Should pitchers bat?

[coach james]

My dd pitched average- slightly above average, but can hit like a grown man. She has quit pitching and currently is a clean up hitter and 3rd or 1st baseman for her HS team. We always worked on hitting, fielding, overhand throwing as a warm up into the pitching lesson.

 

[canyonjoe]

I don't even know why you would want to play if you don't get hit.

 

[riseball]

I don't even know why you would want to play if you don't get hit.

Anybody can hit. Only the few can pitch.

 

[Jojo]

I agree your DD is way too young to leave out her hitting abilities.

I changed my DD's hitting style when she was 14 to become more of a power hitter and everyone said I was crazy because she was a pitcher. But when her high school team made the play-off runs her bat contributed greatly to their wins.
Her college coach who saw one of her high school games remarked on her AB contributing to the win in the game she watched.

And even though her college coach left her out of the line-up when she pitched, occasionally she was put into the line-up to stay in the game.

 

[JJS]

Anybody can hit. Only the few can pitch.

DD is a very good pitcher. Loves to pitch. She is an exceptional athlete also though. If you told her she couldn't hit and would sit when she wasn't pitching, she would never step in the circle again.

We are getting to the age of making decisions for college. It will be interesting if she decides to play as a position player or a pitcher. While the fan in me would like her to choose position player, the parent in me wants her to choose pitcher for the extra scholarship $$.

Nothing would be better than handing her a bank statement with her college fund still intact when she graduates college because she didn't end up needing to use it.

 

[bucket pinata]

My DD pitches right and hits lefty, she slaps and hits for power she also has natural speed. 2.7 home to first. we have already had the conversation about her being a great pitcher because she works hard at it. but she is a natural hitter where it comes easy to her and more than likely her bat will be her ticket to college if she gets that lucky. She lives and breathes pitching but sometimes you have to with what god gave you.

 

[33pitchfast]

I've heard this about not playing other sports but never to only play half of one in HS

My daughter does hit and hits near 400 in travel ball, she hits every day of the week except 1. She pitches every day. I was only talking in the terms of being great pitcher. Also she swims on the varsity, just to be strong for pitching. She swam 4 hours a day for 4 months. She is not a great swimmer but when they swim just legs no arms no one can compete against her. Im just saying she and I would like the ability not to hit. No she has to though. She didnt hit for 4 months while swimming was going on. Prob. hitting better right now than ever. I have looked at stats for a ton of college teams stats in D1. There are some who hit and hit great. But look at the pitchers on most of those teams and see how many pitchers actually hit. Looks like only the pitchers who hit plus 350 are batting at most d1 colleges. If she can improve on other batters on the team by all means bat her. Also my daughter will play where ever she is asked to play, she has even offered to catch, when she was the best option due to injury. You can ask coach James she filled in for him as catcher when he had 2 injured. At that point she had not caught in 2 or 3 years, and didnt do a bad job. I think she caught 4 or 5 games for him.

 

[CoachScott]

Let her swing away. She needs to hit. There is enough reasons listed above.

Oh riseball. I believe Ted Williams would not concur with your statement.

“I think without question the hardest single thing to do in sport is to hit a baseball”.

 

[riseball]

DD is a very good pitcher. Loves to pitch. She is an exceptional athlete also though. If you told her she couldn't hit and would sit when she wasn't pitching, she would never step in the circle again.

We are getting to the age of making decisions for college. It will be interesting if she decides to play as a position player or a pitcher. While the fan in me would like her to choose position player, the parent in me wants her to choose pitcher for the extra scholarship $$.

Nothing would be better than handing her a bank statement with her college fund still intact when she graduates college because she didn't end up needing to use it.

If this is the case, more than likely she will both hit and pitch in college. Some of the best pitchers in college hit, and some do not. If you have the skills they will put them to use.

 

[33pitchfast]

Harder than fastpitch pitching???? If that where the case most games would be 1-0.