece. Where I wanted to take this is in the direction of some numbers which are actually somewhat important. The numbers which are actually important, though not controlling in the decision making process are those numbers which college coaches use, at least in part, in their evaluations of players. We are at a time of the year during which players go to these NFCA recruitment camps to show their stuff and some of the numbers which are recorded there can have an impact.
Also, recently, I have received a number of e-mails inquiring about some numbers. Folks want to get some idea of where their daughters stand with respect to other players around the country and, in particular, the "typical college player." I'm afraid I can't do anything for you there. I am unaware of any statistical table which shows pitch speed, catcher pop times, infielder/outfielder throwing and running speed, or anything like that for the country as a whiole at a particular age group or at the high school or NCAA levels. The best I can offer is a proxy, an easily available link to some numbers recorded at an NFCA recruiting camp.
Recently, the NFCA administered recruitment Pennsbury camp in Yardley, PA took place with a couple hundred college scholarship hopefuls and over one hundred college coaches from all levels in attendance. The campers were not necessarily the top prospects within these United States but there were some pretty good players there. The 2008 camp results can be viewed online. And now for my take on these numbers.
First of all, keep in mind that the players who performed these tests are not all juniors and seniors in high school who are headed to play in college. There is an application process by which kids are admitted into the camp. Many seniors who will play ball in college have already performed at these camps. They likely won't participate in the testing if they already know where they are headed. Even many recent juniors are already armed with pens, waiting for July 1, when they can sign NLIs or otherwise formally commit to schools. I can't seem to locate the list of participants at this camp but, in years past, I have seen a good number of middle schoolers, freshman, etc.
Secondly, Pennsbury represents one area of the country. There are five NFCA administered camps in various corners of the country, of which Pennsbury is but one. There are also numerous "NFCA endorsed camps." I cannot speak to the relative talent levels at the various camps. What I can tell you is that conspicuously absent from this camp were any representatives from the PAC 10, Big 10, Big 12, SEC, etc. And while there certainly were some reasonably competitive college programs in all divisions there, even many Big East schools were not in attendance. In short, I'm pretty sure that the best kids across the nation as a whole are not reflected in the test results.
The first thing which interests me is the pitching results. Of just less than 140 girls who had a couple fastballs recorded, the average speed was about 56 mph. The fastest speed recorded was 63 and the slowest (on a fastball) was upper 40s. I don't know about you but upper 40s is shocking to me. I wonder why someone throwing in the 40s would participate in such a camp regardless of what else they might bring to the table.
Of greater interest to me was the disparity between some of the fastballs and other pitches. One girl threw a 60 mph fastball and a 38 mph change-up. Another hit 63 on her fastball and 65 on her curve. While a 63 fastball might not garner a kid a ton of attention in and of itself - not all that many true fastballs thrown at the college level - a good breaking curve at 65 should. You cannot judge a change-up purely by its speed or lack thereof since all change-ups are not equal. But a 22 mph gap between fastball and change is at least noteworthy.
What strikes me in all this is loads of people like to use 60 mph as the measuring rod for their pitchers. I have heard a number of claims that this or that pitcher throws 60. My 13 year old daughter's coach has frequently said something to me along the lines of "how fast do you think she throws, I'm guessing 60." I tell him that I cannot judge pitch speed with my rather poor eyes but I do believe she's mid 50s, maybe 57 on occasion." He usually gets upset with me but I know what I know and 60 is somewhat rare, particularly with 14U players. Apparently, these claims by others are just not valid.
Understand that I'm not dissing everybody on pitcher's speeds. I'm just suggesting that when we stand there along the sidelines and claim this kid throws 60 or whatever, we might be wrong. Also pitch speed is not the only evaluation tool that is relevant to evaluating pitchers. Let's face it, even if the fastball were the only pitch available, some girls might throw a flat 60 in the middle of the plate or not be able to hit corners. Other girls might throw a 58 with sharp break due to good wrist snap, be able to hit corners at will, and have a very crafty approach to pitching in games. Which would you start in your most important game of the year?
The pitching number which intrigues me most on the chart is the rotations per second. Obviously, break on whatever plane is to a high degree controlled by spin. There are other factors but spin is undeniably important. I have no way to evaluate these numbers because this is the first time I have seen them. But I am intrigued by these. I need to get a gun which can give me that. That's got to be my next toy!
Still, you can't evaluate a pitcher simply by measuring her spins. Lots of girls get over-adrenlaized and then overthrow their movement pitches in big games. And aside from not getting the right amount of break, some girls are just so crafty with their curves, drops, rises, and screws, that the pure amount of spin or break is not nearly enough to judge them. The best HS pitcher I have observed is a girl who throws a nasty curve. The stuff itself is nasty but what is more nasty than her stuff is the way she uses it. She throws a drop curve on the outside corner and batter's usually sit and watch it only to go down 0-1. Her next pitch is usually 6 inches off the corner, basically unhittable. Then she's typically up 0-2. the next one might be further off the plate, a backdoor version, or possibly some other pitch in a location which causes the batter to go fishing. She never ge | |
