Pitching coaches
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I’m the “pitching coach” (aka the only Dad/Coach who knows anything about pitching) for DD’s team.
The first year I was inexperienced and tried to give vocal instruction after every couple pitches. Didn’t work out well.
Now that both our pitchers and myself are more experienced there’s not a lot of talking from me. I typically wait until the same mistake is made 2 or 3 times in a row without an attempt to adjust/correct. Then I’ll send out a vocal cue for an adjustment I’d like them to make. But even that cue is short and sweet. Outside of that it’s “great job, good miss, be proud of that one”....so on and so forth.
We are a 12u C team. I don’t call pitches. I let the catchers do it. But we talk pitch strategy based on in game situations and reading the batters. So they at least have some type of plan going in and are learning how to deviate from it if needed. If they miss a spot then they miss. If it gets bad it’s usually a meeting at the rubber to make sure P & C are on the same page. Doesn’t happen often.
Directing a pitchers's attention to a physical cue while they are on the rubber in a game is a tricky thing. Asking the mind to direct the body to preform a specific action is something that should only happen in practice, where you are less concerned about the result (a good pitch). What you can do is remind the pitcher of an action so they can mentally review it, or feel it, between pitches and hopefully regain the proper form on the next pitch. A pitcher can't focus on "staying tall" or "pushing straight out" and throwing a high inside fastball at the same time.
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Agreed. Hence why we have gone to short and sweet vocal cues. With DD we only have two cues. If those two reminders don’t help then it is what it is and we manage best we can until next practice.
Thanks everyone. I was wondering if I would read replies like these. And I apologize if I wasn't clear enough. I was talking about saying something like "release at the hip" right after a wild pitch, etc. and comment again on the next pitch if it doesn't go where I think it should have gone. I feel like it would be information overload similar to what @HunterMO described for his first season. I'd almost prefer her to "fail" and learn from her mistakes and/or discuss it after the inning then to almost nit pick every pitch.
I would highly advise against doing exactly that. As it’s what I did and was a mess. My inexperience showed. Learn from my mistakes - ha. You can do that every once in awhile but not after every pitch that goes wild. Part of it is them learning to make the adjustments on their own. You’re just there to give them a reminder cue now and again.
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- Jan 13, 2020
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Worked very little with fast pitch but as with the baseball kids, let them know that when they were on the mound, they would have to learn to figure it out by themselves. They would have to reach back to their practice to find the successful feeling that worked. Worked hard on their breathing to keep them in the right mind-set.
Also told them if they looked into the dugout or to their parents, that told me they wanted out of the game. They learned this part the game quickly
Also told them if they looked into the dugout or to their parents, that told me they wanted out of the game. They learned this part the game quickly
Plenty of misfires and other goofy things happen in pitching practice sessions, and when they do usually the first thing I ask the pitcher in a manner-of-fact matter is "what happened there?" to see if they can point out the mechanical breakdown that led to it. My next question is usually "...and how do you fix it?" to see if they understand that part. If they get it, I frequently respond, "Good. Then you won't need me to holler at you from the stands at your next game." Not that I ever would.
During pitching workouts we always work on one correction at at time. Pitcher throws a pitch and we evaluate what they liked about the pitch an what they want to do different on the next pitch. Then come up with a single once word queue that they use to focus on the correction. Example: They are short striding so they use the word "stride" as their queue to get further out. Throughout the sessions we end up with a handful of queues. During a game I will use the same queues from the dugout. If they hear "stride" they know what correction to make. The important thing to remember is that you cannot fix everything at once. Pick your battles and communicate what is most important. During games you can make tweaks, but it is not the time for a full on lesson on lower body mechanics.
Bonus Anecdote: My DD worked very slowly and deliberately in the circle to the point where coaches would constantly complain (Ken Eriksen). When she got to the circle at SC she became even more deliberate. When asked why she stated the obvious, that you have very little room for error in an SEC conference game. Then she grinned and said since the games where on ESPN she knew where the camera was focused before she threw a pitch, so the extra time was all good. I tell this story to all of my pitchers, so the queue to slow down and be more deliberate in the process... ESPN. It sticks with them and works better than any of the other queues.
Bonus Anecdote: My DD worked very slowly and deliberately in the circle to the point where coaches would constantly complain (Ken Eriksen). When she got to the circle at SC she became even more deliberate. When asked why she stated the obvious, that you have very little room for error in an SEC conference game. Then she grinned and said since the games where on ESPN she knew where the camera was focused before she threw a pitch, so the extra time was all good. I tell this story to all of my pitchers, so the queue to slow down and be more deliberate in the process... ESPN. It sticks with them and works better than any of the other queues.
During a game I say little, except some of the basics if I see they'll help. By basics, I mean "long and loose" if I see she's tensing up. "Use your muscles" if I see she's not putting it all into the pitch. And of course lots of positive reinforcement, of course. That's always beneficial I think.
During warm-ups between half-innings, I might say a tiny bit more.
Wild pitches happen. They usually know why (if they've pitched for a while).
After the game you can talk more about bigger issues. But during the game I'd keep it very simple. Trying to make a significant change in-game might do more harm than good. At least that's been my experience.
During warm-ups between half-innings, I might say a tiny bit more.
Wild pitches happen. They usually know why (if they've pitched for a while).
After the game you can talk more about bigger issues. But during the game I'd keep it very simple. Trying to make a significant change in-game might do more harm than good. At least that's been my experience.
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