Pitch Location

[Greenmonsters]

Very simple. Ask her to answer one question. "Why would a pitcher ever want to throw the ball over the plate if they could hitters out without doing so?" Home plate is a nice target, but really is irrelevant - its the umpire's strike zone and the batters' strike zones that you should be trying to work at the extreme limits of and expand.

And, IMO, an understanding of this concept is of even greater importance to the catcher, who, if she's not calling the pitches as I believe she should, should at least be providing the target.

 

[Sparky Guy]

How do I teach her that throwing a ball is not a bad thing?

Have her practice without a plate. Get her used to throwing to a location, not the corner. It will help open the strike zone up in her mind. As the others have said, be sure the catcher knows what needs to be done as well. Too many times the pitchers are conditioned to throw exactly where the catchers "want" the pitch. They must learn how to work together and the place where that starts at is with the coach. What I try to drill into my pitchers is the mindset that the best pitch is a ball that is swung at and missed.

 

[starsnuffer]

Try working with your catchers? Add a signal (touching the ground, inside of the leg, whatever) that means "more outside" and "more inside". This is something used often for pitchers with the exact opposite problem (pitch has to be a strike), but it really works both ways.

Let the catcher be the thinker, over time the pitcher will learn. The pitcher has a lot on her mind, the catcher, while still having a very tough job, can be more cerebral about the game. . . and in fact, must be given their "coach on the field" task. The coach calling pitches can even pass this on from the bucket if they must.

-W

 

[Jojo]

Ahh, and then there is my DD, who never cease to amaze me whenever she had a 0-2 count and then just nail the batter!

 

[knightsb]

13yo DD's pitching coach has her work a pitching sequence where one of the pitches in the sequence is 4" off the plate outside and low. He stresses that he does not want every pitch over the plate. During lessons he is constantly setting up scenarios and explaining why or why not a pitch in a given situation. At home, when practicing, I have DD verbally setup a scenario and call her pitch and describe why she selected that pitch. I wished our catchers were more field generals as starsnuffer described.