when do most coaches stop giving signals to C/P

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May 6, 2015
2,397
113
Dd is a first year 12u, when is it typical for coaches to stop giving signals to C/P, and have the catcher call the pitches? DD did one tournament were in July where she was guesting on a then first year 10u team (as a second year 10u) because they were down several players, and she ended up calling every game she caught, and she did a pretty good job I thought and really liked it. came about mostly because the HC had not really been giving signals, regular pitchers on that team did not have the command and pitches that DD and the guest Ps playing on this team did.
 

Strike2

Allergic to BS
Nov 14, 2014
2,044
113
12U is where most pitchers start having decent command and can throw more than one pitch effectively. That is the point where most coaches START calling pitches. The more versatile and accurate a pitcher is, the more calling pitches makes sense. Eventually, you may reach a point as they get older when letting the P/C occasionally call their own pitches can be valuable to their growth as players. However, coaches are in the dugout to pay attention to the other team's hitters and identify weaknesses that likely aren't apparent to a teenage pitcher or catcher. If you watched the softball world series, I don't believe I saw any team that wasn't calling pitches from the dugout.
 
Jul 16, 2013
4,659
113
Pennsylvania
Depends.... I have coached a few really good catchers over the years. In my opinion, it depends on the catcher's personality and desire.

At 14u I considered having our catcher start calling pitches. She was very good behind the plate and was a very smart kid (just graduated high school 2nd in her class). But she didn't want the added responsibility of catching. She felt it was too much for her, and I respected her decision. During friendlies and weekday league games I would ask her to give it a shot, and she did. But she never developed a desire to do it on a regular basis. She developed into an All-Area team catcher but decided she did not want to play in college.

At 16u (different team), we had an even better catcher. She was also extremely smart with good overall skills. One major difference is that this girl's dad was a D1 catcher back in the day. Her softball IQ is off the charts compared to other players I know. I asked her if she wanted to give it a try. She reluctantly agreed but very quickly developed a knack and an interest in it. She has been calling pitches for 3 years now. She was offered a spot on a D1 team but turned it down (various reasons). She will be playing softball and field hockey at a D3. That college coach came to see her at one of the showcases we attended. He commented to her and I about her pitch calling and seemed impressed with her responses. From what I know she will not be calling in college but the coach seemed to like the fact that she was able and comfortable with it. In my opinion this catcher could have called pitchers well before 16u, but wasn't given the opportunity.

While I was an assistant for DD's high school team I witnessed another example that didn't go to well. The head coach decided to give pitch calling duties to that catcher. She seemed to be interested and actually was doing well. But her and the pitcher could not seem to get on the same page. When DD pitched, all was good. But when the upper classman pitched, not so much. Pitcher started to bicker about the pitch calling. Catcher became less and less comfortable, and it started impacting other aspects of her game. Ultimately that experiment was ended and pitch calling duties were given to the other assistant. (NOTE; Head coach wanted me to call pitches, since I have some experience with it. Plus DD was one of the pitchers. But I just figured it would be a bad decision because I was confident the other pitcher would blame me everytime something went wrong. "He's calling bad pitches for me so that his daughter can pitch more", blah, blah, blah. That pitcher had a history of such comments, so I didn't want to get involved.
 
May 23, 2015
999
63
The problem you have is the coach doesn't have enough game IQ to call pitches, but does it anyway. They also can't coach a catcher, so it's much easier to shout out numbers. I'm constantly amazed at the poor quality of coaches out there. Even on big teams
 
Jul 16, 2008
1,520
48
Oregon
The problem you have is the coach doesn't have enough game IQ to call pitches, but does it anyway. They also can't coach a catcher, so it's much easier to shout out numbers. I'm constantly amazed at the poor quality of coaches out there. Even on big teams

Interesting take... so all the teams in the WCWS have poor quality coaches? I did not see 1 team in the WCWS where the catcher was calling pitches so please explain your position.
 
May 17, 2012
2,804
113
The problem you have is the coach doesn't have enough game IQ to call pitches, but does it anyway. They also can't coach a catcher, so it's much easier to shout out numbers. I'm constantly amazed at the poor quality of coaches out there. Even on big teams

The problem you have is parents know so little about the game their daughter is playing that they can't even discern good coaching from bad coaching.
 
Jun 27, 2018
291
28
That’s what is confusing. It’s great that catchers learn the hitters and learn when to call certain pitches. But what are they working toward? From what I understand though, the catchers don’t usually call pitches in college?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
Dd is a first year 12u, when is it typical for coaches to stop giving signals to C/P, and have the catcher call the pitches? DD did one tournament were in July where she was guesting on a then first year 10u team (as a second year 10u) because they were down several players, and she ended up calling every game she caught, and she did a pretty good job I thought and really liked it. came about mostly because the HC had not really been giving signals, regular pitchers on that team did not have the command and pitches that DD and the guest Ps playing on this team did.

Almost never, but it isn't the most important thing anyway. I can't really think of more than a couple of teams in college where the pitching calls are not in the end coming from the dugout. It is GREAT when you have one - but it is not a skill that is required and even when you have one, it is still should be a joint effort

The skill ALL pitchers, catchers and coaches NEED to learn is that pitch calling is a TEAM EFFORT. Catchers and pitchers should be openly providing input and feedback to the coach, should have the confidence to shake off a bad call and so forth. And coaches should be open to hearing it all and implement their feedback. Everything from batters stance, what pitches are working, what strategies they see, types of batters, etc, etc. Coaches have access to pitch charts/scouting/type of hitter/feel for how their pitcher is feeling/game situation, etc - and more and more info the higher the level or depth of competition.

DD's travel and HS coaches call the games but what pitches are called are based on built up understanding, conversations between innings and in game feedback on what is working/not working. Catcher and pitcher will waive off a pitch when needed - it used to happen all the time but at this point it might happen once or twice a weekend.

When my DD guests she calls her own game as a pitcher and but she loves having her whole battery and coaches involved.
 

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