Live pitching during practice??

[Hollyrockartist]

What age?

High school - however, YOUNG team....we have one senior (pitcher), one junior (3rd base) and the rest are freshmen on down. After reading, I get the point now! Guess I needed to see it in black and white. When I've gone to the field with DD to work on batting, we've done soft toss, inside, outside and straight up the middle. Yesterday was a bit frustrating to watch because the two pitchers (yes, that's all we've got) were rotating in and out and not consistant. One pitched for her spring/summer team and the other was playing short for her tb team. Her pitches were all over the place. Probably, between the two of them, they'd throw 2 good pitches for the batters to hit out of 10. As irritated as I was being a parent watching, I'm sure it was equally frustrating on the pitchers and batters.

 

[bigboyk]

I understand the thinking behind not having your top pitchers throw live batting practice, but, DD played on a middle school team last year that had 3 very capable pitchers and the lame coach had scrimmage everyday at practice. He was blessed with a lot of talented tb players but all the players improved their batting skills. Is live pitching a slow boring practice, of course, but IMHO, you cannot recreate live pitching with a coah behind a net. Just my opnion and I've been wrong before.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

you cannot recreate live pitching with a coah behind a net.

I have watched a lot of Cactus League baseball, here around Tucson and I really like to watch how they practice. One thing that I have noticed, MLB never has their pitchers throw batting practice. It is always a coach behind a net. Even in the cages, they aren't using a machine. I am beginning to wonder if MLB teams even own pitching machines. Maybe I just can't see them.

 

[2 DD Coach]

I think the younger girls need live pitching during practice. I throw at my girls harder then any pitcher they are going to see in their age group (8u), and they hit consistently of me. They watch and swing at good pitches for the most part, just like they should off the girl pitchers. But for some reason, and I'm talking practice, not just game pressure, when the girls are pitching to them, they don't deal with it as well.

We would do two different type of live pitching drills in our batting practices. First, live pitching from our actuall pitchers, with a limit of five pitches per batter, with the two pitchers taking turns. It was amazing to hear our pitchers encouraging the batters, saying things like "don't worry I'll get you a good pitch to hit." Sure not everyone would hit, but it gave them a chance to stand in and see it in something other then a game situation. Second, we would let the other girls pitch to each other. This allowed the batters to see alot of bad pitches, but also quite a few good ones, and learn what not to swing at as well as give other girls a chance to pitch some balls. (At this age they all want to be pitchers.)

That being said, I think as they get older they should be able to transition from coach, to machine, to live pitching without falling apart.

 

[Greenmonsters]

There's no substitute for live pitching. Everything else is just a poor simulation. Hitting is about reading the pitch and timing it. Pitching is about disrupting the batter's timing. The optimal practice situation is if you have a coach that can throw well or, pipe dream time, 2 or 3 extra pitchers that can throw strikes. If you don't have either, its invaluable to bring in a veteran pitcher from outside the team to throw BP as often as possible.

 

[John T]

I'm with Wookie and Greenmonsters...
It is not that we do it all the time but the girls seeing live pitching is very important. In the past we used machines and coaches pitching and when it came to game time the girls had no clue...Coaches tend to throw to batter's strength just to keep things moving and pretty soon all your throwing is balls right down the middle. Pitchers in high school should be able to "Ease up" some without messing themselves up and the batters need to see a change, drop, curve, etc. in live situations. We go with stations so only a few girls are standing around (Shagging) at a time and we limit the pitches to each batter to 5-6 just like they are batting in a game.

We also use a screen to protect from injury.

 

[TheRogue]

Once per week, our pitchers pitching to our hitters. We have the best pitching staff at our level in our region, so if the hitters can hit off them, they can hit off anyone. The idea that pitchers shouldn't be pitching to live hitters outside of a game never made sense to me. It's not MLB.....they're not making millions of dollars that could be lost on the miniscule chance that an injury could occur in practice.

 

[shockcoach]

I have watched a lot of Cactus League baseball, here around Tucson and I really like to watch how they practice. One thing that I have noticed, MLB never has their pitchers throw batting practice. It is always a coach behind a net. Even in the cages, they aren't using a machine. I am beginning to wonder if MLB teams even own pitching machines. Maybe I just can't see them.

The thing about this, is that most men can throw pitches over the plate overhand while their underhand pitch needs some help. I use a pitching screen and move up close to the girls and sling shot the balls to the girls. So far I've only got one hbp and that was my own dd. This method works very well with the girls. I can place it in, out, up and down fairly well.

 

[Bill Bollinger]

I have watched a lot of Cactus League baseball, here around Tucson and I really like to watch how they practice. One thing that I have noticed, MLB never has their pitchers throw batting practice. It is always a coach behind a net. Even in the cages, they aren't using a machine. I am beginning to wonder if MLB teams even own pitching machines. Maybe I just can't see them.

The main reason they don't use live pitching is because they view their players and in particular their pitchers as investments with only a limited number of pitches available to them in their development and potential career. Using them up in BP wouldn't make good financial sense. They will use machines at times when working on different mechanics. Like has been said a million times before, they are just a tool not a replacement. Each has their place (Live pitch, coach pitch, soft toss, front toss, tee work, and machines). IMHO, if you are working a team as a unit at practice on some hitting, then you use a machine, front toss by a coach and live pitching by either your own pitchers or by a rent-a-pitcher.

Bill

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

I see your point. I think simulated games for a few innings can be helpful though at younger ages but especially as they get older I would hate to see them get hurt.

I'm not sure why you think someone might get hurt? The way I understood the post is "should batters and pitchers use live pitching during practice?". Absolutely; BUT only if a) the pitchers are allowed to throw their best pitches in an attempt to get the batter out; b) the drill is not "batting practice" where the pitcher is just throwing strikes down the middle of the plate; c) and you rotate your pitchers so no one pitcher throws more pitches than their usual pitch count.

This is a win/win situation for both the pitcher and batter. If the above "rules" are followed, how is the likelihood of injury increased?