Thread: Catcher signal improper?

No. Kids are being killed in this sport. I would never use a catcher with that mentality.

About 10 years ago when DD #1 was playing TB I saw the opposing coach give a sign where he tapped the bottom of the knee. I assumed this to be an indicator to keep the pitches low. The very next pitch went so far inside at knee level that my batter had to jump back over a foot to get out of the way. Being the understanding type I just assumed she missed her location. I heard from other coaches during the tournament that that was his intentional brush back sign and his pitchers aggressively went after the batters knees when given the sign. It is one thing to throw a brush back pitch, that is part of the game. It is entirely another thing to try and go after a players knee.

Originally Posted by fastpitch

I have seen coaches call fastballs inside to girls who looked too comfortable at the plate telling their pitcher, "If you hit them; you hit them."

This is one thing that I think should be MORE common. In baseball, it used to not be an issue, until MLB players started getting millions of $$ to hit, and then people got really really excited about anything high and tight.

Most teams pitch outside corner (and farther) as long as they can get the call. Older girls with good screwballs can go in on the hands. But a good hard fastball, shoulder high, about 3 inches away, sends a statement. You see a few college pitchers do it.....Daniel Laurie has no problem going in there.

Too many good hitters just get to set up to hit the outside pitch. A great way to deal with slappers, especially the younger ones, is to buzz the first pitch up and in. Lots of girls will start to "peel off" the next pitch because of it, which sets up the outside pitch.

Never figured out why it's OK to miss a foot outside, but more than a couple of inches inside, and it's a bad thing.

My .02

IMO, its a perpetual battle between the pitcher and the hitter for control of the outside corner. A pitcher has to throw inside and the batter has to set up to be able to reach the corner - this results in a potential time-space continuum issue. I don't advocate intentionally hitting a batter, but sometimes they will get hit by inside pitches.

so if your pitcher's control isn't quite there yet and you call an inside pitch to a batter crowding the plate that's ok? DD doesn't like giving the free base when she hits someone but she doesn't get upset like some pitchers. She has taken her lumps and realizes it's part of the game.

Originally Posted by TheRogue

This is one thing that I think should be MORE common. In baseball, it used to not be an issue, until MLB players started getting millions of $$ to hit, and then people got really really excited about anything high and tight.

Most teams pitch outside corner (and farther) as long as they can get the call. Older girls with good screwballs can go in on the hands. But a good hard fastball, shoulder high, about 3 inches away, sends a statement. You see a few college pitchers do it.....Daniel Laurie has no problem going in there.

Too many good hitters just get to set up to hit the outside pitch. A great way to deal with slappers, especially the younger ones, is to buzz the first pitch up and in. Lots of girls will start to "peel off" the next pitch because of it, which sets up the outside pitch.

Never figured out why it's OK to miss a foot outside, but more than a couple of inches inside, and it's a bad thing.

Dear jesus, where the hell do you people come from??

Do you really not know the difference?

I would hate to see how ugly things would get if I ever even suspected that an opposing team was intentionally throwing at my players.

Originally Posted by SoftSocDad

Do girls that young really have that much control?

The mentality it takes to coach kids to throw fastballs at one another is something I cannot understand.

At the youth level, any brush back pitch should be purely accidental. That 'part of the game' rationale is bullshit.

In travel ball many of the top pitchers have that much control. It is not unusual for good 10U pitchers to have anywhere from 3-0 walks in a game. We call pitches and expect our pitchers to hit their spots on the corners or outside the strike zone as the situation dictates. If we have a lefty slapper or a kid crowding you bet we're going to jam her inside.

Never however would I coach a player to hit a kid with a pitch. Any coach who does should be prosecuted for assault in my opinion.

I would hate to see how ugly things would get if I ever even suspected that an opposing team was intentionally throwing at my players.

How long have you played the game of intrest?

Trust me, this happens. EVERY decent pitcher should be able to move a batter off the plate without hitting them. Its very easily done. You crowd my plate, I move you back. Its simple.

We're not talking about taking players out. I've seen it happen and its disgusting. (and yes teams do have the signal for this. I had it called on me once and walked off the diamond instead. I'm not risking injury for a game when I KNOW its coming)

If you have a pitcher that is afraid to pitch the inside corner when a batter crowds the plate, then you probably have a pitcher that is going to get hit a lot, since the batter has effectively taken half the strike zone away. Any batter is better with a strike zone a foot wide.

Interestingly, a lot of umps (IMHO) don't give the inside corner as much as the outside, almost like they are trying to discourage pitching inside. Other than one female ump I've seen a few times, that calls anything inside that doesn't hit the batter a strike. I think she must have been a pitcher shen she played

We were playing a team full of snots last summer, and one of them put a hard tag on one of my girls (pretty obviously on purpose), and my "ace" asked me if I wanted her to hit one of them. She is the kind of girl that would have done it without blinking if I asked her to. I said "Katie, there's a special sign for that, but I won't give it to you". She said "What's the sign? ......Oh, never mind, I think I know what it is."