Swinging at bad pitches

[heyray]

I coach a middle school team (8th graders) with no travel or City Softball League experience. The question is with my assistant coach on how he wants to discipline players for swinging at bad pitches. My problem is that currently I have 11 players on the team and benching a player for swinging at bad pitches would make matters worse. During the week we average batting practice about 3 times a week. We were able to borrow a pitching machine for about a month and that did help somewhat. However, my assistant does not think that I am being hard enough on our team swinging at bad pitches and that "I should make them run" to send a strong message. I told him that we need to keep teaching batting fundamentals...BUT is he right? should there be some kind of "discipline" for swinging at pitches over their head from time to time. I keep thinking it is more of a coaching problem than a player problem and I do take responsibility for that, but I am not sure how to handle this issue with a team with little background in softball and my assistant coach. Thanks for your input

 

[James Smith]

If I had a choice I would rather the players swing at bad pitches then let good pitches go by. I am really opposed to running laps for something like you are describing. Next thing you know your players are going to fall into the not swing category so they do not need to run laps.

You can work on this with soft toss or even pitching up close if you have a screen or something else to hide behind.

2 years ago during practice her HC told her to swing at everything because they are free. We work too hard on her swinging at strikes and told her to ignore him. Make it a priority in all your hitting drills, swing at strikes and keep working on it.

 

[canyonjoe]

If you make them run for swinging at bad pitches it will get them to stop swinging at bad pitches. Unfortunately it will get them to stop swinging at all pitches. Nothing pleases coaches more than to watch hitters take strike 3 down the middle over and over again.

I don't think a pitching machine will help much in learning the strikezone unless it's real inconsistent. I suggest Front toss from 20 feet with some balls mixed in. Also really stress hitting to the count.

 

[NVfishing]

It sounds like a lack of experience problem. I don't believe in running girls to send a message. That will just make them resent the coaches and shut down to your coaching.

 

[guero_gordo]

The risk is making them non-swingers, when what you want is selective hitters. Keep it light, make fun of them, get them to laugh at themselves for swinging at garbage.
Front toss is probably the best way to mix in good and bad pitches. I've recently been able to resume this with DD and it has really been helpful both for laying off junk and being ready for the few strikes I actually throw.

 

[CoogansBluff]

However, my assistant does not think that I am being hard enough on our team swinging at bad pitches and that "I should make them run" to send a strong message.

I suggest making your assistant run laps for failing to provide useful assistance.

Pitch selection is a challenge even for experienced players. It might not be as obvious when you're watching an experienced 14U travel team, but they make more subtle pitch selection mistakes that are huge in their at-bats. Your players are not making these poor decisions to be defiant. They're not making them because they don't care. They're making them because plate discipline is hard for them. If it were easy, then you wouldn't have a whole team struggling with it.

I'll let others provide tips on how to improve it, but the use of 'punishment' is a failure to understand the problem, IMO. There already are natural consequences at work. It's fun to hit the ball. It's not fun to strike out. It's fun to bat higher in the order. It's not as fun to bat lower. That's plenty of motivation for them. Trust that the kids want to do well and teach them as best you can.

 

[PA SB Dad]

Make your AC run laps for every stupid suggestion he comes up with (starting with the one in the OP).

 

[SBmom8992]

I have a question regarding what you are considering bad pitches. Are they blatantly outside the strike zone? I ask because in our last minors game the coaches agreed along with the umpire to expand the strike zone / make it more generous to avoid a walkfest. I discussed this with my girls ahead of the game that if the ball was close, take a swing. Amazingly, it was our best hitting game this season. Twice DD got up and had a called first strike that was high. She looked at me coaching 3rd base and I just told her it wasn't her strike to hit. She wound up hitting the next ball in the "zone" to get 2 hits.

I guess my point is that sometimes hitters need to swing at bad pitches to adjust to the ump's strike zone but not sure if that's the case in your example.

 

[redhotcoach]

Always tell them....reinforce....encourage what you do want. Never bring up or focus on what you don't want. IE: "swing at good pitches"...don't say anything about "don't swing at bad pitches." Help them find "their pitch", them help them own that location. They should be going up with the attitude and self talk like: "oh she better not leave one up in the zone, I will make her pay for that."



Also, ditch the pitching machine and pitch, or underhand chuck it to them. The machine teach nothing about picking location.

 

[OzOl]

Pitch selection requires confidence in the box, and nothing destroys confidence in young players like punishment.
I would spend more time on facing pitches in practice to get them comfortable in their pitch selection and to know where their "spot" is.
Maybe get them to verbalise with a yes, yes, YES or yes, yes NO when facing pitches to show them that they know what pitches to leave and what pitches to hit.