Pitching for weak contact vs. strikeouts in 12u

[ang2bmd]

Sounds like a coach that's been around a while! Very few 11u pitchers are going to be dominant in the 12u game. You got great advice here. Relax and enjoy the ride. My daughter plays for one of the best organizations in the country and our coach tells our pitchers this very thing and they are very good!

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[sluggers]

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.

Stupidest thing I've read.

A pitcher throws a pitch to a specific spot. She either hits the spot or she doesn't. That is it.

 

[Softballmom2008]

So the goal is to hit the spoT? Isn’t that the means? What is the end? What is the purpose? Just hitting a spot is too simplistic. You need a reason to hit a particular spot.

 

[Softballmom2008]

The coach has a daughter who pitches in college. I trust he knows what he is talking about, I’m just not sure she will be able to throw pitches someone else tells her to do. I don’t really know if she has that ability yet. I don’t know if she’s ever been told what pitch to throw or if she just threw what she wanted in previous seasons. It will be a change...especially if he calls a,pitch and she doesn’t do it. Or throws something else by mistake or throws wild,because she didn’t set up properly. Or does this thing with her glove to change her grip that gets called by the ump as an out.

Hopefully she figures out this new style of pitching and helps win games I’ve noticed she pitches better when this new coach is working with her. It’s pretty amazing, I hope she does well this weekend. Will be fun to see how she does with being told what pitches to throw.

 

[grcsftbll]

I trust he knows what he is talking about, I’m just not sure she will be able to throw pitches someone else tells her to do. I don’t really know if she has that ability yet. I don’t know if she’s ever been told what pitch to throw or if she just threw what she wanted in previous seasons. It will be a change...especially if he calls a,pitch and she doesn’t do it. Or throws something else by mistake or throws wild,because she didn’t set up properly. Or does this thing with her glove to change her grip that gets called by the ump as an out.

How long has she been pitching? DD started pitching in 1st year 10U and there was always someone calling pitches, even if it was sometimes the catcher. This is something she's going to have to learn how to do if she wants to keep pitching so might as well start now.

 

[ANNASDAD]

I'll leave this right here!

 

[ang2bmd]

The coach has a daughter who pitches in college. I trust he knows what he is talking about, I’m just not sure she will be able to throw pitches someone else tells her to do. I don’t really know if she has that ability yet. I don’t know if she’s ever been told what pitch to throw or if she just threw what she wanted in previous seasons. It will be a change...especially if he calls a,pitch and she doesn’t do it. Or throws something else by mistake or throws wild,because she didn’t set up properly. Or does this thing with her glove to change her grip that gets called by the ump as an out.

Hopefully she figures out this new style of pitching and helps win games I’ve noticed she pitches better when this new coach is working with her. It’s pretty amazing, I hope she does well this weekend. Will be fun to see how she does with being told what pitches to throw.

Well she best get used to someone else calling pitches. It's extremely rare in the game of softball to have a pitcher or catcher calling there own game. This is the next step in her growth as a pitcher. A good coach is going to recognize tells in a hitters swing like being late, early, casting, etc that leave the hitter vulnerable to certain pitches locations etc so she will need to learn to hit her spots and create swings and misses or weak contact. You can't just throw strikes in A level ball or you will get creamed.

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[ANNASDAD]

There's no cookie cutter, one size fits all way to pitch! Every AB, every hitter, every inning and every situation is different! In 12U, I honestly felt like I was cheating when calling pitches, when our pitchers were on, I would call out my players number on defense and probably 70% of the time the ball was hit to them.

 

[badmonkey]

Stupidest thing I've read.

A pitcher throws a pitch to a specific spot. She either hits the spot or she doesn't. That is it.

Telling a pitcher to hit a spot without letting her know the result she is trying to achieve is an excellent way to end up with a frustrated pitcher. My daughter is going to 12U and will be pitching for the first time since rec. I've explained that the goal is to get the hitters to hit the ball so we can get them out. In rec the goal was to strike out batters. If she went out there with expectations of striking out 11 per game, she'd be disappointed with a shutout with one K, averaging 10 pitches/inning. Of course it all begins with hitting spots, but the players must know what they are attempting to achieve.

 

[HighStrung]

So the goal is to hit the spoT? Isn’t that the means? What is the end? What is the purpose? Just hitting a spot is too simplistic. You need a reason to hit a particular spot.

I think this is where the difference between someone who pitches and a real pitcher begins to develop. Yes, the ultimate goal of the girl on the mound is being able to locate her pitch (whatever pitch that is) exactly where she wants it. IE, hit the spot. A real pitcher is someone who knows the why, the purpose, etc that you mentioned. It's learning how to attack a batter, how to help create weak hits, how to create a grounder with a runner on third and one out instead of a sac fly to right. The deeper understanding of the purpose of pitch selection and placement are what brings a girl up to the level of being a pitcher, rather than someone who can just place it where she's asked to.

For now, someone else calling her pitches is actually whats going to help your daughter in the long run, as long as someone explains the "why" along with it. She'll have to learn to trust her ability to put a change up low and outside when asked to, and when to stuff a big hitter....and when not to try the same. She'll learn to pay attention to what XX hitter did last time at the plate and maybe a different approach to facing her the next time up, or remembering what worked and using it again. It'll also make her focus on perfection of each pitch rather than possibly just choosing to use the ones that are working that day, because coach could call any one of them at any time. Most of this can be learned in the backyard by practicing game scenarios, runners here and here, and the count is 2-1, ask her what she would throw, ask her why? Call her pitches and placement, don't call the same pitch twice, make her hit the same spots with different pitches. Repeat a few thousand times, she'll get it.

Obviously, some of this has to come after she can consistently hit a spot with each pitch, she's gotta be able to locate consistently first, then on to the how and why.