Pitching for weak contact vs. strikeouts in 12u

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Jun 8, 2016
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I am going to bet that for girls (or boys for that matter) that never got to call their own game, this is not as large of an issue as compared to someone who 'grew up' calling their own game.
Probably. I don't have an issue with pitches being called from the dugout but just wondered if elite, pitchers, who are aware of how hitters are reacting to certain pitches that are being thrown and what kind of stuff they have on a particular day, ever run into issues with their pitch callers. I am sure there are conversations in the dugout before the game and in between innings which would resolve much of that I guess.
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
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Probably. I don't have an issue with pitches being called from the dugout but just wondered if elite, pitchers, who are aware of how hitters are reacting to certain pitches that are being thrown and what kind of stuff they have on a particular day, ever run into issues with their pitch callers. I am sure there are conversations in the dugout before the game and in between innings which would resolve much of that I guess.

Interesting thought.

Since I love baseball, played baseball and am super smart, a lot of that rubbed off on my DD.

Ok, in all seriousness my daughter is pretty good and is interested in when and why we call certain pitches. And I enjoy explaining it to her. I too wonder if one day she'll be best qualified to call pitches.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
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Dallas, Texas
My basic coaching philosophy is to always tell kids and the parents the truth, no matter what their age.

They aren’t always mature enough to understand that the outcome of the pitch wasn’t necessarily a reflection on their ability.

???

The outcome of an at-bat is a direct reflection of the ability of the pitcher. That is the whole point. That is why kids love to play the "pitching game"--to determine if the pitcher is better than the batter.

The statement "weak ground ball is as good as a strikeout" is an insult to the intelligence of 10YOA kids. How many times do your think your DD has seen a player pick up slow ground ball and chuck it over the fence? How many times has she seen the SS do an impersonation of an open door?

The dribbler to the SS that results with the batter crossing the plate is so endemic that it has an MLB name: The Little League Home Run.

10YOA kids understand that a strikeout is better than popup, a popup is better than a ground ball, and a ground ball is better than a flyball to the outfield.

It is not a big deal if the batter hits the ball...that is why there are fielders. But, don't tell fibs to the kids because you are afraid of offending their delicate sensibilities.
 
Apr 16, 2013
1,113
83
Probably. I don't have an issue with pitches being called from the dugout but just wondered if elite, pitchers, who are aware of how hitters are reacting to certain pitches that are being thrown and what kind of stuff they have on a particular day, ever run into issues with their pitch callers. I am sure there are conversations in the dugout before the game and in between innings which would resolve much of that I guess.
Coming from our team, 18u, the #1 pitcher is a D1 commit. Her usual catcher is her sister, and the head coach her father. The coach still calls pitches often. However, the pitcher will shake off the call fairly regularly. Sometimes when the pitcher and catcher can't come to a consensus they have a quick meeting.
 
Aug 29, 2018
83
8
Our team came in first place in the silver bracket. We won 4 games, lost 1 and tied 1 . Not bad for a 1st tournament. The girls wore wrist bands like college players which they thought was fun. The coach called numbers to them on the wrist band, and then they threw a pitch. I have no idea if they were actually throwing what he wanted but they all did pretty good.

I’m going to ask him if they were able to execute what he wanted. Some of the pitchers walked a lot of players. I dont know if it was their skill level or an attempt to try to throw what he was asking them to throw.

The
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
Our team came in first place in the silver bracket. We won 4 games, lost 1 and tied 1 . Not bad for a 1st tournament. The girls wore wrist bands like college players which they thought was fun. The coach called numbers to them on the wrist band, and then they threw a pitch. I have no idea if they were actually throwing what he wanted but they all did pretty good.

I’m going to ask him if they were able to execute what he wanted. Some of the pitchers walked a lot of players. I dont know if it was their skill level or an attempt to try to throw what he was asking them to throw.

The


We worked with our 10U girls last year with traditional signs and armbands. Wanted them to have experience with both. I actually think we're going to stick with traditional signs.
 
Dec 11, 2010
4,713
113
What do you guys think about the pitcher calling her own pitchers from the rubber using arm bands?

The PGF 16u champions did that. I think there are a lot of things to like about that. Pitcher called a number, catcher threw traditional signs back.

Man oh man, talk about breaking the unwritten rules of softball though. Some people I discussed this with had a full on freak out about it.
 
Aug 1, 2019
962
93
MN
What do you guys think about the pitcher calling her own pitchers from the rubber using arm bands?

The PGF 16u champions did that. I think there are a lot of things to like about that. Pitcher called a number, catcher threw traditional signs back.

Man oh man, talk about breaking the unwritten rules of softball though. Some people I discussed this with had a full on freak out about it.
My DD did this for HS ball. Situational pitching and reading batters were foreign concepts to her catcher and not well understood by the coach. Opposing coaches would get all excited and start scribbling down the numbers thinking they would crack the code. But with a number set that rotated every inning, we just kind of chuckled at their efforts.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
What do you guys think about the pitcher calling her own pitchers from the rubber using arm bands?

The PGF 16u champions did that. I think there are a lot of things to like about that. Pitcher called a number, catcher threw traditional signs back.

Man oh man, talk about breaking the unwritten rules of softball though. Some people I discussed this with had a full on freak out about it.
At the end of the day pitchers do call their own game in MLB as they always have the option to shake off the catcher. I don't really care one way or the other who calls the game as the long as the person doing it knows what the heck they are doing ;)
 
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