Why bother teaching a pitcher or a catcher anything about calling a game? Seriously, help me understand this. Maybe this should be posted in the Catching forum or the Coaching forum but I'm hoping to get some feedback and opinions on this topic. I'm primarily referring to the 16/18U/High School Varsity age groups where kids are hitting their spots with at least a couple different pitches relatively consistently.
It seems like the current trend is to have a coach call everything from a bucket near the dugout. Input from the catcher is not entertained and pity the pitcher who dares shake off a called pitch. If the players have prior experience with the batter it doesn't matter. Paying attention to the batters swing, stance, where they are setting up in the box or even the mental/emotional state of the hitter is ignored (maybe not ignored completely but the catcher's opinion isn't factored in) by someone sitting 40ft away who of course has the book and is hopefully, at least following what happened in their last AB.
What's working for the Pitcher? Obviously this varies widely. Usually it's the catcher who see's this first. How accurately and quickly is she allowed to relay this info to the pitch caller varies widely? Some coaches seem to use the same strategy or sequence for every pitcher on their roster regardless of what they throw or how it's working that day.
Pace of the game. This is now determined by the bucket coach calling out numbers to the pitcher/catcher. Some teams are quicker with this than others. Some still have the catcher translate these numbers into signals for the pitcher. Usually not much time for any defensive shift. Often it's like watching paint dry.
It may be the way the game is heading but having an athlete robotically throw without being engaged in the mental chess match seems wrong to me. I believe it's a team within a team effort and should be explored, discussed and encouraged. Am I way off base in thinking about it this way?
It seems like the current trend is to have a coach call everything from a bucket near the dugout. Input from the catcher is not entertained and pity the pitcher who dares shake off a called pitch. If the players have prior experience with the batter it doesn't matter. Paying attention to the batters swing, stance, where they are setting up in the box or even the mental/emotional state of the hitter is ignored (maybe not ignored completely but the catcher's opinion isn't factored in) by someone sitting 40ft away who of course has the book and is hopefully, at least following what happened in their last AB.
What's working for the Pitcher? Obviously this varies widely. Usually it's the catcher who see's this first. How accurately and quickly is she allowed to relay this info to the pitch caller varies widely? Some coaches seem to use the same strategy or sequence for every pitcher on their roster regardless of what they throw or how it's working that day.
Pace of the game. This is now determined by the bucket coach calling out numbers to the pitcher/catcher. Some teams are quicker with this than others. Some still have the catcher translate these numbers into signals for the pitcher. Usually not much time for any defensive shift. Often it's like watching paint dry.
It may be the way the game is heading but having an athlete robotically throw without being engaged in the mental chess match seems wrong to me. I believe it's a team within a team effort and should be explored, discussed and encouraged. Am I way off base in thinking about it this way?