PITCHING DISTANCE

[PIGLETox23]

I know the high school distance has been changed, but has the middle school distance been changed to 43 feet as well? Does anyone know this for sure? If so, I think this is just too far for girls who are 12, 13, 14...

[Indian]

They'll get used to it, or they will be playing another position. I don't know if it's set yet for middle school. If it's not you might see more freshmen than usual waiting their turn to take the circle until they get used to the increase.

[Bully4State]

Yes, the move to 43 feet has been approved by TSSAA for middle school also.

[minihaha5]

Ridiculous. You are talking about 12, 13, 14 year old girls. There is already a shortage of decent middle school pitchers, now TSSAA wants to shrink the pool more. Why not put the ball on a tee and let them hit it after 4 balls!! 43 feet is great for movement pitchers but for the developing pitcher it is one more obstacle to overcome.

[joeyT]

It's only 3 feet. THREE FEET. 36 inches.

 

And it's not TSSAA. It's the FED that changed the rule. Every state in the country will move to 43 feet no later than spring 2011.

 

If a pitcher can't throw THREE FEET further, then it might be time to learn a new position.

 

Did I say it was ONLY THREE FEET?

[minihaha5]

I would like to hear from pitching coaches on this. My daughter's ( she is in high school) pitching coach believes that it is a bad move. I am not sure if it is a national mandate for middle school as it is for high school. That 3 feet is a big difference for developing pitchers to adjust to.

[big_joe]

I am glad that the move was made in high school. It will be a make it a better game, but pitchers that can pitch will still pitch and ones that struggle will still struggle. I don't care for it in the middle schooll ages because most of those girls are just now moving from 35 to 40 and going to the 12 inch ball. THREE FEET is a HUGE difference at 12, 13 and 14 years old.

[MrSoftball]

My DD's pitching coach thinks that the additional 3 feet will be good for movement pitchers/pitches, but will hurt the pitchers that have always gotten by on throwing hard.

 

As for the change in middle school, I can see both sides of the argument. 3ft is a huge increase for a 12yr old, especially since their body may not have matured yet and they therefore lack the strength to consistently pitch from that distance. That having been said, I was not looking forward to my DD pitching on a HS field that had an additional rubber 3ft in front of the one she would be pitching from. Her fastball stride will be over the 40ft rubber, but her shorter stride for other pitches puts her plant foot right on the 40ft rubber. From that standpoint I am glad the distances will be uniform.

[dore83]

As a pitching instructor and the parent of a pitcher...

 

The change is only as big of a deal as you make it to your pitcher. If you adopt the view that it is too difficult, it probably will be for your pitcher. If you shrug it off as no big deal (and my view is that it isn't a big deal), then it probably won't be for your pitcher either. My students already train occasionally from 45-50 feet as a part of their speed and strength building workouts.

 

When my daughter's team was 10U there were only 3 other teams playing A ball in the state, and all 3 were in Chattanooga. It didn't do us much good play locally, and more times than not, as soon as the brackets were sent out, once our name popped up, teams would start pulling out to go to another tournament where there were weaker teams they had a chance of beating and we were left without a place to play. We got tired of going to Chattanooga every week just to have a chance to play and to chase the same 2-3 teams. We had been hesitant to move up to 12U because of the bigger 12" ball and extra 5 feet, but eventually were so frustrated that we decided to try it. None of our pitchers had any problem making the adjustment, and played 13 tournaments at the 12U & 14U level before dropping back for the 10U ASA Nationals. Our hitters couldn't drive the bigger ball like they did the 11" ball but it didn't pose any problems for our pitchers. In the end, it actually made them better. If 10 year olds can throw a 12" ball from 40', 12-14 year olds can move back 3 feet.

 

When my daughter was a 13 year old 8th grader, she was moved up to the high school team. Every year they traveled to Florida during spring break to play a number of games against teams in the area. Florida had already been playing at 43' for a couple of years, but our coach had apparently not noticed the pitching distance difference in previous trips. She threw the first game in Florida without any advance knowledge that she was throwing at 43 feet. She even warmed up at 40' and started out throwing everything low, made an adjustment, which for 43 was an over adjustment and moved too high, and had to keep making adjustments. She ended up walking a batter and going to 3 balls on a couple of hitters (which is rare for her), but she got out of the inning without allowing a run. After the inning her coach called me over to ask why she was riding overly low and high, which was of course, the extra 3 feet. Not only did she get a complete game win, but she threw 3 other games that week, two of which were back to back 9 inning extra inning games, and she fared just fine. If a 13 year old 8th grader can throw effectively from 43' without any advance knowledge of the distance, much less practice at that distance, and even warmed up at 40'... especially considering that the first pitch she had ever thrown at 43' was after taking the field for a high school game - no disrespect to my daughter as she is a fine pitcher, but she was just 13 in the first game of her high school career and it couldn't be that difficult. These pitchers have 6 months to become used to the change.

 

When the rule passed for high school, I immediately moved my middle school students back as well, just in case. They really aren't having much difficulty making the change. The only ones who struggle are the beginners, but they struggle at 40' anyway because they are still inexperienced beginners. Their speed doesn't drop. Speed from 3 feet further isn't any slower, it just takes slightly (small fraction of a second) longer for the ball to arrive to the catcher. For many of the younger players, they are already throwing the equivalent of 43 feet or longer because their catchers set up so far behind the batter in the first place.

 

It will be a little tougher on the smaller middle school girls who haven't hit puberty and/or growth spurts already. But in most cases, it's fairly tough for them at 40' already. There aren't many small pre-pubescent players who throw with great velocity. Their fastball already has a "hump" in it from 40' (and would have one at 35' as well). Little 16 year olds can often bring it, but that is completely different. I've got a tiny (74 pound) middle school pitcher who just turned 13 two weeks ago. She's smaller than many 10U players I see at Fly Park on a given weekend. She throws in the mid to upper 40s, and uses every ounce of her body to achieve that speed. We moved her back to 43'. She didn't lose any speed and within 20 minutes of throwing and making adjustments, she was throwing strikes with the fastball, change, and screw. We focused on the curve the next week and she got it down quickly. It's taken a couple of weeks to adjust the length of her drop ball, but she threw 10 nice strikes in a row on Monday. Her screw ball is actually better. At 40' it was basically an inside fastball with screwball spin. At 43' it is actually breaking.

 

Anyway, young pitchers who struggle at 40' will also struggle at 43'. It doesn't really matter if the pitching distance is 40' or 52'. Those who are serious about pitching and train properly would find a way to adjust to 52'. 43' is the rule and it's only 3 feet further. Those with proper form will adjust quickly, those with poor form will find it much more difficult. Pitching in fastpitch is difficult. But adding or subtracting 3 feet doesn't make it significantly more or less difficult. If you approach it as the rule and not a big deal, those who really want to pitch will adjust just fine.

[James417]

As a pitching instructor and the parent of a pitcher...

 

The change is only as big of a deal as you make it to your pitcher. If you adopt the view that it is too difficult, it probably will be for your pitcher. If you shrug it off as no big deal (and my view is that it isn't a big deal), then it probably won't be for your pitcher either. My students already train occasionally from 45-50 feet as a part of their speed and strength building workouts.

 

When my daughter's team was 10U there were only 3 other teams playing A ball in the state, and all 3 were in Chattanooga. It didn't do us much good play locally, and more times than not, as soon as the brackets were sent out, once our name popped up, teams would start pulling out to go to another tournament where there were weaker teams they had a chance of beating and we were left without a place to play. We got tired of going to Chattanooga every week just to have a chance to play and to chase the same 2-3 teams. We had been hesitant to move up to 12U because of the bigger 12" ball and extra 5 feet, but eventually were so frustrated that we decided to try it. None of our pitchers had any problem making the adjustment, and played 13 tournaments at the 12U & 14U level before dropping back for the 10U ASA Nationals. Our hitters couldn't drive the bigger ball like they did the 11" ball but it didn't pose any problems for our pitchers. In the end, it actually made them better. If 10 year olds can throw a 12" ball from 40', 12-14 year olds can move back 3 feet.

 

When my daughter was a 13 year old 8th grader, she was moved up to the high school team. Every year they traveled to Florida during spring break to play a number of games against teams in the area. Florida had already been playing at 43' for a couple of years, but our coach had apparently not noticed the pitching distance difference in previous trips. She threw the first game in Florida without any advance knowledge that she was throwing at 43 feet. She even warmed up at 40' and started out throwing everything low, made an adjustment, which for 43 was an over adjustment and moved too high, and had to keep making adjustments. She ended up walking a batter and going to 3 balls on a couple of hitters (which is rare for her), but she got out of the inning without allowing a run. After the inning her coach called me over to ask why she was riding overly low and high, which was of course, the extra 3 feet. Not only did she get a complete game win, but she threw 3 other games that week, two of which were back to back 9 inning extra inning games, and she fared just fine. If a 13 year old 8th grader can throw effectively from 43' without any advance knowledge of the distance, much less practice at that distance, and even warmed up at 40'... especially considering that the first pitch she had ever thrown at 43' was after taking the field for a high school game - no disrespect to my daughter as she is a fine pitcher, but she was just 13 in the first game of her high school career and it couldn't be that difficult. These pitchers have 6 months to become used to the change.

 

When the rule passed for high school, I immediately moved my middle school students back as well, just in case. They really aren't having much difficulty making the change. The only ones who struggle are the beginners, but they struggle at 40' anyway because they are still inexperienced beginners. Their speed doesn't drop. Speed from 3 feet further isn't any slower, it just takes slightly (small fraction of a second) longer for the ball to arrive to the catcher. For many of the younger players, they are already throwing the equivalent of 43 feet or longer because their catchers set up so far behind the batter in the first place.

 

It will be a little tougher on the smaller middle school girls who haven't hit puberty and/or growth spurts already. But in most cases, it's fairly tough for them at 40' already. There aren't many small pre-pubescent players who throw with great velocity. Their fastball already has a "hump" in it from 40' (and would have one at 35' as well). Little 16 year olds can often bring it, but that is completely different. I've got a tiny (74 pound) middle school pitcher who just turned 13 two weeks ago. She's smaller than many 10U players I see at Fly Park on a given weekend. She throws in the mid to upper 40s, and uses every ounce of her body to achieve that speed. We moved her back to 43'. She didn't lose any speed and within 20 minutes of throwing and making adjustments, she was throwing strikes with the fastball, change, and screw. We focused on the curve the next week and she got it down quickly. It's taken a couple of weeks to adjust the length of her drop ball, but she threw 10 nice strikes in a row on Monday. Her screw ball is actually better. At 40' it was basically an inside fastball with screwball spin. At 43' it is actually breaking.

 

Anyway, young pitchers who struggle at 40' will also struggle at 43'. It doesn't really matter if the pitching distance is 40' or 52'. Those who are serious about pitching and train properly would find a way to adjust to 52'. 43' is the rule and it's only 3 feet further. Those with proper form will adjust quickly, those with poor form will find it much more difficult. Pitching in fastpitch is difficult. But adding or subtracting 3 feet doesn't make it significantly more or less difficult. If you approach it as the rule and not a big deal, those who really want to pitch will adjust just fine.

 

 

Well Said MC. My daughter is a HS Junior and is being recruited by several D1 Schools. The D1 Coaches that have contacted us after Sept 1st are thrilled that the TSSAA made the decision to quickly move to 43'.

[dore83]

Well Said MC. My daughter is a HS Junior and is being recruited by several D1 Schools. The D1 Coaches that have contacted us after Sept 1st are thrilled that the TSSAA made the decision to quickly move to 43'.

 

Thanks. Hope the recruiting process is enjoyable for her and she lands at a great school.

[BaldNBeautiful]

My two cents worth (and thats about all it is worth)

The TMSAA going to 43 feet is a good thing.

To pitch consistently at 43' younger pitchers will need correct form, and will have to develop it to remain as pitchers.

Speed pitchers will need to start developing some movement.

Batters will start seeing mobement pitches a little clearer requiring both pitcher and batter to improve.

The three extra feet may prevent a few injuries to pitchers during the year.

Pitchers will be more prepared for HS distance as freshmen.

 

I am all for it, and anticipate coaches and players to adjust easily to the Middle school distance.