Pitchers stats on my son's 13u team this year were the best pitching stats I've ever seen on a rec team. The only season I ever saw WHIPs close to what I saw from the top 3 pitchers was the 9u season, and I figure that was because hitters were facing kid pitch for the first time so all a pitcher had to do was throw strikes and that was enough to get the majority of hitters out.
After that 9u season, WHIP was typically 1.4 to 2.0 for the top pitchers. This 13u year, the first year on the big field, the WHIPs were in the 1.0 to 1.4 range for the top 3 pitchers.
I am figuring a lot has to do with the move to USAbat, and the fact that some players were starting to use rec league as a way to practice with BBCOR. However, I am wondering, for those of you who track these kinds of things, if in prior years (when the hotter USSSA BPF 1.15 models were used) there is not much of stats change for pitchers when they pitch their first season on the big field? Maybe some of the improved pitching performance has to do with more time to field the ball, more competent fielding at this age, etc. rather than the switch to USAbat? I can't really know as this was my son's first year pitching on the big field at the 13u/14u level.
I don't think my son pitched better this season than last despite his best-ever stats - in fact I think he had troubles I haven't seen him have before (his mechanics became less consistent as his body grew/changed, and he had more trouble locating his pitches exactly where he wanted, partly due to less consistent mechanics and perhaps partly due to the greater distance from the mound).
Thoughts on how pitchers adjust to the big field?
The title, BTW, comes from the amusing idea I had that we keep talking about how USAbat made hitters worse. The flip side: They made pitchers great again!
After that 9u season, WHIP was typically 1.4 to 2.0 for the top pitchers. This 13u year, the first year on the big field, the WHIPs were in the 1.0 to 1.4 range for the top 3 pitchers.
I am figuring a lot has to do with the move to USAbat, and the fact that some players were starting to use rec league as a way to practice with BBCOR. However, I am wondering, for those of you who track these kinds of things, if in prior years (when the hotter USSSA BPF 1.15 models were used) there is not much of stats change for pitchers when they pitch their first season on the big field? Maybe some of the improved pitching performance has to do with more time to field the ball, more competent fielding at this age, etc. rather than the switch to USAbat? I can't really know as this was my son's first year pitching on the big field at the 13u/14u level.
I don't think my son pitched better this season than last despite his best-ever stats - in fact I think he had troubles I haven't seen him have before (his mechanics became less consistent as his body grew/changed, and he had more trouble locating his pitches exactly where he wanted, partly due to less consistent mechanics and perhaps partly due to the greater distance from the mound).
Thoughts on how pitchers adjust to the big field?
The title, BTW, comes from the amusing idea I had that we keep talking about how USAbat made hitters worse. The flip side: They made pitchers great again!
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