When the catcher doesn't believe in you or trust you

Really trying to stay out of this, and I am going to. Just wish I had words of wisdom to offer my DD. This is HS ball BTW...not TB (she loves her catchers here). Catcher has a very condescending attitude towards DD, and DD just lets it go. She calls pitches that are "safe". DD has repeatedly asked her to call screw/curve/drop...catcher says "it's not working". DD balks (expression...not balk in pitching)...she only threw one, and catcher decides it's no good and doesn't call it again. So she signals her to throw FBs...DD starts shaking her head no (not against this team...good and fast hitters committed to D1 schools). Catcher calls time...tells dd to get over it, she can't throw. DD just lets it go and throws FBs which of course they crush. Same catcher last year too...they did well but in district play, AC calls the pitches. So I tell DD "this is just fall ball...who cares? Let it slide like water down your back and try your damnedest to not let her make you look bad"..."take the high road". FWIW, the catcher isn't that good, but she does hit well.

HS ball. It just doesn't matter. On the bright side, she will love/respect her TB catchers more.

The catcher isn't good but hits well... Let me guess, a girl that can't move, block, throw, catch pop-ups, etc. but hits the snot out of the ball and if it doesn't go over the fence she is lucky if she gets to 2nd base?

Time for your daughter to stand up to the catcher. Tell your dd to tell the catcher that every time the catcher calls for a fastball she will throw a (insert best pitch here) and that she better be ready. If she calls for any other pitch your dd will agree and throw that pitch.

Lenski said:

The catcher isn't good but hits well... Let me guess, a girl that can't move, block, throw, catch pop-ups, etc. but hits the snot out of the ball and if it doesn't go over the fence she is lucky if she gets to 2nd base?

Time for your daughter to stand up to the catcher. Tell your dd to tell the catcher that every time the catcher calls for a fastball she will throw a (insert best pitch here) and that she better be ready. If she calls for any other pitch your dd will agree and throw that pitch.

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She hits in the gap...but yeah, everything else...she can throw though...just too slow on throwdowns (although she does try). I did tell her to throw it anyway...she will look good but it will make C look bad for not being ready. And that it is to her advantage if she gets the strike or grounder or whatever. I think she is considering this, so we shall see what transpires next Monday night.

So just to be clear if your DD throws a "movement pitch" to a given location it is effective. However, if she throws a "fast ball" to the exact same location it gets crushed?

Sounds like the catcher might be a "blinker". They blink when the ball crosses the zone, and struggle catching anything with movement. Is it possible she's probably doing it out of self preservation?

The bigger issue is the C/P relationship. Hard for the team to be successful with a relationship like this.

Josh Greer said:

Sounds like the catcher might be a "blinker". They blink when the ball crosses the zone, and struggle catching anything with movement. Is it possible she's probably doing it out of self preservation?

The bigger issue is the C/P relationship. Hard for the team to be successful with a relationship like this.

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If the "fast ball" is not a "movement pitch" that is a problem in and of itself. If the pitcher struggles with command it is possible that the catcher feels that the pitcher may have better command of the FB. A pitch with no movement properly located is still a good pitch. A pitch with lots of movement that is not located properly is just another fat pitch. On the flip side my DD has had catchers that could not handle her rise and when relegated to only fastballs it did make things much more challenging.

riseball said:

If the "fast ball" is not a "movement pitch" that is a problem in and of itself. If the pitcher struggles with command it is possible that the catcher feels that the pitcher may have better command of the FB. A pitch with no movement properly located is still a good pitch. A pitch with lots of movement that is not located properly is just another fat pitch. On the flip side my DD has had catchers that could not handle her rise and when relegated to only fastballs it did make things much more challenging.

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Not going to respond to this because I obviously don't know what I am talking about, but I do trust DD's judgment. She is honest if she knows she sucked. The issue here is pitcher/catcher relationship, and honestly, it's not going to change. From the sidelines, her pitching looked good, but I have no idea what was called and where she placed it. Anyway, I was hoping to offer good advice to her. I did tell her this morning to take it up with her PC and left it at that.

maksoftball said:

Not going to respond to this because I obviously don't know what I am talking about, but I do trust DD's judgment. She is honest if she knows she sucked. The issue here is pitcher/catcher relationship, and honestly, it's not going to change. From the sidelines, her pitching looked good, but I have no idea what was called and where she placed it. Anyway, I was hoping to offer good advice to her. I did tell her this morning to take it up with her PC and left it at that.

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I don't think there is a reason not to respond. The point was FASTBALL does not have to equal MEATBALL DOWN THE MIDDLE. Try this drill put a volleyball on a tee middle of plate thigh high, pitcher should be able to hit the ball almost anytime she wants but she should also be able to throw a strike more times than not without knocking the ball off the tee to the zone the pitch is called, after that then come back and tell [MENTION=10413]riseball[/MENTION] you don't want to respond to his BS.

On topic I think PC, catcher and pitcher should have a strategy meeting before game and go over basic...low and away mostly, girls crowding the plate inside black, 6-9 hitters no walks until they prove they can hit on so on. Then adjust the strategy after first time through the line up based on hitters, pitcher and umpires performance. If catcher won't follow plan pitch to the plan anyway.

maksoftball said:

Not going to respond to this because I obviously don't know what I am talking about, but I do trust DD's judgment. She is honest if she knows she sucked. The issue here is pitcher/catcher relationship, and honestly, it's not going to change. From the sidelines, her pitching looked good, but I have no idea what was called and where she placed it. Anyway, I was hoping to offer good advice to her. I did tell her this morning to take it up with her PC and left it at that.

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By definition a "Fast Ball" is a pitch thrown at high velocity. That said, the spin/movement of a FB is defined by the pitcher. I would leave it up to your DD to throw what she deems appropriate. Ultimately if located properly the direction of the spin and the common nomenclature used to describe the pitch is a moot point.

djcarter1966 said:

I don't think there is a reason not to respond. The point was FASTBALL does not have to equal MEATBALL DOWN THE MIDDLE. Try this drill put a volleyball on a tee middle of plate thigh high, pitcher should be able to hit the ball almost anytime she wants but she should also be able to throw a strike more times than not without knocking the ball off the tee to the zone the pitch is called, after that then come back and tell [MENTION=10413]riseball[/MENTION] you don't want to respond to his BS.

On topic I think PC, catcher and pitcher should have a strategy meeting before game and go over basic...low and away mostly, girls crowding the plate inside black, 6-9 hitters no walks until they prove they can hit on so on. Then adjust the strategy after first time through the line up based on hitters, pitcher and umpires performance. If catcher won't follow plan pitch to the plan anyway.

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I got what he was saying. I just can't respond because I don't know what FB catcher requested and what DD responded with...I highly doubt it was down the middle though. DD loves her corners. But I will say this...her change up and offspeed rocked last night (and catcher loved these because they were not fast ). Anyway, it would be great if C would actually go with DD to her lessons. She makes up every excuse in book not to. She just won't give DD the time of the day...it's sad really...especially when it can affect outcome of game and team chemistry. The younger catcher that they are looking to move to Varsity tries to go with DD to her lessons any chance she gets...but she needs more experience and probably won't start. I think major attitude adjustments could really improve things here.