Strategy question

curiousgeorge · Jul 5, 2014

Coach Hillhouse sent an email out to about 20 parents of some of the older kids he coaches yesterday asking for input. So, I thought it'd be fun to do it on here too. Basically, he is filming a new DVD (possibly 2) on Monday and one of them will be about Pitching Strategy. For those who have older kids, what is the one thing you wish your DD had learned earlier? And for the ones entering the stage of learning how to be a pitcher, not a thrower, what would you like to learn the most?

My answer to him was wishing my DD had learned "it's not how MUCH you know, it's WHAT you know and how you use it". In other words, using what she's got to her advantage and not trying to do too much by pitching outside of her strengths. Many times her coaches would call a riseball (for example) after the first 2 pitches were clean swing-and-misses over top of Dropballs. It seems so elementary now since our lessons with him but, I still see pitchers trying to be so creative instead of just throwing what actually works!!

Anyway, it's a thought provoking topic.

CG

AndyS · Jul 5, 2014

curiousgeorge said:
Coach Hillhouse sent an email out to about 20 parents of some of the older kids he coaches yesterday asking for input. So, I thought it'd be fun to do it on here too. Basically, he is filming a new DVD (possibly 2) on Monday and one of them will be about Pitching Strategy. For those who have older kids, what is the one thing you wish your DD had learned earlier? And for the ones entering the stage of learning how to be a pitcher, not a thrower, what would you like to learn the most?

My answer to him was wishing my DD had learned "it's not how MUCH you know, it's WHAT you know and how you use it". In other words, using what she's got to her advantage and not trying to do too much by pitching outside of her strengths. Many times her coaches would call a riseball (for example) after the first 2 pitches were clean swing-and-misses over top of Dropballs. It seems so elementary now since our lessons with him but, I still see pitchers trying to be so creative instead of just throwing what actually works!!

Anyway, it's a thought provoking topic.

CG

The biggest thing my DD who is 16 is much better at this year and it literally took until this year is understanding what batters did against her either in the previous inning or if she has faced them previous games and making specific adjustments against specific hitters. I am not saying she is some computer that has everything memorized but she spends alot of time between innings talking to the coaches about who is coming up and what they did.

And obviously in previous years coaches would give her that info but she really didn't know what adjustments to make or just did not make them. This might be basic for others but has helped her tremendously this year and I wish she would have done it sooner!

coach james · Jul 5, 2014

Got the same email for Kansas City... sounds like an amazing day for some kids. He's asking for help in the video. He wants a catcher and a couple kids to stand in as batters. The next couple videos should be awesome. One of them will cover a lot of strategy scenarios. Cant wait!
Bill and I talked about this stuff quite a bit last month. Situations like runners on 1and 2 with less than 2 outs.... I like to call inside drop balls here because its likely to produce a ground ball to the ss or 3rd for a double play.
We also talked about not overcomplicating things, and keeping it simple and to remember your strengths as a pitcher. If your pitcher can throw gas, then that may be her strength. However if she doesn't, then maybe you should be focusing on spinning it more and working the corners etc. Regardless, the strategy video should be some of his best work.

doublesteal · Jul 10, 2014

As a coach the 2 biggest things i wished my pitchers would grasp earlier:

1. Not every pitch has to be a strike (every year I seem to have that one pitcher who when she is way ahead in the count is throwing too inside of the zone instead of trying to get a batter to chase.

2. Not everyone is a strikeout pitcher, work with your assets. An out is an out whether its a ground ball or strike out.

RubberBiscuit · Jul 10, 2014

curiousgeorge said:
I still see pitchers trying to be so creative instead of just throwing what actually works!!
CG

To me, relative to my DD, who has been reported as an average all the way up to "the best" pitcher, it's all about the last half of the sentence above. BUT I would change it to read:

"I still see pitchers trying to pitch per the image of a 'perfect pitcher' in the eyes of this head coach or that head coach, instead of just throwing what actually works!!"

I pull my hair out thinking about a couple of the previous HC's that DD has had that MADE her look just mediocre due to not realizing and using her strengths. Do I solely blame the HC? ....No. I still think there is something that DD & I could have done to avoid those bad engagements....

I think it would be HUGE to devise and teach strategies for pitchers (and their parents - with young DD's) to be able to affect their will on throwing to the pitchers strengths when confronted with a bad-pitching-strategy-dictator.

sluggers · Jul 10, 2014

what is the one thing you wish your DD had learned earlier?

In order to throw a pitch in the 7th inning, you have to start throwing it in the first.

E.g., if you have a great drop ball, you have to throw it in the first inning and then use it throughout the game to be confident it will work in the 7th.

cuzmail · Jul 11, 2014

sluggers said:
In order to throw a pitch in the 7th inning, you have to start throwing it in the first.

E.g., if you have a great drop ball, you have to throw it in the first inning and then use it throughout the game to be confident it will work in the 7th.

Interesting...
During the regionals/super regionals/CWS, I remember pitchers starting with one pitch as their go to and then switching their go to pitch as the game went on. This was on the assumption that the batters had seen her one to two times already and they needed something the batters hadn't seen removing their ability to make adjustments.

Strategy question

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