Advantages and disadvantages on being a closer??? Need opinions!

[tnacntv]

My DD just turned 16 in Feb. She is playing on a second year 16u team. This past weekend we played in a state tournament and our coach decided he would use DD as the closer for each game. She did an awesome job. She works well under pressure. Probably better than normally! She is very level headed and does not let the emotion of the game interfere with the job at hand. In 5 games she got six strikeouts, only allowed two hits and one walk. And no earned runs. She has struggled with walks this season but I feel it was due to under performance of her defense. She tried too hard to get the strikouts instead of letting the hitters hit and trusting her defense. Her pitching coach and I have been working with her to realize it is not her job to strikout every batter. It is her job to get the ball in play and if she gets the strikeout then its a bonus. Since we have been working on this she has only allowed 4 walks in 13 games. We have instructed her to pitch for the strikeout until the count goes to 31 or 32 then bring the over the corner pitch for them to try to hit. At least then she has a 50/50 chance they will swing. She has a lot of movement and thats is sometimes what gets her into the 31 - 32 count.

With this being said I think the coach made his decision based on this. My question is this:
Being a closer she has not got the equal pitching time as the other pitchers. But she has gotten the recognition. Not having the pitching time concerns me for stamina reasons going into high school ball and college ball. It certainly helps her stats but pitching a seven inning game could wind up to be very tiring for her and may affect her performance in the long run. She is a hard worker and practices a couple of times a week plus throwing in her lesson. If she can hold her pitch count down during these seven inning games I think she would be ok but if she has one of those long, dreaded innings where everything falls off the wagon it could tax her strength. She seems to think she will be ok. She says she throws alot of balls back to back in practice and in her lesson and its not like getting the breaks between innings.

I would like to get some feed back from the gurus who know the game on the advantages and disadvantages of being a closing pitcher. I don't see many colleges utilizing closers in softball!

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Well you can look at it like this, IF THIS COACH IS SMART, she must have something "good and different" about her pitching. And by that I mean it's something the batters have a hard time hitting after seeing the starters. A good closer is an honor, don't look at it as a negative.



BUT, there could be a flip side, just could. She may be one of those that batters adjust to over a few innings and POW. Therefore she is doing her part for the team as a "speciality" pitcher, a closer.

I wouldn't worry too much about stamina for HS or college. Most only play one game a day, DHeader every now and then. If she's closing a few games a weekend she should have no trouble pitching 7 innings straight.

 

[tnacntv]

The coach will not let a pitcher pitch a whole game. I have spoke to him about it. DD may have gotten 1-2 walks per game, AVERAGE. I know of one game where she got four from hitting batters coming inside because they turned into the pitch. I had video taped the game and I'm glad I did because I couldn't believe she would hit four batters. She is not the least bit afraid of bringing an inside pitch to a batter. When I reviewed the video every batter she hit turned into the pitch the exact same way. It had to have been a trained response which I give full credit to the opposing coaching. It certainly will take away that inside pitch by a pitcher.
Coach will change pitchers for no given reason. I have told him I think if a pitcher is holding a team then why change? They should be given the opportunity to attain their win. They should be able to pitch thru adversity. DD has the composure to do it but is not allowed to. In contrast coach will leave pitchers in until the win practically escapes the team because of runs allowed. We have great bats thru the line up from top to bottom and I think he has such confidence in that that he sometimes forgets the pitchers position. And this does not build a pitchers confidence.
DD has good movement on all her pitches and often it is too much movement. She is learning to refine her pitches and adjust them for the strike zone. Her placement is spot on for the pitches with less movement.
From what you are saying being a closing pitcher means you are considered not as strong as the other pitchers? Am I understanding that right?

 

[GOINGDEEP]

From what you are saying being a closing pitcher means you are considered not as strong as the other pitchers? Am I understanding that right?

You might be asking Screwball, but I'll give my 2 cents.

I'm not saying not as strong. This is really hard to explain without getting into the mind of your coach. This may be his style or defense strategy. One of the purposes of a relief/closer is being different ( pitching ) ,its a tool used to throw the batters off. Maybe your DD is faster, maybe she's slower, maybe she has a good screw where the started had a good curve, maybe she has a quirky delivery, etc.......

Example, my DD has closed many a game in HS. Because she is a lefty, that's about as "different" as you can get. And it works really well.

 

[tnacntv]

After one weekend coach sent her pitching coach a text stating DD was making defense work too hard with walks. (She had six total that weekend.) She was not a closer then so she pitched quite a few innings. At that time we only had 2 pitchers. After that I got a little irritated and told her to let the hitters hit it and watch the defense work (or not). If shes throwing her game and she gets to a full count she's going to paint the corner for a strike. If they hit it defense gets to work, if not she hopefully gets a SO. Not a walk.
The tournament we played this weekend was DD's tournament. She shined. All the parents just raved about her performance. I felt very proud of her. The game before the championship game was a great game. She came out the last inning with our team up by 1 and threw maybe 5 pitches. Three batters, three hits back to her, three cleanly fielded outs at first. One parent came up to me and asked if those pitches were all the same pitch because of the way they came off the bat all the same. So I ask DD. Two pitches, FB & DC. She said it was her spin. She worked hard to spin the ball and thats why the ball came off as it did.

 

[tnacntv]

And Umps have been a big issue on calling movement!!!

 

[David Carter]

As long as the pitcher is still getting outs and not tired why pull them? assuming you are not planning on playing 4 or 5 games that day and will need a fresh arm later or game is out of reach. Although it does seem that a lot of pitchers start getting hit on the second and third times through the line up and coaches bring in a new pitcher. I will admit though I have seen twice during both our sectional and regional games coaches remove a pitcher when they were ahead after she gave up either a couple hits or walks and put in a less talented pitcher that we proceeded to pound. If the talent drop off from #1 to #2 is that great and your goal is to advance to the next tournament might as well give yourself the best chance to win even if she is getting wild or getting hit let her battle through if she can.

 

[Jojo]

You usually don't really see too many closers in softball. Sometimes the main starter, also becomes the closer to the games she isn't pitching.
I think if your DD only closed games, she may not get that general excitement/intensity of the game, like it's "her" game, that starters get.

 

[sluggers]

My DD#1 played at a JuCo, and then played D1. She started out as a closer at the D1 school, and then ended up being the big dog starting pitcher at the D1 school.

From what you are saying being a closing pitcher means you are considered not as strong as the other pitchers?

Closing is a different role than a starter. It is like saying, "The SS is a stronger player than CF." But, in truth, you can't compare the two. Different skills are required.

Most people don't get the "game within the game" of pitching anyway. If a pitcher can get the #3, #4, and #5 batter out in the bottom of the 7th in a one run game, then she is a "good" pitcher whether she pitched the prior 6 innings or not.

The main thing to focus on is whether your DD is improving and maturing as a pitcher. If she is, then enjoy the experience. It is better for her to be getting PT and succeeding than getting PT and failing.

I think if your DD only closed games, she may not get that general excitement/intensity of the game,

I disagree. I'm not quite sure how much more intense/exciting a game could be for a pitcher than to be throwing with a one run lead.

It takes a lot of mental discipline and intensity to be an effective closer. The pitcher has to really follow the game and watch the batters and the umpires.

I think the reason we don't see more closers in college is because, if someone is an effective closer, she ends up starting.