In this article I describe these four tools and discuss which are appropriate for youth pitchers in different situations, both from the standpoint of development and winning games. One minor league player that teaches kept a large data base on youth velocity. It is also not going to be the same as the optimal progression for development. I ended up getting a bachelors degree in Exercise Science and Ive learned a ton about sports and performance along the way. Outstanding insights! If you want to help a kid increase velocity, have someone who knows what theyre doing work on improving mechanics, or better yet do long toss at least once/week, followed by pull downs. Youll only get better at throwing hard if you try to throw hard. How could that happen against the team ace? There is unanimous agreement that sliders are dangerous and should not be thrown by any kids below high school age. That .820 OPS puts that example player as a good MLB hitter, but probably not an All-Star or MVP that season. I asked his pitching instructor at the time (former minor league pitcher) if it was safe and he said it was so long as he didnt turn his wrist. So, What Does WHIP Mean in Baseball. Even for a ball. The way these tools are brought to bear at the youth level depends on the quality of the hitter, pitcher capabilities, and whether the pitcher is trying to learn or trying to win. The easy way to tell is when the better batters start hitting most fastballs to the outfield. WHIP is not a perfect measure of a pitcher; it can be misleading at times, and sometimes does not tell the whole story. Henry Aaron - Hammer,Hammerin' Hank,Bad Henry. As you make contact, your grip will naturally get tighter and your top hand thumb will not allow the bat to get knocked backwards. After the game he remarked that he would need to move the ball around more because it didnt seem like a low 50s fastball would work against these 10u teams. Regular five-on-five basketball is a fun game on its own, but its always nice to have some variety in the types of games that can be played, especially with kids. Based on the data from recent years, the good WHIP is anywhere near 1.2 or below it. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. Performance & security by Cloudflare. For a pitcher to achieve a low WHIP, he cannot give up many hits nor walks. Bat angle I dont think confusing him with different grips at this age is correct. Just throw firm strikes. Thats why its a no no. A well thrown changeup is indistinguishable from the fastball. Youre more likely to issue a walk, and they have a better chance of hitting the slower pitch than your fastball. The hardest throwing 12 u kids (11 u too) are also typically 130 to 150 lbs or more. A lot of coaches have no class and encourage a player to throw hard to be wild and scare the other team. Okrent stated that the reasoning behind the idea was to add a component to scoring and predicting future outcomes in the first rotisserie fantasy baseball league, which he founded alongside nine friends the following year. WHIP is one of the most commonly used statistics for evaluating a pitcher's performance. UPDATE: 3 years after writing this article I learned that a scientist gathered a statistically significant data set and came up with a speed chart. It calculates the walks plus hits per plate . The formula calculates how many baserunners a pitcher gives up per inning. Dan Abbott - Big Dan. 10u means 10 and under age. What is a good WHIP in baseball? Do you know the essentials of baseball situations with runners on and the ball put in play? He couldnt blow it by anyone as he had done in rec league. A lot is common sense really but common sense sometimes goes out the window when the first pitch is thrown. But more often than not, it doesnt work against teamswith good hitting. It also achieved mainstream acceptance and usage somewhat quickly. If you are like most casual American football fans you might have heard a t.v announcer refer to a strong and weak side during a football game. You've always got home-field advantage when whipping up these nachos, pretzels, popcorn, hot dogs, nuts and more, right in your own kitchen. WHIP ( Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched) is a sabermetric statistic, the purpose of which is the measurement of the number of baserunners a pitcher has allowed per inning pitched. Total Control Sports TCB Hole Ball 5.0 w/ Bag - 12 Pack . Great read Joe, thank you. The stat exists to evaluate a batter on both reaching base and hitting for power, the two primary functions that are considered to be the most important for hitters in baseball. 1.30-1.50+ about average to bad. You sir are wrong wrong wrong. Your throwing arm should hit what's called your "sweet spot" which is the point where you throwing arm is at its lowest point during your motion. However, Verlanders ERA that season was 2.58, which is still excellent, but is the highest on that list by one-third of a run. A WHIP over 1.50 is generally considered poor. Walks lose games. Ever since then, Ive been a passionate player, fan and coach in about any sport you can imagine. WHIP stands for walks and hits per inning pitched, and the concept of this statistical measure is reasonably simple: It shows how well a pitcher kept runners off base. WHIP is a formula used to calculate a pitcher's performance by determining how many hits and walks (in total) a pitcher has given up, per every innings pitched ratio. The only reason I even mentioned the little league curveball is because my son developed it on his own (we thought he invented it but turned out he reinvented something that already exists). Experiment with 2 seam fastballs? Buster Murdaugh, 26, is the only surviving son of Alex and Maggie Murdaugh after his brother Paul and mom Maggie were brutally murdered in June 2021. Among players with identical strike percentages who can throw at average velocity or higher, it is clear that the harder throwing the pitcher, the larger the percentage of hitters who struggle to make quality contact. My 9yr old is small but a pretty good pitcher. WHIP is one of my favorite pitching statistics! BABIP, or batting average on balls in play, was originally designed to measure a pitcher's ability to prevent hits on balls in play. My ten year old son is a pitcher who plays on a travel baseball team. More importantly, keeping those 7 fielders behind the pitcher on their toes making plays early in counts. Im not going to discuss pitching mechanics in this article, as I believe mechanics are best learned from video, or better yet live instruction from someone who knows how to teach it. WHIP considers walks and hits per innings pitched, showing us how many walks and hits the pitcher allows the baserunner to achieve. This suggests that while he's selective, he is still aggressive on strikes. Daniel Okrent, the creator of WHIP, is its founding father. Anywhere from 10.0% to 20.4% of pitches thrown to our batters result in a strike called. We both felt like he would be ready for the 10u season even though he is still 9. They didnt crush the ball, a couple of singles, couple of grounders, a flyball, but its the first time that anyone regularly put the ball in play. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Little league is no place for junk, that arm is still growing, and so are the tendons and ligaments. If the ball is pitched there, it usually results in whiffs or weak popups that can be caught for an out. Ive seen this sequence used very effectively against very good 9- and 10-year old batters. Yes. In our local PONY league, the velocity of pitchers in our 9- to 10-year-old Mustang division range about 35 MPH to 55 MPH, but only 2 to 4 pitchers each year throw over 50 MPH out of 100 players. I should point out that not everyone agrees with this. Baseball is the classic American sport, and dates back to 1845, when the New York Knickerbocker Baseball Club was founded. Again thats not baseball. When the count is even or favorable to the pitcher, throwing low/outside and high pitches will make it difficult for most rec league batters to get a quality hit. The first season my son experienced with kid pitch went through a progression that started with most pitchers struggling to throw strikes, progressing to fewer walks and more hits, then increasing velocity, and finally the first changeups coming into play (see Pitcher vs Hitter). Fast as 90 MPH is, the best hitters can time it and hit it. The formula calculates how many baserunners a pitcher gives up per inning. My son pitched for a small HS. On the other end of the spectrum, I too have coached and seen the slow thrower have a lot of success that you mention getting a lot of hitter help. Therefore, a pitchers MB/9 will be very similar to his WHIP, though slightly different in most cases. If you have read our previous articles about other rate stats such as ERA, slugging percentage, and on-base plus slugging (OPS), you may know that these types of stats are subject to fluctuations based on whether there is more or less offense in a game. One thing not mentioned about changing speeds is I tell him if hes up 0-2 or 1-2 in the count he can let it fly. Naturally, because a good ERA is usually most indicative of whether a pitcher is successful or not, a good WHIP can often indicate a successful pitcher as well. Obviously, someone who throws hard will naturally gravitate to throwing hard as a main tool, while someone with uncommonly good accuracy will enjoy early success by hitting the corners of the strike zone. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. So it cant hurt to start working on the grip in bullpens, so that by age 11 or whenever it is he finally needs it, hell be ready. While higher WHIPs do not always mean a pitcher will have a high earned run average (ERA), the two numbers do typically share a correlation. There are studies that demonstrate thatcurveballs are not a significant risk factor for injurywhen thrown correctly. To a large extent, velocity will be related to physical development. Find the pitcher's WAR rating. As Im sure you know, its just fastball mechanics with a different grip. If you look at slow motion of major league pitching, youll see that every pitch has at least a little arc to it. Strand rate, or left on base percentage (LOB%), measures the percentage of baserunners a pitcher leaves on base over the course of an entire season.At its core, strand rate is simply a measure of the number of runners that could have scored, but never actually did. The following video is one that I like to show kids to inspire them to do long toss the right way: Throwing weighted balls is another way to get stronger and therefore increase velocity. Our lead pitcher trainer for our league played in the major leagues and teaches the changeup to any kid who is ready for it, including 10-year olds. Special discount for MYB readers: Get over 200 baseball drills, 100 videos and dozens of practice plans with a Baseball Zone Membership. Below is the scale for a better understanding of the WHIP statistic, > 1.5 WHIP - A Bad Level Pitcher 1.3 - 1.5 WHIP - An Average-Level Pitcher 1.1 - 1.3 WHIP - A Good-Level Pitcher < 1 WHIP - An Elite Level Pitcher Three other pitchers finished with a WHIP under 1 in 2021. Some advanced stats are always normalized so that the average is the same each year. On-base Plus Slugging, or OPS, is a combination of a batter's On-base Percentage (OBP) and Slugging Percentage (SLG). Sign up now. That guy is often the hardest thrower in the league, or among the top 3 at least. Against the very toughest teams is where I see managers make mistakes. Youll certainly notice when that happens, and then its time to use changeups. Last time I checked its just a game. Regardless of how long its been around, when you see WHIP somewhere, youll now have an idea if that pitcher is on his way to stardom, or whether hes having a rough year. It is therefore tempting to not actively do anything to increase velocity while waiting to grow. For pitchers, one of the most discussed stats is WHIP, and it is often one of the first stats baseball fans look at when determining a pitchers abilities. With enough innings pitched, you can get a general idea of how solid a pitcher is on the mound just by looking at their WHIP. Count innings pitched by pitcher including partial innings (with each out recorded counting as a third of an inning). Velocity goes up with size, for the most part, and this is most dramatically seen at the 12-year-old level with players ranging from 4 to 6 feet tall. View all posts by Joe Golton. Well, its not that kind of whip, its an acronym of something else. 2.Line up to your target. The statistic is most commonly printed to either two or three decimal places. Meanwhile, you have another player with the following slash lines. thatsportlife.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Use discount code HOMERUN for 25% off today. Anyway, thanks so much your entry. 1.00-1.30 is very good to about average. About velocity and charts: This seems to be all over the map depending on the gun and how it is used. In essence, it is the average number of baserunners that the pitcher "loses" to in an inning. Its also worth trying to spot tendencies in umpires. I dont know how many people will read this or if it will have much of an impact. Well start working on the locations you mentioned, because throwing hard down the middle just isnt working anymore against the best hitters. Stand the bat up against the side of your leg. On the individual front, it can be hard to precisely say because each pitcher is unique in how they pitch and how they get their outs. One thing I am not sure he mentioned is the importance of first pitch strikes(especially at this age) Getting a head of a hitter, mentally learning alittle at this age about setting up the hitter . Hes a 48 74 pounder; smaller kid. [easyazon_cta align=none identifier=B072F1FRX9 key=wide-orange locale=US nw=y tag=myyouthbaseball-20]. The batter does not know the changeup is coming until it is too late to stop the swing. 12u baseball is a fulfilling age to coach baseball. To calculate a pitchers WHIP, you add together his number of hits and walks that he has allowed for the entire season and divide it by his total number of innings pitched. No matter the level, WHIP is an important tool in the arsenal to determine a pitchers skill. There are many different changeup grips which move or slow down the ball in different ways. He has given up 113 hits and 33 base on balls. It will obviously depend somewhat on the size of the player. The equation, which again is a rather simple one, reads (Hits + Walks)/Innings Pitched. The rest of the coaching staff for MLB teams do not earn the same kind of salary as managers, but they can still earn a six-figure salary. That does not help win games. Why bother with movement at all? A pitchers WHIP, or walks and hits per inning pitched, is a ratioed statistic (or rate stat) that measures the average number of baserunners that a pitcher allows per inning via the two primary ways that hitters reach base: hits and walks. I didnt have a great arm at a young age and I threw fast balls, all 4 seem fastballs for that matter and I struck lots of kids out because I painted the corner. With breaking pitches such as curveballs or sliders, experienced hitters always know they are coming because they are thrown differently and have obviously different spin on the ball. Less to think about and practically at this age, a hell of a lot more effective. Further aiding in calculating WHIP, all components needed for calculating the statistic are readily available on the back of baseball cards, virtually every statistical website, and even just by perusing box scores. Note: Two years after writing this post, I went to my first 12u travel ball tournament. ), it is time to work on the other aspects of location. A curveball thrower is ideal, but if that is not available, then a pitcher who has a very good changeup, can locate pitches, and who can get a little bit of movement off either the changeup or a two-seam fastball. [Complete Guide]. Jay the best age to start throwing a changeup will vary depending on circumstances. A balanced development progression for a pitcher may go as follows: The above progression is plenty to work with for 9-14 year olds and touches on all four pitching tools. SKLZ Hit-A-Way Baseball Swing Trainer. Some people think that the other tools of pitching can be picked up at any time, whereas if you cant throw hard by high school, chances are youll never be able to throw hard. How do I choose the right type of bat? While WHIP is rather well known, it is a statistic that tends to take a backseat to more traditional stats. A nice sequence for pitchers just learning to throw the changeup is to throw the first pitch right down the middle for a strike, the second a changeup over the outside half of the plate that drops below the strike zone (which the batter swings at, hopefully), and then with an 0-2 count, throw a high fast ball at the shoulders. Reading your piece instead of working, BTW. Batting Average Against:Another way to measure hittability. [/list_item] [/circle_list] As you get to the higher levels, all four pitching tools are needed in youth baseball. To get to OPS, you add .385 + .435, which comes out to a .820 OPS. The average WHIP in baseball is around 1.00, so pitchers, on average, allow one walk or hit per inning. Hell play AAA next year and well get a little more granular on location. But its also important not to throw too softly. The averages above are for pitchers who have received little formal training at the early ages, butsome training by high school age. Successful high velocity pitchers have been shown to have more external rotation after front foot strike, a more forward trunk tilt, and are able to generate more power with their muscular, skeletal, and chemical make-up, through the stretch-shortening cycle, during . When you watch a baseball game on TV and a new pitcher comes into the game, youll see WHIP pop up as a statistic. All-in-all, does this mean much? The top performing pitchers weredifferent than the guys you might expect from what happened in the recreation league or against the weaker teams.