Thread: Best strategy for development?

DD is 16.

She can be dominent with all her pitches where not many balls get to the defense. But at the same time with the way HS calls pitches "without rhyme or reason" she does experience more BB's. Recently the HS coach as stepped into the catcher-called HS games and has removed some of DD's pitches and focused more on fb accuracy. The result has been going from 2-4 BB's a game to zero but more balls are hit out to the defence.

Now TB coach is hearing that DD is not using all her pitches and that is getting him nervous as he believes the upcoming "national tour" is going to be better if DD keeps at all her pitches. (i feel that way too where i think accurate fastballs are great for hs but mean less than pitch selections for tb)

Thoughts/recommendations?

Sorry for the dwell on the response here and thanks SB for the inputs.

I guess I'll ask it this way =>

Is it better to have more hits in the field, where in the HS team many will be errors and result in baserunners.

Is it better to throw the full selection of pitches and get less contact and less fielding errors but with more walks.

Assume the same amount of baserunners either way - this is what is happening. I think I prefer DD throwing all the pitches becasue it will make her more effective come TB season.

Not clear on what you're asking.

As far as development goes, she'll develop more if she used her full assortment of pitches. But that's a moot point, imo. The HS coach must do what's best for the HS team, and the player's individual development is secondary.

Is the coach's strategy a sound one? Hard to say. You said that the on-base percentage is the same with either strategy, but before that, you said ''accurate fastballs are great for hs.''

My thought is this - Her job on a HS team is to do what gives the team the best chance to win, not to exploit the team for her personal development. Also, it's going to be hard for you to be objective because of your concern about her development. That's not a criticism. A lot of parents would be concerned, just like the TB coach is concerned. But I wouldn't interfere, and I'd be careful not to allow your daughter to sense this conflict that you and the TB coach are having.

Thanks you guys for the brain-check on this.

I will get DD to discuss with HS coach what counts she could be OK with throwing the other pitches - would hope that 0-2 would still be fine (depending on the batter).

Then we'll just have to find "in-between time" to practice those pitches the TB coach wants to see this summer.

It's frustrating that both HS & TB can't have the same plan for DD's pitches but "Oh Well" we gotta just roll with the punches :-)

It sounds like she is not hitting her spots with her movement pitches. HS coach is concerned and just doesn't want walks.

I think your best strategy would be to work on her control with her movement pitches.

Originally Posted by Jojo

It sounds like she is not hitting her spots with her movement pitches. HS coach is concerned and just doesn't want walks.

I think your best strategy would be to work on her control with her movement pitches.

It could be that she isn't hitting spots but I doubt it. It is our experience that HS Umpires rarely see a good movement pitcher and has no/little experience calling a strike that breaks across the corner of the plate.

My DD has the same trouble in HS, fortunately her coach lets the battery call the game. It's been very good for her to learn how to pitch to an umpire who is squeezing her without giving in to letting the batters hit.

In inswer to your question... She can talk to the coach, but ultimately it is his call.

Originally Posted by Coach-n-Dad

It is our experience that HS Umpires rarely see a good movement pitcher and has no/little experience calling a strike that breaks across the corner of the plate.

Why are high school umpires less experienced? Do the top TB umpires not call HS games? If not, why not?

Your daughter needs to be able to throw all of her pitches for strikes. She needs to know the count and know when to throw a pitch for a ball and when to throw a pitch for a strike. There is no reason she shouldn't be throwing that curve/rise/drop for a strike with a 3-1 count, that isn't the fault of the guy calling pitches.

-W

Originally Posted by CoogansBluff

Why are high school umpires less experienced? Do the top TB umpires not call HS games? If not, why not?

My guess is that there are a couple of reasons that top TB umpires don't call games in most places... First, when a HS game is in backwater California a "top" umpire isn't going to travel to the game for the little they will get paid; second, in backwater California there are probably no top TB umpires that live close.

I know that there are HS games officiated by VERY GOOD umpires, it's just that most HS's don't have access to the good ones for the reasons avove (and other reasons).