Pitch Calling - High or Low?

[uncdrew]

My 12U daughter is a solid pitcher who hits her spots well. But the pitch calling for location is 1 through 5, covering off the plate, river, middle of plate (not called really), etc.

But there's no indication for if the pitch should be high or low.

How or when will that come into play? Right now if a fastball on the inside river is called, it's kind of up to my DD to decide if that's a high or low fastball. Seems the high/low could or should be part of the call. I'm fine with letting my DD think it through and decide, but if the coach knows this girl can't hit low stuff, it makes sense to get that information to the battery.

 

[DNeeld]

When my DD was 12, we also used 1 through 5, with 1 through 4 being each quadrant of the zone and 5 being a change up. Kept it nice and easy.

We did also have a "0" call, which was the "Dear God, please just throw a strike" call.

 

[Rolling Hard]

Special sign for screw ball up ( i guess you could do same for FB up) and the riseball is always up. All other pitches are generally down in the zone at the 12u level.

 

[Hawk_]

When she can consistently hit 1-5.

 

[uncdrew]

Let me start over.

She gets one number for the pitch (fastball, curve, drop, change, etc) and one for location. It's just that location is left/right, not up/down. Make sense?

 

[_MIA_]

Seems odd..

 

[CoachJD]

Considering up/down is much more important than in/middle/out, that's incredibly bizarre, and it tells me the coach either doesn't trust her (or any of the pitchers, if he does the same thing for everyone) to have the ability to locate up/down properly, or the coach doesn't have a clue.

Changing eye level/height is much more disruptive to a hitter than throwing a pitch the same height, but a few inches to the left or right.

 

[Cougars]

Also, it seems like most of the umps we get are fairly consistent calling balls/strikes on inside/outside corners. Occasionally we see one being very generous outside. However, high/low has a lot more variability. Some won't call anything above the waist a strike, others it can almost be in their eyes. You need up/down pitch calls to be able to adjust to that.

 

[Tango]

Didn’t like this but one coach curve out, screw in, rise up, drop down, and FB for a strike.

I think the individual pitcher has a lot to do with up and down. My DD lives down and gives eye candy up and off the plate to keep them honest.

Watched a 14 year old that’s wild around the zone but 63 is tuff up. I don’t think she throws enough strikes to call pitches up a lot.

 

[El Oso]

My 12U daughter is a solid pitcher who hits her spots well. But the pitch calling for location is 1 through 5, covering off the plate, river, middle of plate (not called really), etc.

But there's no indication for if the pitch should be high or low.

How or when will that come into play? Right now if a fastball on the inside river is called, it's kind of up to my DD to decide if that's a high or low fastball. Seems the high/low could or should be part of the call. I'm fine with letting my DD think it through and decide, but if the coach knows this girl can't hit low stuff, it makes sense to get that information to the battery.

I find it fascinating that a coach would differentiate something as small as the difference between the river and off the plate, in 12U for Christ sakes, but not care about high or low. That's crazy to me. A college pitcher is going have a hard time being precise enough to throw the river vs off the plate much less a 12u pitcher!!! Lol.......... Who is this crazy coach?