Coach, do your pitchers wear masks?

[GunnerShotgun]

Never really understood why we make girls wear a mask, but same age group baseball they don’t wear mask? Why?
Maybe we aren’t teaching the girls how to play defense very well? i see them wearing them in the outfield?

Not excusing the behavior but it was my understanding that the pitching distance in fastpitch is smaller plus the bats are hotter. When you combine those two things you really should be wearing a mask. Anyone who thinks otherwise should stand on the pitcher's plate and let me hit ground balls at them with a fastpitch bat.

It has nothing to do with technique and practice, it's about physics.

 

[Rolling Hard]

(Stupid) Coach: Hey Jenny, why do you wear a face mask at SS... are you afraid of the ball?
(Intelligent)Jenny: No not at all (stupid) coach and this mask makes me more fearless knowing that if a bad hop hits me in the face the ball won't crush my eye socket or bust my beautiful teeth that my loving and caring parents spent thousands of dollars on.
Remember hockey goalies didn't wear mask long ago. Evolve Neanderthal Coaches.
Plus the ball is harder, bat is hotter and pitching is faster than when you use to play.

I have seen multiple players return after their first HS season no longer wearing their fielding mask because their HS coach doesn't like them. I ask the parent, hey why is Jenny wearing her mask? Her HS coach doesn't like them. I have seen these player now(without mask) more tentative and less aggressive fielding GBs.

Can somebody give me ONE good reason to not wear a mask?

 

[radness]

It has nothing to do with technique and practice, it's about physics.

Absolutely the closer distance reaction time matters. Especially coming from throwing a pitch.

Question, asking because I see that as peculiar you saying it has nothing to do with technique and practice,
Are you saying that you don't think practicing would help in reaction time and mechanical ability to defend?

IMO critically necessary to practice.

Definitely see some pitchers are much better Fielding Defenders than others.

 

[radness]

$300 dollar bat created to smash a ball that was created to be a rocket.
...$40 face mask.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

Absolutely the closer distance reaction time matters. Especially coming from throwing a pitch.

Question, asking because I see that as peculiar you saying it has nothing to do with technique and practice,
Are you saying that you don't think practicing would help in reaction time and mechanical ability to defend?

IMO critically necessary to practice.

Definitely see some pitchers are much better Fielding Defenders than others.

I am saying that out of self-preservation you are going to defend yourself if a ball is hit at you. Some balls are hit with such velocity there is very little or no defense from them. There is no amount of practice that you can do to protect yourself defensively. These balls are rare but do happen if you play enough softball.

This is completely separate from fielding the position of the pitchers' circle for defensive purposes.

Don't conflate the two.

 

[radness]

I am saying that out of self-preservation you are going to defend yourself if a ball is hit at you. Some balls are hit with such velocity there is very little or no defense from them. There is no amount of practice that you can do to protect yourself defensively. These balls are rare but do happen if you play enough softball.

This is completely separate from fielding the position of the pitchers' circle for defensive purposes.

Don't conflate the two.

Okay got it! Even with practicing there are going to be extreme occurrences in the game. Yes and bad bounces.

Brings my point about practicing in the circle that we can minimize the amount of Getting Pummeled By The Ball by
Maximizing our potential to use our glove. Practicing to minimize bad occurrences in the game.

 

[chinamigarden]

I am saying that out of self-preservation you are going to defend yourself if a ball is hit at you. Some balls are hit with such velocity there is very little or no defense from them. There is no amount of practice that you can do to protect yourself defensively. These balls are rare but do happen if you play enough softball.

This is completely separate from fielding the position of the pitchers' circle for defensive purposes.

Don't conflate the two.

There is a better way to defend yourself.

Some pitchers are ready to defend or protect themselves and others stand there and watch the pitch. The pitcher who is ready to defend is going to be in a better position to protect herself. When I worked with pitchers we always tried to develop the mindset that the pitcher should always expect every pitch to be hit back at them.

 

[BillyB]

It's cheap, it's cheaper than surgery, and it doesn't impede how you play. Simple concept to protect the player at any position from rockets, to bad hops to potential collisions.

 

[LEsoftballdad]

For the record, my daughter will never take the circle in a game without a mask. This was drilled into her at a very young age, and she feels it's part of her uniform now. She also wears a pitching heart guard. When I see a pitcher without a mask, I question the parents judgement. As someone said, a $40 mask protects against $4,000 of surgery.

A good friend's daughter refused to wear a mask after 10U. He and his wife allow it, which is their choice, but their reasoning that it made her uncomfortable at 10 years old was silly. My daughter wanted to drive the car at 10,but I certainly wasn't going to let her.

For me, the biggest area of concern is from the knees to the feet. It's hard to get the glove low enough on a hard hit ball right back to the circle. In fact, my daughter has gotten nailed in the shin twice. Both times missed the bone, but I suspect the first time would have cracked her shin had it not missed by 2 inches. If she didn't have such enormous calves, I'd make her wear shin guards.

 

[Strike2]

Some parents don't care if their kid wears a mask or not. Heck, some apparently don't care if their kid wears a seatbelt. Some want their kid to wear a mask, but look to the coach to enforce it.

Regardless, I see more pitchers wearing them, even in college. The "they should be taught to field better" argument is a time-worn classic, and also very stupid considering the closeness of the circle and the ever-improving hitting ability, even at younger ages. Jordy Bahl wears one, and she's clearly an outstanding fielder. If someone like that believes it's worthwhile, that should cause anyone half-way intelligent to at least consider it.