Is it ok for an 11 yr old to throw a cutter?

General Pitching Topics
#1

I do most of the work and training with my brother. He’s starting to throw a 2-seam cutter, basically he is taking the tradition 2-seam fastball grip and overloading the right seam (he’s a righty). He holds it very similar to the picture below, but not even as drastic:

Now my biggest fear was that he was supinating and throwing something similar to a slider. But I don’t think that’s the case at all, i think he;s just throwing it off axis and has never complained about any pain. The break is away and down, but is very tight and late. I just wanted to make sure this was ok to throw.

Also, does the cutter hinder your fastball velocity over time or is that a myth. Thanks guys.

#2

Without supination it is nothing more than a modified 2 seam and perfectly ok to throw. The method you mentioned is how my 18 yr old son throws it…and it works great for him.

#3

yeah its fine

#4

I don’t have a lot of facts to support this but I feel that you can supinate while younger and not feel the pain that much. Especially when you don’t throw hard. This doesn’t mean you can’t get hurt at a young age supinating but when you get older and really start to throw the ball, around the age 14,15 you can start to feel it. When you get older you start to feel the right way to throw a baseball hard. Mechanics wise and all of that. You can really learn how to get behind a ball and chuck it. This is when you will start to feel it if your doing it wrong.

Maby I’m crazy I don’t know.

#5

No Bower, its bad, it’s why most don’t recommend a true slider, which you supinate…The discussion that happened on the teaching a 9 yr old a curve thread, has several (Including people who I brought up and respect), saying no pitch thrown correctly causes more or less damage…but a slider is very easy to throw wrong and injuriously that most recommend waiting until late teens or varsity.

#6

youthpitcher30,

What you’ve described sounds good. But I would also limit the number of cutters he throws. Also, I’ve found that young kids who learn the cutter eventually become unhappy with the small amount of break and they figure out how to evolve the pitch into a possibly-incorrectly-thrown curve or slider. So you need to keep an eye out for that.

#7

[quote=“Roger”]youthpitcher30,

What you’ve described sounds good. But I would also limit the number of cutters he throws. Also, I’ve found that young kids who learn the cutter eventually become unhappy with the small amount of break and they figure out how to evolve the pitch into a possibly-incorrectly-thrown curve or slider. So you need to keep an eye out for that.[/quote]

I completely agree. Also be careful because the cutter can mess with your regular fastball too. I noticed that when I pitched the other day my cutter was thrown for a strike a lot more than my 4-seam was. Though I was also throwing the cutter more often. It’s very easy to supinate. During my last game that happened. I supinated and I knew it, I felt it right away. It just slipped a bit, only happened once. I must say though it wasn’t that much better of a pitch than my normal cutter. If you throw it right you can get some good break, even more of a slider break to it, more than just the little cut. Of course this comes with a lack of velocity in the pitch.

#8

[quote=“Roger”]youthpitcher30,

What you’ve described sounds good. But I would also limit the number of cutters he throws. Also, I’ve found that young kids who learn the cutter eventually become unhappy with the small amount of break and they figure out how to evolve the pitch into a possibly-incorrectly-thrown curve or slider. So you need to keep an eye out for that.[/quote]

Thanks Roger.

My brother has a lot of patience and right now he’s happy that he is able to make the ball move properly. He has 2 kids on the team that throw curveballs, which both of us are against. He understands (And I’m happy he’s mature about it) that this is better for him in the long run, and worse for them. What we’ve worked on is simply spotting fastballs and changeups on the corners. But he wanted to learn a new pitch to throw against the more elite hitters, so that’s why he learned the cutter. Today he threw 3 innings and only used it twice, granted it was against the number 3 hitter.

#9

i dont see how he can get a cutter to move at 11 year old seeing you guys are throwing from 45 feet and usually kids that age dont get tight spin on their pitches. most kids that age throw natural cutter spin-wise for an unknown reason the ball comes out with a spiral axis for most young kids, i mean i know its becasuse they dont pronate at release but it just seems quit odd most kids dont pronate naturally. maybe they throw it off the middle finger too, but i was asking a kid once if he could try and throw te ball with the index finger and it didnt change a thing.

#10

they play 50/70, so I don’t know if the extra 5 feet has something to do with it.

I’ll try to get a video up.

#11

ive noticed that 2 4pie

#12

does throwing a cutter with the 4-seam grip insted do anything differnt?

#13

Yea I guess it does. The 2-seam one can move more if you throw it right but so can the 4-seam. From personal experience. The 4-seam is harder and less movement. With the 2-seam you use the seam as a reference and that is very very off-balance. Enough to give it some good movement. With the 4-seam it can be held more like a fastball, less off-balance. In turn being thrown harder.

#14

so for more movment, hold as a 2-seam

thatnks bower, you have been very helpful to me. actually, this whole forum has. thank you all

:smiley:

#15

The only thing that could be bad with that is that you should make sure he doesn’t snap his arm through like with a curveball.

#16

i think it would take away movement

#17

If your refering to the post before you, it would add movement onto the pitch. Quite a bit of it. Occasionly when I throw mine if I mess it up it will have a ton of movement.