What Do College Coaches Look for When Recruiting Pitchers?

Hey There Friend!

Does your pitcher dream of becoming a college softball pitcher one day?

Are you curious as to what are college coaches looking for when they recruit pitchers?

If so, here's a list of NINE things that college coaches look for as they are choosing pitchers to recruit to their programs!

1. A STRONG foundation to build on!

When a pitcher has efficient mechanics she:

• Has less chances of injury
• Is able to continue to add power as she participates in college strength programs
• Can make small adjustments to help command and movement more easily

All of these things are very important to college coaches!

Powerful, smooth and efficient mechanics should be your FIRST priority if you'd like to be a successful college pitcher!

2. Great COMMAND of the zone!

Successful college pitchers can LOCATE their pitches with a high level of consistency. Mistakes with location result in walks or solid contact often at the college level. Coaches want to KNOW their pitchers will consistently hit the spots they call AND miss the zone in the right place based on the count or game situation.

If your pitcher wants to be successful at the college level, make hitting spots a priority during her workouts!

3. Can MIX SPEEDS confidently!

Having a change-up or off-speed pitch that can be used anytime in the count to go with great command of the zone, is another key thing that coaches look for as they recruit pitchers.

Most college hitters can be on-time to high velocities. Even if you throw in the mid to upper 60's every pitch, all game long, college hitters can usually figure that out!

Mixing speeds also makes your hard pitches SEEM faster to the hitters. If your pitcher doesn't throw exceptionally hard, locating well and using a change-up or off-speed pitch often can keep even the best hitters off-time to contact!

College coaches want pitchers that can change speeds confidently anytime in the count. Doing this ONE thing, in addition to hitting spots, helps keep even the best colleges hitters off-time to contact!

Many college coaches are looking for pitchers that can throw pitches at 3 different speeds. Typically the fastball is a pitcher's highest velocity pitch and a change-up is their slowest velocity pitch. Once your pitcher has mastered those pitches, adding a spin pitch or off-speed pitch that's somewhere in between the fastball and change-up can make a pitcher even more effective at keeping hitters off-balance!

4. Can CHANGE PLANES consistently!

College coaches really like pitchers that can move the ball UP and DOWN effectively!

Think about how a bat is shaped - it's long and skinny!

Pitchers that ONLY move the ball from side to side at the same height will likely struggle at the college level. The barrel of a bat can easily reach 3 ball widths OFF the plate with solid contact.

Moving the ball up and down with command forces hitters to change what their eyes are seeing!

A bat is only a few inches wide which makes it so difficult to adjust to pitchers that can locate at different heights and make solid contact.

Don't neglect the VERTICAL strike zone when working with your pitchers! Most pitchers/coaches focus a lot on the HORIZONTAL zone but many forget the importance of moving the ball UP and DOWN!

5. COMPETES every pitch!

This is one of the biggest predictors of HOW GOOD a pitcher will be at any level but ESPECIALLY the college level!

College coaches want pitchers to LEAD their team CONFIDENTLY always by being consistent with their effort, their mindset & their body language AND to make each individual pitch as COMPETITIVE as possible!

6. Knows HOW to "PITCH" with a purpose!

College coaches want pitchers that understand HOW to use their strengths to create OUTS for their team.

Teaching pitchers to be a student of the game as youth pitchers builds confidence in understanding HOW to use their pitches to get weak contact or swing and misses. 

Does your pitcher understand when a hitter is on-time, early or late to contact and what pitch or location to throw on the next pitch based on what she sees?

How about where she wants the ball hit based on the game situation or the strength of her defense?

College coaches would love for their pitchers to understand HOW to PITCH by understanding the game and ways she can create outs for her team!

7. SHORT memories when they face adversity!

Coaches want to recruit pitchers that are able LEARN from mistakes when they happen and then be able to QUICKLY forget them.

ALL pitchers will experience struggle and failure during their college careers.

In fact, coaches LIKE to see a pitcher fail when they are out recruiting BECAUSE they WANT to see how she responds AFTER failure happens!

Does your pitcher give up a big hit but come back and get the next hitter to strike out OR does she hang her head and walk the next hitter?

How she responds after failures and set-backs is a big part of becoming a successful college pitcher!

8. Something EXCEPTIONAL, not a bunch of "average" stuff!

Coaches are looking for something that makes a pitcher “special” or makes her stand out in a crowd. They are NOT interested in pitchers that have a lot of things that they are "average" throwing!

What is your pitcher's greatest strength?

• Does she throw exceptionally hard?
• Can she execute her pitches with great command in and out of the zone?
• Does she keep hitters off-time well by mixing speeds confidently anytime in the count
• Does she get exceptional spin/movement on her rise ball?
• Are her stats BETTER when she's under pressure? Runners on base, game on the line?

If your pitcher doesn't have something she's exceptional at YET, work on it!

Remember, that less is often MORE when it comes to how many different "types" of pitches your pitcher is attempting to throw during games.

Are you working to build something GREAT or are you setting your pitcher up to have a whole lot of AVERAGE stuff?

9. Is a TEAM first player!

Coaches want pitchers that will BATTLE for their team regardless of how they are personally performing.

Does your pitcher place a high value on things like how many strikeouts she gets or how many earned runs she gives up or if she got credit for the "win" in a game?

OR

Does she place a high value on things like how often she works ahead in the count, how many "quality innings" her team gets (3 up 3 down inning OR 13 pitch or less inning), and if her TEAM won the game?

College coaches want pitchers that COMPETE for their TEAM and embrace whatever role they are given to HELP their team succeed.

As parents and coaches, what are YOU placing value on when you talk with your pitcher? Do you talk a lot about how she did personally in the circle OR do you talk about how she was able to HELP her TEAM?

If you want to help your pitcher get recruited to pitch in college, keep each of these 9 things in mind as you work with her!

They WILL help her prepare to be a very good college pitcher that lots of college programs would love to have on their roster!

All My BEST,

Myndie