"Take more pitches"??

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May 17, 2012
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Watch the pitcher. First strike tendency is just another pattern to figure out with each individual pitcher you face, the same as understanding their out-pitch or changeup tendencies....

I just looked up our First Strike Percentage and it sits at 66% for the season. What advice are you giving to your batters?

I am not saying that some coaches aren't predictable with their pitch calling but at the upper levels it's damn near random. For our team it's more helpful to determine what a pitcher (or coach) won't do vs what they will do.

Just my observations.
 
Sep 17, 2009
1,637
83
I just looked up our First Strike Percentage and it sits at 66% for the season. What advice are you giving to your batters?

I am not saying that some coaches aren't predictable with their pitch calling but at the upper levels it's damn near random. For our team it's more helpful to determine what a pitcher (or coach) won't do vs what they will do.

Just my observations.

I'm at 18U too. What do I tell our hitters? Simple. Is pitcher trying to get ahead? Then be ready to jump on first pitch. Not only can that give you some decent pitches to hit it also may work them work harder with first pitch and see them behind in counts. I agree 100% it's a cat and mouse game and not a set pattern. Beyond that, I tell my hitters as we said before to hit in hitting counts. I'm sure you've seen the stats on batting average in positive vs. negative counts...it's pretty extreme.
 
Feb 7, 2013
3,188
48
I just looked up our First Strike Percentage and it sits at 66% for the season. What advice are you giving to your batters?

I am not saying that some coaches aren't predictable with their pitch calling but at the upper levels it's damn near random. For our team it's more helpful to determine what a pitcher (or coach) won't do vs what they will do.

Just my observations.

Keep in mind, the First Strike % could be anything (called strike, swing and miss, foul ball, a base hit) so its hard to make any conclusions based on that one stat alone.

I will tell you that when I was a coach calling pitches, getting that first pitch strike was an important strategy to getting the batter out as you have a lot of options with "waste" or "set-up" pitches later on in the count.

My last point is that MLB pitching stats and tendencies are a totally different animal, the strike zone appears to be very small and batters can and should be more selective then aggressive. Totally different game than fastpitch in this regard.
 
Oct 3, 2011
3,478
113
Right Here For Now
This is one of those things that's frequently stated as a fact, but I've never seen any evidence to suggest it's true, especially at higher levels where pitchers can grab a first-pitch strike with an off-speed/breaking pitch or a well-placed pitch on the corner.

In MLB, we now have the technology and data to determine whether it's true, but not sure anybody's ever actually studied it.

Since Moneyball was brought up, this reminds me a lot of Scott Hatteberg's time with the Red Sox. He had great numbers when he swung at the first pitch, so the Red Sox tried to get him to swing at more first pitches. His performance tanked. It turned out that his numbers were so good in that situation because he would only swing if it was a pitch he could crush. When he started trying to swing at more first pitches, he would swing at worse ones (still strikes, perhaps, but not "his pitch").

So instead of encouraging hitters to swing early in the count, I'd teach them to identify "their pitch" and swing if they get that pitch. Later in the count you can't be so picky, but early on, there's no good reason to swing at a pitch that isn't exactly what you're looking for.

I don't know if it's been studied either. That said, from a hitters perspective, I can tell you that this is what I've personally seen. Granted, the level I played FP at was nowhere near what was being played by people like Hillhouse or even by 16U players today. It's also been mentioned by my players and the hitters I work with throughout the years. It may not be "fact" per se, but it certainly is perceived that way by many that have been there, done that.
 
Oct 14, 2016
13
3
An experienced pitcher will almost never give a 1st pitch over the heart of the the plate. I love calling pitches against aggressive hitters. At a younger age its easier to have them chase pitches that "look" good. Aggressive hitters help my pitchers stay in the game longer and those multi game days. They key is pitch location, breaking pitches and spins. Good discipline batters wait for a pitch to drive and not just make contact. Usually after the first couple of batters, you can figure out teams hitting approach and call pitches to work in the defensive favor.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 
Aug 29, 2011
2,581
83
NorCal
If you can truly hit, it is great advice. If you cannot hit, it is a really bad idea.

I a firm believer that on an 0-0 count the hitter should treat is as they would a 3-1 pitch if they are a good hitter, especially if the pitcher is showing any signs of control problems.

But you are right having a bad hitter fall behind by being too selective can quickly spell disaster.
 
Feb 7, 2013
3,188
48
An experienced pitcher will almost never give a 1st pitch over the heart of the the plate. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Was someone suggesting this? You are always working the 9 corners (perimeter) of the strike zone and any pitch right over the middle of the plate is a "mistake".
 

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