Cuz, my man, you worry too much.
a) Make sure she understands how to determine the umpire's strike zone. She has to actively determine the strike zone. At the end of the first inning, ask her to draw the strike zone for you. Have her tell you what the strike zone...don't tell her what it is, get her to do it for you.
b) Look at the game unemotionally. Look at the specifics. Which batter? Which pitch? Where did her pitching go down the tubes?
What you'll probably find is one mistake which led to the disaster. Young pitchers don't "let it go" when they make a mistake. They dwell on it, and that mistake affects their performance. (This is going to sound stupid, and it is...but have her sing "Let it Go" from Frozen when she makes a mistake. Stupid, stupid, stupid...but it works.)
The reality is that she is going to mistakes during the game. No matter how good she is, she will make mistakes. It is dealing with those mistakes that separates the good pitchers from the mediocre ones.
My DD threw the ball away in the 7th inning of a big game once. She got really upset about it and ended up losing the game. But, if you watched the game, it wasn't that mistake that lost the game...it was how that mistake affected her pitching for the remainder of the game.
My wife taught with a former MLB pitcher. He was a journeyman pitcher, but did win a world series game. I asked him to talk to her about how to handle the situation.
He said, "I've been there before. You have to forget it. When you pitch, all there is is the ball and the catcher's mitt. Nothing else exists."
a) Make sure she understands how to determine the umpire's strike zone. She has to actively determine the strike zone. At the end of the first inning, ask her to draw the strike zone for you. Have her tell you what the strike zone...don't tell her what it is, get her to do it for you.
b) Look at the game unemotionally. Look at the specifics. Which batter? Which pitch? Where did her pitching go down the tubes?
What you'll probably find is one mistake which led to the disaster. Young pitchers don't "let it go" when they make a mistake. They dwell on it, and that mistake affects their performance. (This is going to sound stupid, and it is...but have her sing "Let it Go" from Frozen when she makes a mistake. Stupid, stupid, stupid...but it works.)
The reality is that she is going to mistakes during the game. No matter how good she is, she will make mistakes. It is dealing with those mistakes that separates the good pitchers from the mediocre ones.
My DD threw the ball away in the 7th inning of a big game once. She got really upset about it and ended up losing the game. But, if you watched the game, it wasn't that mistake that lost the game...it was how that mistake affected her pitching for the remainder of the game.
My wife taught with a former MLB pitcher. He was a journeyman pitcher, but did win a world series game. I asked him to talk to her about how to handle the situation.
He said, "I've been there before. You have to forget it. When you pitch, all there is is the ball and the catcher's mitt. Nothing else exists."
Last edited:
