Question for 12U TB Coaches

Eric F said:

We did hybrid coach-pitch in 8U (coach pitches after 4 balls) for the first half of the season. Second half was all player-pitch. As I understand it, this is pretty standard for CA.

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Standard for Southern CA, Northern CA typically does what you did in the first half throughout the year, and into All Stars. Winter Ball and All Stars limit the coach pitch to the number of strikes remaining in the count.

Eric F said:

It makes me sad that girls who are going into 12U haven't ever faced live pitching. Machine-pitch also breeds a flock of 12U pitchers that are just figuring things out for the first time. SMH

As for the OP's question...The BEST thing you can do is get her hitting moving balls. Lot of them. As often as possible. A real pitcher is ideal, but you front-tossing from 15-20' (with a net for protection!) is also very productive. Learning how to make speed and location adjustments will be her struggle.

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It makes me sad too. I never realized that it wasn't the norm until I joined DFP. I wish I would have found this site two years ago so I could have started with DD then and gotten her on a TB team instead of dealing with Rec ball. My sweet little cousin plays 14U so I might see if I can get them together. Maybe it could benefit both of them.

10U for us was all player pitch, lot of walk feasts. At least she has been hitting, even it was off a machine.

She is young, she will be fine with a little practice.

8U travel in the southeast is all coach pitch but our rec league was kid pitch for three innings. If a girl walked four or hit two in an inning the coach would finish that inning. Coach pitch isn't that bad if the coach is preparing the girls to hit live pitching. DD's coaches always threw flat balls instead of the arching slow pitch style. This was a big help transitioning to player pitch.

Elk Grove Hurricane said:

Standard for Southern CA, Northern CA typically does what you did in the first half throughout the year, and into All Stars. Winter Ball and All Stars limit the coach pitch to the number of strikes remaining in the count.

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Our 8U limits coach pitches to number of strikes left in the count, same way as you. Interesting that NoCal and SoCal are different (I'm assuming you're under USA/ASA rules). I'm a big fan of introducing player pitching in 8U. I think it' very good for development on both sides of the ball.

Our 8U did kid-pitch first inning and then coach-pitch the rest. 10U started kid-pitch. When DD#1 was in 10U for one season, it was the worst - since the pitchers weren't great. Luckily when DD#2 got into 10U, the pitching was much better and games were still exciting. When DD#1 was playing, there was talk about allowing coach-pitch on a walk if they wanted. I'm glad they never did that.
It's seems so odd to me that coach-pitch is part of TB - I honestly thought that TB wouldn't even start until the girls played the entire game themselves. And having a machine out there just seems strange to me - since I feel like the cord or machine would just get in the way?
Interesting how rules are different in different areas..

from what I see, it's mostly a timing, faster pitch issue. the 'good" pitchers at this level are usually just faster pitchers than what the girls are used to seeing. when I use the pitching machine, I will vary the pitch speed and at least make them aware of timing. it's not perfect but it helps. we also use the yes, yes, yes/no mental chant, focusing on what I call "disciplined aggression."