In love with the Strikeout Pitcher

I've noticed that travel ball coaches tend to like Strikeout Pitchers a lot more than they do any other type of Pitcher. I agree that strikeout pitchers are effective in getting the job done. But what about non-strikeout Pitchers? Why isn't there the love their for them? Why is there less love for junkball pitchers for instance? They pitch, batter makes contact but it's either a ground ball or pop-up and the defense makes the play, that's good right? Still gets the job done. So, why is there so much love for the strikeout pitcher? What am I missing?

Is this just a travel ball thing or does it happen in college as well?

I've personally not noticed a tendency for coaches to prefer a strikeout pitcher over an effective pitcher.

If speed is the factor that leads to more strikeouts, however, pretty much all coaches prefer pitchers with speed.

The best pitchers in the game are strikeout pitchers. With runners at 2nd and 3rd who do you want in the circle? A pitcher that may get you a ground ball for an out or one that will sit a player down without putting the ball in play? Most pitchers are not strikeout pitchers, but when you have one they are game changers.

With a strikeout pitcher the defense can not screw it up....and I had to modify my first post because the moderators would not have appreciated my first choice of words that was eventually replaced with the word "screw"!

riseball said:

With runners at 2nd and 3rd who do you want in the circle?

Click to expand...

Somebody who doesn't put runners on 2nd and 3rd?

I know what you mean.

I could argue, for example, that the SEC's best strikeout pitcher (Osorio) wasn't as good this year as the best control pitcher (Ocasio), but the reality is that both were strikeout pitchers. So having more K's than somebody else doesn't necessarily make you the better pitcher, but you can still expect the best pitchers at any given level to have a lot of strikeouts. That's why high-strikeout pitchers are attractive to coaches. You're hoping to develop that potential.

CoogansBluff said:

I could argue, for example, that the SEC's best strikeout pitcher (Osorio) wasn't as good this year as the best control pitcher (Ocasio), but the reality is that both were strikeout pitchers. So having more K's than somebody else doesn't necessarily make you the better pitcher, but you can still expect the best pitchers at any given level to have a lot of strikeouts. That's why high-strikeout pitchers are attractive to coaches. You're hoping to develop that potential.

Click to expand...

Against good strikeout pitches, a lot of coaches will resort to small ball, so the defense better come ready to play.

They pitch, batter makes contact but it's either a ground ball or pop-up and the defense makes the play, that's good right?

Click to expand...

Depends on the age....
Contact pitchers need good fielders. 18u I didn't see a lot of 'strike out' pitchers. Couple of K's a game in my neck of the woods.

rdbass said:

Depends on the age....
Contact pitchers need good fielders. 18u I didn't see a lot of 'strike out' pitchers. Couple of K's a game in my neck of the woods.

Click to expand...

18U batters are more disciplined at the plate and coaches will resort to small ball if they cannot put the ball in play against good pitchers.

We love our pop-up pitcher

We were up north, & think we ran into a BH student. It was a spin off....

Team never had to face a pitcher like DD... we lose 6-0

DD worked a walk... had 2 QAB's...she straightened the ball out, but to the center fielder, but moved the runners...

JAD said:

18U batters are more disciplined at the plate and coaches will resort to small ball if they cannot put the ball in play against good pitchers.

Click to expand...

Also 18u batters are good hitters or else they wouldn't still be playing. I'm guessing in my neck of the woods we see a lot of 'contact pitchers'.