Thanks for the reply but I sincerely disagree with much of it. You seem to skip TB years 16 & 18? Is that because it doesn't fit neatly into your argument? And, I'd say that most decent 14yo pitchers are already competing on older aged teams as well. You say they should simply be allowed to go into the circle and work on control and speed.....that's what they do all year long in practice isn't it? Am I really the only one who believes that some pitchers in TB actually pitch fairly well and can somewhat be relied on to to hit their spots or change their speeds or spins?Sure...pitch calling in TB retards the development of pitchers.
Why? As pointed out numerous times, the most important factors for a young pitcher's success is control. So, developing young pitchers should focus on control.
In softball, "control" means being able to (a) find the umpire's strike zone and (b) pitch on the edge's of the umpire's strike zone. Control is more difficult because the strike zone floats--it changes from batter to batter, and umpire to umpire.
Young pitchers should be allowed to go to the circle and work simply on control and changing speeds.
Someone will say, "kids need to work on throwing breaking pitches during games". Reality check: Few TB pitchers have breaking pitches. At 14U TB A, about 1 in 20 pitchers have movement. At a 14U TB - B tournaments, no pitcher has a breaking pitch.
So, drop the charade. Just let the kid pitch and actually experience playing the pitching game.
To a large extent, yes. They are older and more mature physically and mentally.
Yes...because charts at that level have meaningful information. The data actually means something.
1) The pitchers can consistently throw the called pitch to the called location.
2) The pitchers face the same batters over and over again.
Now, don't get me completely wrong...I've seen a lot of ridiculous pitch calling over the years with pitchers who couldn't make an adjustment to speed, spot and spin if their lives depended on it. Not to mention the logic of some coaches calling the pitches. But not everyone is that bad. And, to throw out another controversial (to some) factor, I'm in the camp that working with a competent catcher on calling a game is a big positive for the overall sport.
If I understand your position correctly a pitcher should simply be allowed to go into a game and throw whatever they want, decided on solely by themselves and use it completely as practice to work on control? Should they be allowed to seek feedback from the catcher, coach or umpire as to where they might be missing the zone as it "floats" (which it surely does)? Should they not be a part of the rest of the team out there that day and take "suggestions as to the batters stance, swing, speed, previous tendencies, etc...or is that not recognizable to some still only playing TB?
Of course a pitcher that sticks with it and works on their craft gets better as they mature (mentally & physically) and of course the resources available to most college teams to track pitch data and hitting data is better than little Suzie's Gold Elite Rainbow Unicorn Platinum 10U All Star team but again, they need to start developing and understanding the game before they get to the college level. Being coached and told to throw a certain pitch (assuming they actually have worked on that particular pitch) during a game is a part of that development.
Not sure I'm completely and accurately making my point but there you go.