Live arm practice

[starsnuffer]

There is a big difference between batting practice and hitting practice. Never use your pitcher to throw batting practice. Hitting practice is another matter. Real counts, the pitcher is trying to strike them out or force an out (ground ball or pop up), and you switch pitchers after 3 outs or 5 batters.

You can't do this all the time, as your batters will soon get keen to your pitchers and knock them around, but it's okay to do it 2-3 times in pre-season. No need for it when the season starts.

-W

 

[GOINGDEEP]

You have to do it right. Bring in a ump or a trusted experienced parent/coach to call balls and strikes. If this is not met it's like a circus. Batters will sit and wait on perfect strikes and tire your pitcher.

Yes sir, I pitched D1 20 years ago. And pitched many a batting practice. Now the KEY is mental. A pitcher knows that " batting practice is for the batter's confidence ". IT IS NOT PITCHING PRACTICE!!!

Now as DD got older we were lucky enough to pay a local college pitcher to throw during practice. Helped a lot for the girls at 14 to face college speed and movement. That may be an option for you. We coaches would pay her $50 for an hour of pitching. Well worth it.

 

[WinThemAll]

We do it two different ways.

First way is just straight up. Pitchers are pitching just like they would in a game and a coach umpires from behind the pitcher. Rotate in different pitchers/catchers. Batters are in groups of three (depends on number of players/pitchers) and bat three times. Again this is game conditions not batting practice. At bats are just as they would be in a game.

Second is a little variation in which a coach is in position and ready to do soft toss. Batter doesn't hit the ball the pitcher pitches, but hits the ball the coach tosses. (coach tosses the ball as the catcher catches the pitched ball).

 

[Axe]

We do it two different ways.

First way is just straight up. Pitchers are pitching just like they would in a game and a coach umpires from behind the pitcher. Rotate in different pitchers/catchers. Batters are in groups of three (depends on number of players/pitchers) and bat three times. Again this is game conditions not batting practice. At bats are just as they would be in a game.

Second is a little variation in which a coach is in position and ready to do soft toss. Batter doesn't hit the ball the pitcher pitches, but hits the ball the coach tosses. (coach tosses the ball as the catcher catches the pitched ball).

We actually have a third variation to this which keeps the whole team involved. We position a coach behind a screen and any time the batter doesn't hit the ball a coach fungo's one out to the fielders. This allows the pitcher and batter to get live practice without the rest of the team getting bored. We've had success with this in 10U rec where the pitchers and batters need the live practice but it would be way too tedious to have everyone else just standing around. It's a little safer for the coach too!

 

[Goobie]

My DD pitches "hitting" practice (as described above) often. It is part of her weekly workout. Again... "hitting" practice where she is trying to get the batter out... never "batting" practice where she throws tomatoes over the plate. Coach calls balls & strikes as well as fair / foul / out / etc. With the luxury of an extra field we usually don't have our defense fielding the balls (however sometimes we do treat it like a scrimmage). We have found (as others have posted) that while the pitcher, batter and catcher are focused during "hitting" practice the defense seems to lose focus and goof off (not enough balls hit to them). So we enlist younger siblings to chase the balls and bring them back in in between batters. We rotate pitchers every 3 outs.

An earlier comment was made about your batters getting used to the pitcher and lighting her up. This is really when it gets to be a good workout for the pitcher. We face some of the same teams 6 or more times in a year. Add in practice games and we may actually play a team 10 times in a year. Those batters start to know our pitchers... just like our players do... so our pitchers have to work to get the batter out. It really makes them think.

Our team has some of the best hitters around. Facing them is a challenge while the typical scrimmage may not provide the challenge needed to sharpen skills. My DD loves it.

Again like everything, it is a personal preference and if it works for your pitchers great. If not, then don't do it.

 

[Bucketrider]

I think the Axe work out is the best for all and have seen it quite a few times and everyone wins. Entering 14U, I think using your pitcher is needed on both sides as long as it is not "batting" practice. Having batters hit live pitching gains their confidence. Having pitchers learn how to get a batter out after four at bats will become the best experience come Sunday afternoon in the final game. It is practice and this makes it as close to game type situation as possible.

 

[rowdy]

We actually have a third variation to this which keeps the whole team involved. We position a coach behind a screen and any time the batter doesn't hit the ball a coach fungo's one out to the fielders. This allows the pitcher and batter to get live practice without the rest of the team getting bored. We've had success with this in 10U rec where the pitchers and batters need the live practice but it would be way too tedious to have everyone else just standing around. It's a little safer for the coach too!

I like this combined with the three groups. I think it would satisfy the needs of the players and the other coach and as a bonus gives me a way to make sure the whole practice is beneficial. This is what is great about this site, you can see several good ideas and mold it into a hybrid idea that will work for you. Thanks to each of you for your great ideas!

 

[FPMark]

Batting practice as described comes from the fake baseball hitting practice that is done for fans at pro games. The pros then go downstairs and hit off machines at real speed.

Kempf says its FINE as long as the pitchers are throwing hard. None of us has time for hours of BP so limit it to real counts or some number/

So don't confuse that baseball show stuff with real softball batting practice. You must use live pitching (or my team will beat you). So I don't mind if you do all the baby stuff.

We all agree that side toss is a waste of time. Overhand front toss is a waste of time. Also if you can't throw some curves, changes, rises or drops from behind that screen, your hitters won't be ready for games.

Nolan Ryan puts his baseball pitchers behind screens and makes them throw practice full out. I went by the local small D1 and there was the baseball team, hitting off their pitchers.

My hard throwers are trying to work over my hitters and vice versa. My best pitcher won't flinch at all when a batter in a game takes a big hack on her pitch or crowds the plate because she sees batters all the time. At the end, they thank each other for being on the same team.

Any fielder who can't hang out without constant balls being hit to her surely is not ready for a day of four games, when there are large spans of no action. So punish them for goofing off.

Very well said.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Very hard to compare MLB to softball TB teams. MLB has vast amount of resources to lean on.

I can't think of a college team at any level that does not use their own pitchers to pitch BP at some point. If you know of one please post. I'll strike them off my list for DD.

I thought the OP was wanting to know if it was ok to use his pitchers for BP. You have to understand the reason for BP compared to hitting Practice. Both have two different intentions. BP is for the batters, to see speed and " called movement pitches ". Too SEE the called pitch and manufacture a hit. And build confidence, this is a mental game.

Hitting practice comes next. Because it's a next level move after BP. To successfully hit a true breaking ball you have to understand it and see it coming. ( it's release , it's spin, it's flight path ) The batter has no clue what's coming. They have to adjust, but also fall back on the BP as far as mind/muscle memory.

 

[Goobie]

Any fielder who can't hang out without constant balls being hit to her surely is not ready for a day of four games, when there are large spans of no action. So punish them for goofing off.

I agree, however we found we can use the time better with them working on other things rather than wait for the occasional ball hit her way in hitting practice. That is why we use the 2nd field for hitting practice. I just hate having someone standing around waiting during practice. Get 'em moving or working on something. $0.02