Batters crowding the plate 14u+

Little Angels Softball said:

which is what most PCs are teaching their pupils to throw.

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I've noticed that. I've always liked inside pitches, train mine, mostly inside. When we work batter situations, I always ask them what they generally throw in games, and most say their coaches call outside.

We have one team in our rec league that every kid is toe to the plate. I know the team is first year AAA, so mostly nine year olds. I don't know how DD has not hit one yet? But, they start out toes to the plate and end up backing out. LOL.

My 12yo DD's pitching coach preaches for her to pitch inside. You can't give that part of the plate up

Little Angels Softball said:

My girls do it. We're taking away the outside pitch, which is what most PCs are teaching their pupils to throw.

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Jojo said:

I've noticed that. I've always liked inside pitches, train mine, mostly inside. When we work batter situations, I always ask them what they generally throw in games, and most say their coaches call outside.

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Don't want to sidetrack the thread but I think this is a great part of what we're seeing with hitters crowding the plate. The PCs who I've seen that are teaching outside location over everything else tend to be PCs who are teaching their girls a lot of different pitches in a short period of time .... you know, the 12-year-old with a fastball, drop, changeup, curve and rise. The PCs who are more OK with their girls just getting really good with a fastball and a changeup before moving on to other pitches seem to still teach their kids to use the entire plate far more often.

Just something I've observed, especially in the last 5-6 years.

Little Angels Softball said:

Don't want to sidetrack the thread but I think this is a great part of what we're seeing with hitters crowding the plate. The PCs who I've seen that are teaching outside location over everything else tend to be PCs who are teaching their girls a lot of different pitches in a short period of time .... you know, the 12-year-old with a fastball, drop, changeup, curve and rise. The PCs who are more OK with their girls just getting really good with a fastball and a changeup before moving on to other pitches seem to still teach their kids to use the entire plate far more often.

Just something I've observed, especially in the last 5-6 years.

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Better to master a few pitches than to lack mastery of several pitches.

As for a pitcher crowding the plate ...... consider the notion of pitching to the batter rather than to the plate. A pitch on the inner half of the plate, with the ball fully over the plate, will represent an inside pitch on a batter crowding the plate. You may be surprised that many batters crowd the plate to hide their inability to hit an inside pitch ... then there are the batters crowding the plate simply because they are being instructed to do so by a coach that is unknowingly cutting off their swing on inside pitches.

My DDs, who are both pitchers, throw most of their pitches outside and low. I have seen batters crowd the plate which enabled them to hit the ball to the opposite field and have some effectiveness against my DDs. Due to fear of hitting a batter crowding the plate, they are reluctant to pitch inside. However, I am advising them that these players are trying to gain an "unfair" advantage on you and you need to pitch inside. I mostly recommend up and in and a DB at the knees on the inside corner. Once these pitches are established then you can go back to some low and outside pitches including a CU below the knees.

My DD has already cracked 2 bats this year when batters who were crowding the plate hit the ball off the handle. Nothing better than turning a $299 bat into a "paper weight" with an inside fastball.....we are doing our part to keep Coresoftball20 in business!

im with JAD on this one if I see crowding the plate I call inside fb I couldn't tell you how many bats have taken a beating in the handle cause of that and 99% of the time they back off after a couple batters.

What I try to teach mine, whether hitting or pitching, it that its a constant adjustment. Not only game to game, AB to AB, but pitch to pitch. You can't go into every game with a set mindset of pitching location and batting position and not be willing to adjust based off what's given to you and what's not.

I don't see an issue this is exactly how to play the game, if that pitch shin high that runs off the outside part off the plate just barely over the chalk of the other batters box was not being called a strike by 75% of the umpires...girls would not feel the need to crowd the plate. As a pitcher you can't beg for that outside pitch and them whine when girls crowd the plate.

Pitchers need to learn to pitch inside right under the hands and over the inside corner...problem is the same pitch on the inside in the river barely brushing the chalk on the inside is not going to get called a strike so there you have it...girls adjust to what the umpires call and most consistently give several more inches on the outside corner so that's where the girls are going to pitch which mean the girls in the box will adjust by crowding the plate...