live pitching

[missjeff]

How high should a coach rate BP with live pitchers. is it a must or is there other alternatives to simulating the real thing. With various drills, such as front toss at close range, pitching machine for tracking etc. can you still achive the same goal that every coach wants to achive, for all the girls on your team to hit the ball well. I myself have mixed feeling on whether its as productive at younger aged girls. I would appreciate some help on this please.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Chris O'Leary]

IMO live, full speed pitching is the only way to get a true sense of how you're doing.

It's also the only way to work on timing, which is too often overlooked.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Anyone who knows me.......knows I'm a BIG live pitching person. You can soft toss and do speed drills all day, but nothing prepares a batter than to face live pitching. We have 5 pitchers on our travel team, each with a diff style. I run them all during practice. Bat timing is good, but if you want to be a successful team you have to learn to read pitches.

When we were younger I would start off with 'batting' practice. Meaning I wanted my pitchers to throw strikes down the middle. Build up the batters confidence.

Then I would run them through again but use 'pitching' practice. Keeping a count on pitches, trying to strike them out.

Now that we are older it's straight to 'pitching' practice.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

IMO it is not a good idea to have your pitchers "throw strikes down the middle to build up the batter's confidence.." or alter their normal pitching routine and mechanics for the sake of hitters getting some "good looks" at fastballs in the strike zone. That's what the batting cages are for. Also, I would worry about the "confidence" of the pitcher getting shelled throwing pitches right down the middle; something they would rarely or never do in a real game. Curious to others thoughts on this?

 

[GOINGDEEP]

IMO it is not a good idea to have your pitchers "throw strikes down the middle to build up the batter's confidence.." or alter their normal pitching routine and mechanics for the sake of hitters getting some "good looks" at fastballs in the strike zone. That's what the batting cages are for. Also, I would worry about the "confidence" of the pitcher getting shelled throwing pitches right down the middle; something they would rarely or never do in a real game. Curious to others thoughts on this?

This guy said young team. So I'm thinking very young 8u kid pitch or so. We didn't do that past 8u. But I will leave you with this, I threw 'batting' practice in college and last time I looked they throw 'batting' practice in MLB. And I've seen some older FP girls throw it at our indoor using a gate hole fence.

 

[Ken Krause]

I don't know about college, but in MLB batting practice pitchers aren't active pitchers. They are coaches who throw meatballs to give the hitters swings. It's similar to what we do with soft toss from the front.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

All us pitchers threw in college. I can't say for MLB........never made it that far. lol

 

[Cannonball]

Three very good friends of mine throw BP for the St. Louis Cardinals. They aren't close to throwing game speed. I believe that there are a lot of benefits from facing live arm throwing from a coach who gets it up there at a decent clip but not over powering. I know I have to learn so that is one of my goals this summer.

I'm also a big proponent of front toss. I've had a lot of success using front toss in both softball and baseball. My daughter will throw to hitters as a pitcher and never as BP. In fact, it infuriates me when I see a pitcher throwing for bunting practice unless they are actively trying to get outs and fielding the ball. JMHO!

 

[halskinner]

IMO it is not a good idea to have your pitchers "throw strikes down the middle to build up the batter's confidence.." or alter their normal pitching routine and mechanics for the sake of hitters getting some "good looks" at fastballs in the strike zone. That's what the batting cages are for. Also, I would worry about the "confidence" of the pitcher getting shelled throwing pitches right down the middle; something they would rarely or never do in a real game. Curious to others thoughts on this?

You are correct on all points.

One of the things I ALSO did at our academy was to throw live pitcher batting practice to all age hitters, groups and teams. I went to 10u, 12u all the way to 18u tournaments and saw what the pitchers did and how fast they threw at the different levels. Without overpowering them with speed they could not handle or with anything else they would mot see at their level, I would use everything else I had. I had to be very careful not to hurt their confidence level and I had to talk to them beforehand. Once they got to where they were getting hits off of me, (The big hairy guy with the mustache and sideburns) the girls they would face in their games were not impressive to them at all, they would light em up!.

If they paid more attention to me and what I did with my body to distract and disrupt them, than they paid attaention to the ball, I owned them.

However, once they got to the point that theeir focus ON THE BALL had gotten MUCH better, they started winning the battle more and more.

If you have a 12u team, pay a decent 14u pitcher to come by and throw batting practice to them. NO MEATBALLS, the pitchers they will face WILL NOT be doing that in their games. Make sure that pitcher does not overpower them with speed that they will not see in their age level, but use everything else she knows. If your 12u hitters can get hits off a good 14u pitcher, ya think that confidence level wont follow them into the next tourney?

If the coach wants you to throw meatballs, have him or her do it or use the machine.

 

[PEPPERS]

One time my daughter’s coach wanted her to pitch batting practice at half speed, no net or protection. I said no that is how she protects herself by pitching at full speed. Pitching at half speed was a danger to her getting hit by a line drive.

We saw team USA play in Knoxville their batting practice they had a male pitching what looked like about 80% speed, he was protected by a net. We’ve also seen Alabama play and their coach pitches batting practice, behind a net.