High school coach calamity

[GOINGDEEP]

Mine is DP when not pitching, which gives her an advantage when she is needed to come in. Once she sees a starter getting into trouble she will start stretching in the dugout. We also have a pitching cage connected to the dugout, which helps again in our situation, and she will do a few quick warm ups even before the coach is smart enough to pull the starter. I call it a "little nudge" in the right direction.

 

[starsnuffer]

BS. These are kids and the coach has job to do.

First of all, the coach should inform the kid they may go in at any time if that is even on the radar. Then the kid can take responsibility to stay warm. Many HS pitchers NEVER pitch, but play lots of other places, also requiring warm up and concentration.

This is not about the kid handling pressure. It is in the job description that the coach plans warm ups for the team and understand the game (not just doing what he or she is used to, which is lazy and incompetent).

If you can't you should be fired as a coach and if it were my kid, I would be in the AD's office (letting my kid talk to either one first).

In a perfect world, you'd be right. Unfortunatly, by the time you go through the process of getting a HS coach fired, your kid would miss a year or two of school, and it's likely the next coach wouldn't want her either, cos, you know, her parents got the last guy fired.

So, in the more realistic universe where the sky isn't purple with pink polka dots and the stands are not filled with rainbow farting unicorns, if the kid wants to pitch, then the kid needs to learn to do everything that they can do to be successful at pitching.

If the #2 is in the outfield, she can probably get away with throwing a few underhand tosses in between innings to her warmup partners instead of making every throw overhand, for instance. She can also practice her spins into her own glove at pretty much any time. Granted, it's unlikely that all her pitches will be warmed up, but if she's at HS age she wouldn't be a good pitcher if she couldn't pinpoint her FB and change-up, so stick to those and she's likely to do just fine.

-W

 

[Jojo]

I've seen some pitchers who only need 4 warm ups, and then some who need 400.

Before my DD tore her cuff it took her half a day to warm up. ( little sarcasm ) Not sure how or why, but now she can be loose in 5-10 pitches.

Your HS coach may be use to pitchers who need little warm up time, this should be a lesson to him and her to communicate their needs for the better of the individual and the team. He also needs to learn to stall for a few extra warm ups when bringing in a relief.

GOINGDEEP I've regularly observed this, those that require very little and those like your daughter--my DD was the same way, I used to say she was like an old Chevy truck, make sure you go out and warm her up for a good long time if you want to get anything out of her.

 

[NVfishing]

I just went to a game in the quarter finals of a state tournament. On one team is a junior pitcher I train who is their starter. On the other team is a freshman pitcher I also just started training who is their number 2, (their number one is a senior). The freshman was put in center field because she is a talented, athletic player, (typical of most pitchers). In the top of the seventh the score was 1-0 in favor of the freshman's team. The lead off hitter for the other team hits a double and the coach immediately comes out and decides to pull her pitcher and put the freshman in. Mind you this is a single elimination tournament, and she has not warmed up since before the game started, 1 1/2 hrs ago. The coach says to her,"No pressure, just strike them out" and leaves the mound. She gets four warm ups and she is expected to save the game. Well I don't need to tell you the outcome of this. She gives up two runs before she gets out of the inning, her team does nothing in the bottom of the seventh and they are eliminated from the tournament. The freshman pitcher felt terrible that she let her team down. Her father and myself were furious that a coach would be that unthinking as to set her up to fail along with her team. I wanted to go over to the coach and give her my opinion as to her performance but thought better of it. Why would a coach who obviously played at the college level, not know that the number 2 should be on the sidelines warming up at the start of every inning that they are in the field. If she is a good hitter they could have used her as the designated player. I worst part of all this is I do know the coach and have trained some of her pitchers in the past. I am just not sure I should address this, seeing that I will be training the freshman next year and presumably for the remainder of her high school years. I do not want her to be affected because of anything I would say. What do you think of all this.

I think this is the reason why most people bag on high school softball. The HS coaches don't seem as capable as the TB coaches.

 

[southwestsoftball]

It isnt any your business. The coach obviously thought putting in the freshmen gave the team the best chance to win the game. Whether she was right nor not is again none of your business and maybe it was a bad move but again the coach made a decision she thought was best for the team. Her job isnt to appease you or even that freshmen. Her job is to win games and do what she thinks will win games. She did that and it turned out, not to work. Your not the Athletic Director, so you cant fire her. Honestly, you saying anything at all isnt going to solve anything and nothing positive will come of it.

Do you know the team's #1 picther ahead of the kid you work with? The coach sees both and knows both. I would say she is more qualified to make that judgement than you are and again maybe she was wrong but hindsight is 20/20.

Honestly, what an amazing learning experience for that freshmen. What an amazing opportunity. If she cant get over something liek this than she should probably quite pitching because its a roller coaster ride and more dips are likely ahead. You have to be mentally tough to be a great player in any sport. You have to be mentally tough to succeed in life at all. If this event crushes her soul and ruins her the way your making out to be, then she mhas MUCH bigger problems than softball ahead of her. Sports teach life lessons and if a kid cant handle giving up a couple runs, then the poor kid is in for a rude awakening in life when real problems come at her. Im gonna go out on a limb and say she will get over it and she will come back stronger and more mentally tough.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Pitcher rule #1: When asked to pitch, always respond with, "Put me in coach, I'm ready" (this rule ensures confidence for both coach and pitcher and gets the pitcher plenty of playing time).

Pitcher rule #2: Always be ready to pitch.

Never count on someone else to enable your own success. Always be responsible for your own success.

-W

Exactly!

From my perspective, the original post smacks of inexperience, ignorance and lack of accountability.

The better a back-up pitcher can be in terms of coming in semi-cold, the more opportunities they will be given and the more non-pitching playing time they will receive.

The more a back-up pitcher whines about needing to be out of the game for ample preparation, the more likely they are to get what they are asking for … i.e., less overall playing time. Is that really what is desired? For some pitchers that’s fine … but for those that wish to also have a full experience of fielding/hitting, it isn’t what is desired.

Are there tricks of the trade to stay warmed up? There certainly are.

Are there activities that can be performed throughout the game that keep a pitcher semi-warm in the event that they have to come in? Most definitely.

Does a proficient pitcher need 6 or more pitches? Absolutely not! Those requiring long warm-up periods might want to re-visit things a bit.

Does a pitcher coming in cold have a go-to pitch that they can locate well. Is it something they can throw effectively while they are in a sense continuing to warm up?

Are certain pitch strategies advisable for a pitcher coming in semi-cold?

Part of me wonders if the poster is simply whining about failing. Hopefully not … but if a coach were to hear him whine like this, then the likely answer to appease him would result in the kid receiving less overall playing time so that they could be put into the game as a pitcher in the event that was desired … which may not be the case. Would the back-up pitcher really wish to be a pitcher if it meant giving up the rest of their game activities?

 

[luvsb]

Playing HS softball in the northeast, you tend to have a short bench with quality players. If you are a good fielder, hitter and pitcher you will be in the field. The #2 pitcher always comes in and throws between at bats. They are there to be ready because anything can happen.

 

[ElmoBlatch]

Rainbow farting unicorns gets a Thanks every time. Well played.

 

[MandM]

I would agree with many of the postings- with regard to a pitcher always needing to be prepared to go in. That being said, its not like the pitcher can go out of the dugout (at least on our TB team) without the coaches OK to do snaps and circles into a glove, and its not like the pitcher has a ball in left field to do glove snaps between batters, so a coach (IMO) has to at least enable the girl to do the things she needs to do to stay warm. I would be happy if my DD's pitching coach recognized a problem and wanted to intervene on behalf of his/her student-. So how best to accomplish this?

I would definitely wait until the sting has gone out of the loss- even a couple of weeks. Then, depending on your relationship with the coach, and you indicate you have one, you could broach the subject as your own observation that you thought the pitcher (frosh) might not have performed at the level she was capable of- and that you were thinking of things that might help her perform - when faced with the same situation in the future- particularly by staying warm= I would try to enlist the HS coach to think about ways that could help the pitchers to do that- so that together you develop a strategy that can benefit your student.

i think that it is nice that you are trying to help your student.

 

[Coach Dad 01]

The old None ya comes to mind. You were there to watch a good game not to coach. Would we have heard anything if the Frosh came in and struck out the side and won the game? Probably only the soft woosh of the farting unicorns!