Over use of 1 pitcher

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Apr 13, 2015
179
28
Just curious how many of you coaches in select or HS ball mainly use one pitcher including tournaments.....had my #2 pitcher go down with injury and now we have only one pitcher with regular season beginning in 2 weeks. Another factor is this is her first year to pitch in games...very good position player
who has been doing the lessons and pitching to batters in practice for past 2 years. Thoughts
 

JAD

Feb 20, 2012
8,231
38
Georgia
You normally only play one game/day in HS ball, so you can get by with just one pitcher if you are lucky!
 
Oct 5, 2017
214
43
Western Indiana
I would say this is a great opportunity for another player to start practicing. Maybe she could help the team out towards the end of the season. We know that she will not be great but you may find a player that has some potential, like a freshman or a sophomore??
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
Obviously you need another pitcher, hopeful one that does not walk a lot of batters.

We have quite a few games that are decided by a lot of runs one way or another. In these situations try to get another pitcher in the game.

If you are up by a bunch and it feels like it is slipping away, put the starter back in.

(other thing is she is either pitching or on the bench, not necessarily fair to her but it is what it is. Worth discussing it before season in an attempt to avoid issues later)
 
Last edited:
Jul 16, 2013
4,659
113
Pennsylvania
Travel Ball -- at 12u our team had 3 pitchers but primarily used 2. It became an issue on Sundays especially if we made it deep into the day. Since I have been a head coach, I refuse to play in any tournament with less than 3 pitchers and will typically have 4 on the roster to cover vacations and other absences.

High School -- DD is the only pitcher. Due to the number of errors and D3K's, her pitch count was rather high each game last year (She can get through a 7 inning travel ball game with less than 100 pitches. 7 innings in high school is typically 150+). Midway through the season she developed some arm issues and missed 8 games because of it. I have pleaded with the head coach to start working with someone else to help this year. If she can keep her pitch count to a respectable level each game, she may be able to handle the entire season. But once she starts throwing extra pitches, I am definitely concerned. My preference is to always have a 2nd pitcher. If you are counting on 1 pitcher only, you are just a twisted ankle away from disaster.
 
Dec 5, 2012
4,143
63
Mid West
Just curious how many of you coaches in select or HS ball mainly use one pitcher including tournaments.....had my #2 pitcher go down with injury and now we have only one pitcher with regular season beginning in 2 weeks. Another factor is this is her first year to pitch in games...very good position player
who has been doing the lessons and pitching to batters in practice for past 2 years. Thoughts

Travel ball will have as many as 6 games in one day. In this case you'll want 4 pitchers. Like JAD said, in HS you'll get by with 1 assuming she stays healthy, but you'll need to have at least 2 eventually. Don't over do her by doing something crazy like having her throw BP in practice.
 
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sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,133
113
Dallas, Texas
You will need another pitcher.

There are the unique challenges in HS ball:

(1) the games usually go 7 innings--so the pitcher will be throwing many more pitches than in TB.
(2) Games about 2 or 3 days apart, with an occasional double header. The pitcher will never have a real break.
(3) You play the same teams two or three times during a season--so good opposing coaches will have a plan on how to deal with a pitcher.
(4) rain out conference games have to be made up--at the end of the regular season, you could play three or four days in a row.
(5) All games in the post-season playoffs have to be played. In addition to the games being more intense, the schedule can be very compressed.

The end of the season is where you will see the pitchers wear down.
 
Last edited:
Feb 28, 2015
307
28
Heatbox
You need 2 good pitchers to go deep in HS season and playoffs. DD2 is a freshman this HS season, with 2 other pitchers who are good. I wouldn't think coach would have to use any 1 more than the other 2. We've seen plenty of #1's run out of gas come playoff time.
 
Jul 1, 2010
171
16
You will need another pitcher.

There are the unique challenges in HS ball:

(1) the games usually go 7 innings--so the pitcher will be throwing many more pitches than in TB.
(2) Games about 2 or 3 days apart, with an occasional double header. The pitcher will never have a real break.
(3) You play the same teams two or three times during a season--so good opposing coaches will have a plan on how to deal with a pitcher.
(4) rain out conference games have to be made up--at the end of the regular season, you could play three or four days in a row.
(5) All games in the post-season playoffs have to be played--if you have some rainouts, In addition to the games being more intense, the schedule can be very compressed.

The end of the season is where you will see the pitchers wear down.

^^^^
This.

Last three years DD has been a solo act in HS ball regular season and playoffs. It caught up with her early last summer. Fortunately, no surgery was needed, but just now getting back to where she was in the circle.

I recommend that if your DD is in this situation work with her coach for a pitch count and another pitcher, or two. Please don't be like I was believing that the "motion is natural" and "she's a beast, she can handle it".

Besides, you can go deeper in the playoffs if your "beast" is fresh.
 
Jun 19, 2014
846
43
Raleigh,NC
Go over the sticky notes in the pitching section, to the point you are comfortable...especially in drills such as whip flips and lock it in.
Give a great motivation speech to the team...then let the girls perform these drills. You can watch and see who gets it pretty fast...also, you will find the hidden pitchers(the ones who had pitching lesson but don't want to admit they can pitch). The girls you pull aside and talk with them to see if they are willing to do some pitching to help with the team. These will the pitchers for non conference games, save your pitcher for the conferences. Continue to have some time for pitchers to work with catcher and continue with the drills you learned on this forum.
Can it work? You might be surprise...this was how my DD started pitching. While overseas, they needed another pitcher to play in the DOD European championships(due to pitchers being limited to innings played on day 1). Lined them up and she was one of the girls chosen based on the ability to throw strikes...only thing I would of done differently if I could do it all over again...come to this site and ask questions and read sticky notes. They finished the tournament in 2nd place with 7 girls that never played before...oh yeah, my DD was the main pitcher on day 2 for her team.
 

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