calling pitches

is there any guidelines out there on what pitches to call when? Ive been noticing my DD's stats 87% first pitch strikes which I believe I need to lower cause once teams get used to her they will know that first one is going to be in the strike zone? where Im having a problem with is in the pitcher/batter battles and when down on the count what to throw to get the batter to bite. ive been looking for just a basic guidline with no luck, pitches she throws are fb,curve,drop n change with being able to hit her spots very good. also would love to increase her k's which shes avg. 1.1 per inning right now my goal is to get her to 2 like I tell her shes hitting her spots and throwing the right pitches its the guy calling the pitches that's responsible I should note shes playing up in 14u league which are much more disciplined batters vs 12u.

Once the opposing team identifies that a pitcher is routinely throwing a first pitch strike, and begins to swing at it with authority, then the general theme is to turn that 'finding' against the opposing team and not throw first pitch strikes ... throwing well controlled pitches that are similar, but farther away from the strike zone.

Can't stress enough the importance of 'control' and mastering pitches. A pitch caller working with a pitcher that lacks control often has to regress to calling a pitch that the pitcher can best throw for a boarder-line strike .....as opposed to pitches that would best exploit the batter's weaknesses.

As for the pitcher .... there is no need to get hung up on it ... they aren't the one calling the game ... a pitcher's job is to execute on the pitch that is called.

Does she walk some batters? Walks are not always a bad thing.

Kind of where you are going here but one of the goals of the P is not to throw strikes.

xygent1 said:

pitches she throws are fb,curve,drop n change with being able to hit her spots very good.

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For many, the 'fb' and 'drop' are essentially the same pitch.

A 'fb' thrown low in the zone often (not always) will have the same spin as a 'drop'. The movement, if studied closely though video, for an identically located pitch, is often one and the same. Differences can often be attributed to speed differences.

As for the 'curve' ... for many, not all, the 'curve' that I seen thrown at the younger levels turns out to be more of a well IR'd 'fb'/'drop' ... what some refer to as a 'slider' or 'cutter'.

I know Mike White doesn't speak in terms of a 'fb' .... years ago it was his practice to ask those that he trained to drop the term 'fb' from their vocabulary.

The job of the pitch caller - be it the coach or the catcher - is simple: keep the batter off balance with various combinations of speed, spin and location. It's the pitch caller's job to THINK.

As FFS' video states, it's the the pitcher's job to EXECUTE.

If you are looking for pitch calling patterns...there are plenty of charts out there like this one: Fastpitch Softball Pitching Instruction

There is some great tips at the bottom of that chart - in particular, "In facing a batter, have 3 or 4 pitch sequences in mind before you throw the first pitch..."

Do I follow that chart? Not specifically but I do use a similar mentality when calling the game for my pitchers based on what I see in the batter and what pitch or pitches my pitcher is most effective with that day...CP

I don't think you will really find any guidelines because every pitcher and every batter are different. The best I can say is experience is what you need. When I was calling my nieces' pitches it took me a bit to learn that you have to have a plan for the batter coming up, the situations on base, the blues strike zone, and the defensive back up. All of it comes into play and becomes a chess match that changes every swing. I think its great you want her to get to a 2 K per inning average, but don't forget sometimes letting the out happen in pop ups and grounds is better cause it saves your pitcher allowing for more pitches as the game goes on.

We throw strikes to hitters weaknesses and balls to their strengths. I expect at 70-75% first strike. If they want to swing with abandon on the 1st pitch at what will most likely be a terrible pitch for them to hit, then we will probably have a great day in the circle.

FiveFrameSwing said:

Can't stress enough the importance of 'control' and mastering pitches. A pitch caller working with a pitcher that lacks control often has to regress to calling a pitch that the pitcher can best throw for a boarder-line strike .....as opposed to pitches that would best exploit the batter's weaknesses.

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I will stress this even more. Constantly being down 2-0 turns a pitch caller into daredevil. You have to get something into the zone to get back into the AB and everyone in the ballpark knows it. "Strategy" for exploiting the hitter's weaknesses pretty much goes out the window, and you do indeed have to call something the pitcher is more comfortable throwing. The other problem is, any decent team already knows what that pitch is.

Oh ... but at least she has six different pitches.

It depends what that first strike is? Has she found the umps zone and pitching on the edges or is it just a meatball right down the middle just to get ahead in the count?

Remember you have to make sure you take into consideration the umps zone which is why it it critical to communicate with the catcher. Down is usually better, high is better out of the zone, don't forget to try and get some inside pitches called for strikes early, change-ups after they have fouled a few pitches in a row. Remember the lineup...don't walk the 7,8,9 hitters.

Finally don't start calling pitches until or at least worrying about it until they can hit spots...if she can't hit the catchers glove low and away better than 3 or 4 times out of 10 you are not accomplishing anything by calling pitches and that point just focus on speed which mean mixing in the change-up to keep hitters guessing.

Little Angels Softball said:

I will stress this even more. Constantly being down 2-0 turns a pitch caller into daredevil. You have to get something into the zone to get back into the AB and everyone in the ballpark knows it. "Strategy" for exploiting the hitter's weaknesses pretty much goes out the window, and you do indeed have to call something the pitcher is more comfortable throwing. The other problem is, any decent team already knows what that pitch is.

Oh ... but at least she has six different pitches.

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I never said she has 6 different pitches she has 4, of which her fastballs are good hitting her spots 90% of the time she has a great curve but as for hitting spots with a curve which I usually just will call inside or outside she hits her spots about 60% of the time with it curving 90% of the time so if she doesn't hit the inside its going to end up outside if that makes sense, her change's are good as well with us rarely calling spots. as for her drop again hitting spots are in the 50% but 80% of the time they drop,