How do you feel about intentional wild pitches

[Duane]

I'd love to get the groups thoughts on this.

My last pitching rotation (3 girls) pitched in the 54-58 speed range. We weren't an over powering group but all had great control. Something I often did was call an intentional wild pitch. My pitcher would throw a fast ball high and away, sometimes up and in; often times off the back stop. Why? I felt the goal of pitching was to keep hitters off balance and guessing. We wanted to find that ideal mix of pitched strikes vs balls (70% seems to be a good number). Putting that doubt in the batters mind that they were kind of wild worked wonders in terms of controlling the plate. We obviously did not do this with runners on base.

Thoughts?

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

if there are no runners, then it isn't a wild pitch.

Yes, your pitchers need to keep the batters guessing.

 

[Duane]

Good point. Should have said way out of the zone instead of "wild".

 

[CoachFP]

Sounds like a ridiculous idea to me. Do that and let the ump think your pitcher has no control. Softball is a simple game don't try to make it complicated.

 

[Dave D]

To quote Crash Davis: "Hit the bull, Meat."

I tell my pitchers that sometimes they've gotta hit the bull, or batters will dig in too deep. Our pitchers almost never hit batters (and absolutely never hit one intentionally), but if no one's on base, and they're ahead in the count, that ball could be headed anywhere.

 

[SoftSocDad]

Sounds like a ridiculous idea to me. Do that and let the ump think your pitcher has no control. Softball is a simple game don't try to make it complicated.

Ridiculous, but probably an effective strategy to use occasionally in 12u/14u.

Credit coach for this outside-the-box approach to the game.

 

[Duane]

Ridiculous, but probably an effective strategy to use occasionally in 12u/14u.

Credit coach for this outside-the-box approach to the game.

You must have been at some of our games. We did up through 14u. Didn't think 16's would be too phased by it.

 

[quincy]

NUKE - Hey, I'm cruisin', man--what're you doing out here?!
CRASH - I want you to throw this one at the bat rack.
NUKE - Why?! I'm finally throwin' the dang thing where I want to.
CRASH - It'll keep the fear of God in the hitters. Trust me.
NUKE - You're the boss.

NUKE'S NEXT DELIVERY -- A wild rocket thirty feet offline. The BULL MASCOT DIVES for cover.

THE BATTER STEPS OUT OF THE BOX nervously, muttering.

BATTER - This guy's crazy.
CRASH - Yep. Next one might be at your head. Heck if I know where the dang thing's going...

Same thing I thought of when I read the post.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

Wouldn't throwing a pitch high and tight to the batter achieve the same result and you might actually get the batter to swing at it?

 

[Duane]

High and tight is good also but if they did miss their spot could get hit or end up drilling the girl and putting her on.