Does anyone besides me teach these things?

[halskinner]

Does anyone besides me teach pitchers 'Distraction tactics'? In other words, something you can do an instant after release to catch the batter's eye and break their focus on the ball?

Some little something to further deceive a batter or confuse a batter long enough so they do not make good contact or do not swing the bat at all?

I dont recall anyone talking about that here. Curious to see any response.

 

[starsnuffer]

I had a pitcher in 10u that burped about every third pitch at release. Does that count?

-W

 

[Ken B]

gkfgkfkjgfkjgtkNope.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

I would think that good hitters would not be able to have their focus on the ball broken,.....unless ya threw two balls at one time!!
That would break my focus!

Now in baseball doing what that Lorkowski kid did in LL could be categorized as such (when ya throw overhand then all of a sudden launch one in there submarine style). But in SB you can't change a delivery angle that dramatically.

There was one SB pitcher we saw this last year who thought she was tricky and quick-pitched her changeup about 50% of the time. (No full windmill) We run-ruled her back to the bench....

 

[TimothyJ]

After the ball is released?

I might liken that to someone yelling out to distract a fielder as she tries to catch a ball.
Don't recall seeing a pitcher do anything like that.

Before the pitch is another story, seen all kinds of crazy things of course

 

[shockcoach]

Why would you teach something that could cause a fielder to get ejected? That's the penalty for any fielder purposely trying to distract the batter.

 

[flamethrower]

Because he's sneaky

 

[cmustangsfp]

I saw a pitcher double grunt once in Div I SB. Once on the release and then another about the time the ball reached the plate. Umps let it go on the whole game. I feel if you have to resort to "tricks" or "gimmicks" then your stuff must not be too good or you don't have confidence in it. I coached one tourney where the girls would scream as the pitcher was about to release the ball. Umps said it was in bad taste but not against the rules.

 

[canyonjoe]

I've heard of teaching pitchers to hold the ball an extra couple of seconds to try and freeze a batter, but to purposely distract the hitter as a pitch is coming in seems a bit extreme. I seriously would question a coach if they tried to teach to our team.

 

[halskinner]

As far as the fielders go, ever seen the entire infield go from a bent down fielders position and quickly shuffle one step to the left, just as the pitcher releases the ball? I have seen a few teams do this, it is distracting but it's not what I am talking about.

Here is an example. I didnt teach this to every student, just some who had worked very hard.

This is called 'The Good Bye Change Up'.

Now, first I want you to hold your hand up withe fingers spread wide. Now, make a very quick movement of the hand back and forth, left and right, like a windshield wiper on a car or like you are waving good bye. Do that three times as fast as you can.

Next, think about the batter and their 'Line of sight'. You release the ball at the hip and the batter is staring at your hip. Now you throw a slow change up. The instant you release the ball, you keep your throwing hand in the batters line of sight, down low, and you quickly wave good bye three times. That hand movement is extremely distracting to the batter. If you can distract them for 1/2 a second, they will not perform well at all.

Wave good bye with the fingers pointing down and the palm facing forward.

The batter will get pretty mad at you. The other teams coach will go ballistic and say its illegal. Its perfectly legal because a fielder can move anytime and once the ball is released, the pitcher is just another fielder.

Have a batter stand in during your practice at home, not swinging the bat. Try this and get their opinion of whether its distracting or not.

Some older umpires will not care for it either, but as I said, its perfectly legal. Once the ball is released, the pitcher can dance a jig out there.

Some may call this tactic 'Busch League'. That is EXACTLY the type of batters and teams you want to use this against. Sometimes ya gotta fight fire with fire. If a student had worked really hard, I taught them this so they could have a little fun with the obnoxious teams and batters they face now and then. And you KNOW the type I'm talking about. You are probably thinking of a particular team or a particular player right this moment.

Payback can be alot of fun!