Pitching for weak contact vs. strikeouts in 12u

[Softballmom2008]

My Daughter is first season 12u and was recruited to pitch on a new team, the HC told the parents his strategy was for the pitchers to pitch for weak contact vs. Ks. From what I’ve seen of the defense, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. They are an A level team but 1st year 12u. I’m concerned if following this instruction she will walk players or errors will be made in the field and she will become frustrated.

Why not let her decide if she should try to strike out the batter vs. trying to get them to hit the ball? ,
Thoughts on this strategy?

I can’t find any info about it.

 

[Softballmom2008]

Does a 1st year 12u pitcher have that much control over where the ball goes at the plate? I don’t know. My daughter has become more accurate from a year ago.

 

[grcsftbll]

For all of 12U DD was on a team where the #1/2 pitcher was not a strike out pitcher. She generated lots of pop ups and easy grounders. VERY good control and movement. I've got a video I made when she was pitching against a really good local team with a bunch of pull hitters. My DD was at SS and the coach called pitches to generate hits to SS (this is why I made a video of it, haha). They're a good hitting team, and it's hard to get a lot of strike outs against teams with aggressive hitters. If the defense does its job, infield grounders and pop ups work just as well as strike outs.

That said, I don't know that there's value in telling an 11 year old not to even try to strike out hitters. To me it depends on the team you're playing and the pitcher. When we played weaker hitting teams, our pitcher got strike outs as well as the easy out grounders/pop ups. But I do think it's detrimental for a pitcher to think anything but a strike out is a failure.

 

[chinamigarden]

I'd just advise my dd to keep pitching the way she pitches, if the opponents keep striking out, what can you do? Gee coach I'm trying but they keep missing.

Sounds to me like a coach who is over thinking the game.

 

[EmToTheDee]

My Dd is first season 12u and was recruited to pitch on a new team, the HC told the parents his strategy was for the pitchers to pitch for weak contact vs. Ks.

Thoughts on this strategy?

Sounds like the Coach is doing a great job managing parental expectations. You're moving from a lower weight 11 inch ball pitched from 35' to a heavier 12 inch ball pitched from 40'. That means lots more time for hitters to watch the ball coming and make contact which means lots less strikeouts.

Parents used to pitchers striking out 9-10 girls per game throwing fast balls will suddenly see those pitches hit to the fence. Pitchers throwing lots of speed changes and differing locations will generate lots of crappy contact hits which turn into weak grounders and easy pop ups. That's what happens when switching from 10U to 12U.

I like what the Coach is saying. It's all about managing expectations. The defense knows they will have to play harder to get all the grounders and the pitchers know they don't have to do everything themselves. Also, the season has barely begun so give it all some time before jumping to any conclusions.

 

[Momof3]

There is a recent tweet from Cat Osterman "Just a reminder pitchers... your job is to make quality pitches!! Amazing what that mindset can free you up to do. " Other famous softball players liked it and quoted her and talk about how it's not about strikeouts it's about one pitch at a time. If it gets hit that is out of your control as a pitcher. Definitely frees up the pitcher's mindset!

Edited to add Amanda Scarborough's comment:
It’s about making QUALITY PITCHES, not focusing on strikeouts. When the focus is on making quality pitches, it’s more freeing because it’s controllable!
More times than not, when you make a quality pitch, good results will come.
We, as pitchers, can’t control what the hitter is going to do.
Even a “quality pitch” might still get hit- that’s just how the game is. But, it doesn’t take away from the fact your mindset can be controlled before every pitch to understand what a quality pitch looks like in that moment, and committing to give your all to execute they pitch without fear of what a result will be.

 

[Top_Notch]

I have a friend that always said you can't live on the strikeout past 10U. He's pretty much right. At 12U balls will be put in play so the defense better be ready. That said, good pitchers will still get their fair share of strikeouts. So, if you can get them, take them. But the days of a steady stream of fastballs to get a strikeout are over. Change speeds and movement.

You'll see a lot of pitchers that looked great at 10/12 just look mediocre at 14 because they can't make the adjustment.

 

[Strike2]

The same types of pitches that (hopefully) generate weak contact by a good hitter often strike out a poor one. That said, as a pitcher gets older, unless they are incredibly good, they will get fewer strike outs. They'll see an ever-shrinking number of weak batters, some of whom are nearly impossible to strike out. The defense must work for them no matter how hard the ball is hit. The pitchers on DD's older team are effective, but not overwhelming. They don't strike out many, but they don't walk or hit many, either. Whether the ball is hit weakly or not, the defense gets outs in every way imaginable.

 

[joe720]

Sounds like the coach is saying nicely "we don't have strikeout level pitchers and we need to play good defense". Probably will just call low strikes so hitters can't get under them as there is not enough power to jam them high.

First year 12U is tough. Probably the biggest size difference you'll see along the way.

 

[Rick M]

I'm going with others who have said this is more about the coach managing expectations, both of the parents and of the pitchers themselves. When DD pitched her last few games at 10U, she was striking out 2/3rds of the batters she faced. It was a big adjustment for her when she could barely throw a strike from 40 feet, and when she did it usually got hit.

It's just as big an adjustment for the rest of the defense. When they're playing behind a strong pitcher in 10U, the chances are few and far between. When they move up to 12U, there's a lot more action and more baserunners. Sounds like you've got a good coach who is telling his players to expect more hits, and that's part of the game plan.