Pitch List on Arm Band

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May 23, 2014
41
6
Question around listing pitches on arm band. I currently use a three number system, which has a max 150 spots, which changes whenever I run a macrosos, so its impossible to pick the pitches. So 421 for example might be fastball on the band, and then next game that same number might be dropball

I can list a max of 10 pitches
I then assign a number of how many of those pitches I want to show up when I run the macros. 40 of x pitch, 30 of x pitch, etc..

So my daughter is 11 and my catcher would not be ready to call the spots of the pitches. So although my daughter only has 3 pitches, because I use the pitch slots also for "spots", I run out of room. For example

FHI- Fastball High Inside- 25
FLI- Fastball Low Inside- 25
FHO- Fastball High Outside- 15
CO- Change Outside- 20
DI- Dropball Inside- 25

Etc, etc...

How do others handle this? And I know there have been debates on young pitchers hitting spots. My daughter is not particular fast but she can hit high/low, inside and outside so it is beneficial for me to be specific on her spots

Thanks!!
 
Nov 29, 2009
2,975
83
You are WAAAYYYY over thinking it at 11U. I used to use a color and number system. Example: Blue 0 - 99 FB inside. White 200 - 299 would be the same thing. Green 100 - 199 CU In. Red 300 - 399 CU Out. If the pitcher had exceptional control I would use even numbers for low and odd for high.

The combinations are enough that a team will not pick your pitches. If you really want to teach your kids. Have the pitcher and catcher call their own games.
 
Feb 18, 2014
348
28
Arm bands are really effective at that age.

156..... that's a ball
209..... that's a ball
65 green..... that's a ball
007.... that's a ball
666... that's a ball.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
As Sparky said, you're WAY over-thinking this, especially for the age....and double-especially on the part about needing to change pitch signs from game to game.

I'm not sure what "debate" there is about young pitchers hitting spots. Pitchers should always attempt to throw to a spot, and catchers should set up for that location. Their ability to execute consistently will improve with experience.
 
May 23, 2014
41
6
As Sparky said, you're WAY over-thinking this, especially for the age....and double-especially on the part about needing to change pitch signs from game to game.

I'm not sure what "debate" there is about young pitchers hitting spots. Pitchers should always attempt to throw to a spot, and catchers should set up for that location. Their ability to execute consistently will improve with experience.

What I meant by the debate is shown as in the above quotes (hopefully no offense LOL), where I knew the response would be "don't worry about it. I debated just stating she was 14 so I could get to the answers :) But the problem is I wanted people to understand the catcher is 11 so not ready yet to choose the spots

To frame it up, My daughter pitched our Gold All Star team to a top 10 finish in Western National All Stars by consistently hitting her spots. Its the only reason she pitched so well as she only struck out 2-3 per game as she was only throwing low 40s. It was our ability to move the ball in and out, up and down, and honestly a lot of jamming kids and getting weak ground balls, and being able to throw her change up in any count. All the girls at Nationals that were fast really just threw hard and outside (which also worked for them frankly).

For example, we would have a fun competition at the end of each practice with our pitchers. I would call a pitch and a spot, and each pitcher would get a point if the catchers glove didn't move. First to 10 points would win. She hit them all day.

Now this is not a brag post. Her drop ball only drops 25% of the time, she's not fast, she swims too much, I could go on and on..... But if I call fastball inside and at the letters, sand he can hit it the majority of the time, I am honestly confused why would I not call spots.

We are now in Travel Ball with a run toward PGF in July as well
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
Deleted a lot - my DD started as a location & movement pitcher and still is...The speed took a lot of time as she matured slowly so I understand where you are coming from.

Ok, this is easy enough.

If you need additional spots just add a fourth number modifier/location in your call at either the beginning or the end of your pitch call. We use 1 through 4 for each of the corners. We use 5 & 6 for outside off the plate and WAY off the plate. 7 is high and out of the zone and 8 if low and out of the zone. Note we ONLY do this for pitches that don't have locations on the wristband or if we want a different location not listed, so our pitchers best pitches have locations on the band without the extra number.

So now sometimes you are calling 3 and sometimes you are calling 4 numbers. Let them try to figure that out.

So it looks something like this:

Band # examples (obviously more for each pitch on the armband, but we can use these for example calls):
FB HIGH INSIDE: 123
FB LOW OUTSIDE: 444
CH UP LOW OUTSIDE: 232
DROP: 432

Now I can call 444 (FB LOW OUTSIDE) but I can also call 4446 (FB LOW OUTSIDE WAY OFF THE PLATE)
Or DROP LOW OUTSIDE is 4322 (2 is the low outside corner for us)
Or even CHANGE UP LOW INSIDE 2321 (note 1 is ow inside corner for us and I have used a modifier to change the pitch location from the one of the band.. this is beyond anything you will ever need but if you want to make it complex, there you go).

And so on...
 
Last edited:
Apr 12, 2015
792
93
At that age, I used 6 numbers:

1 - high inside
2 - high outside
3 - low inside
4 - low outside
5 - changeup
0 - Please dear God just throw it close to a strike

I wasn't really worried about coaches picking the pitches, since our pitchers were lucky to hit the spot called half the time.
 

Axe

Jul 7, 2011
459
18
Atlanta
Assign more of your spots to the ones you call lost often. There are probably 3-5 pitch location combinations that make up 90% of the pitch calls. Have the armband reflect that. You can also repeat them during the game. Opponents won't notice that you called 211 in the first inning and again in the third.

And yes, redoing the armband once a week is overkill. Once a season is more like it and probably more to adjust to changing pitch selection than opponents .
 
May 17, 2012
2,804
113
And yes, redoing the armband once a week is overkill. Once a season is more like it and probably more to adjust to changing pitch selection than opponents .

This. We have gone full seasons and not changed arm bands (pitching and offense). Unless you are playing a team that is writing down your numbers and then you play them again there is no reason to change.

I would double down and say that if you have 9 numbers for the change-up I would typically call the same 3 or 4 numbers repeatedly for this pitch. A few games into the season my pitchers and catchers had the top 3 or 4 numbers for each pitch memorized and would know immediately what the pitch called when I signaled it. They would always give the fake look at the wristband but they already knew.

Everyone seemed to like this and things moved efficiently. Sometimes a team would catch on that 254 was a change-up but it never mattered. Not one time.

In summary keep it simple for your players, don't focus on what the other team does or doesn't know....it won't matter in the end.
 

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