Greg Maddux on 0-2 “Waste Pitches”

[jntadt22]

Depends on what you consider to be a waste pitch.

I do believe in calling a pitch that is suppose to miss the strike zone by 2-3 inches inside or outside. That would not be a waste pitch IMO. Depending on the game some umpires will call a pitch that misses closely a strike.

For the most part I do not believe in calling a pitch that is supposed to miss by 8 inches, that is waste pitch. There are some times where a waste pitch can be effective but this would be if you had a play called in advance. You can throw a pitch 8 inches outside to a right handed batter if you think you can back pick a runner off of first base. That would be one scenario where I could see calling a real waste pitch. Certainly more scenario for a waste pitch but most of them have to do more with the base runner than the actual batter. Pitchouts would be another example but rare in softball.

I do not think Maddux was talking about the above paragraph in definition of Waste Pitches.

My thoughts exactly. Many moons ago, when I was a pitcher, my coach would call it a chase pitch, not a waste pitch. Off the plate 3 inches or so. If they don't swing and it gets called a ball, that's fine.

 

[PapaBear]

Let pitchers pitch. A waste pitch is a good pitch once the pitcher has established a rhythm. 0-2, 1-2 ... for example if the P has set up corners and spins are good, a good "waste pitch" is a one level up rise ball that or a opposite river one ball out to get an aggressive swing or check.

 

[osagedr]

As an umpire, it p*sses me off when I'm on the plate with a RH batter up. The catcher is told to set up WELL inside the LH batter's box. The pitcher throws a straight fastball to her glove, nowhere NEAR even the outermost edge of the plate (or the zone), and they get mad I call it a ball and look at me like it's my first time ever calling a pitch. Are you kidding me? Not a chance. If it's somewhat close (i.e. in the river), I'll usually give that at the MOST. Setting that far outside just to make a batter chase is crazy, and as an umpire, it's borderline offensive to even be made to consider that a strike at all. /endrant

That’s when it’s time to scold the catcher. “What are you looking at me for??? You called for a ball and you got one. Don’t you ever turn around and look at me or that zone is going to get real small, real fast.”

 

[_MIA_]

That’s when it’s time to scold the catcher. “What are you looking at me for??? You called for a ball and you got one. Don’t you ever turn around and look at me or that zone is going to get real small, real fast.”

Two wrongs don't make a right..

 

[Rolling Hard]

That’s when it’s time to scold the catcher. “What are you looking at me for??? You called for a ball and you got one. Don’t you ever turn around and look at me or that zone is going to get real small, real fast.”

Dont want to squeeze too much

catcher purposely misses ball to hit ump - Search Videos

www.bing.com

 

[dmasterson]

One thing that has not been addressed so far is using a "waste" pitch to SETUP the next pitch. I have called pitches for many games and I'm sure most on here know how effective that can be. For example, say you got strike 1 inside and strike 2 outside and it is 0-2. Another one or even two outside pitches 2-3 inches off the corner followed by an inside pitch ON the corner is gold. So many called 3rd strikes with that scenario (assuming pitcher is pretty strong of course). And you won't get as many players looking at that inside strike on the corner without those 1 or 2 "waste" pitches.

 

[RichK]

Yeah but then the pitcher hits a part of the plate 0-2 and the batter gets a hit and the coach starts yelling -- how could you give up an 0-2 hit!

 

[GunnerShotgun]

Certain bunting situations and pitch outs are other times I have "wasted" a pitch.

Just so the other coach knows that I know what they know.

 

[mmeece]

I don't believe in wasting a pitch, however when I pitched I did often miss the zone on purpose. When I coached I often called for pitches outside the zone. Those pitches were all meant to serve a purpose, and none were meant to be "wasted". There isn't any reason to throw a pitch you don't think the batter may swing at, but there also isn't any reason to throw a strike if you think the batter will swing at a ball. My dd pitching coach often half-joked that "strikes are a last resort". On 0-2 or 1-2 counts the most important thing I tried to accomplish was to generally have the pitch located so it's moving out of the zone, not into it (curve moving off the plate outside, rise moving from the top of the zone to out of it, etc.). We usually called them chase pitches, as someone else mentioned earlier.

 

[efastball]

Never, ever, waste a pitch on 0-2.

Go to any youth/HS baseball/softball game and see how many of those turn into walks.