In anothr thread I posted the following response to a post about transtion to a bucket dad. "I am just now having to do the bucket dad. DD pitched in two seperate games 18u. Did pretty good gave up some walks and some hits/RBI's. She got a lot of grounders and fly balls, most were taken care some E's made. I told her like others have said do your best to control what you can and keep a short memory." My question how do you deal with the poor pitch calling. She leaves the game on way home telling me the coach is calling 80%+ fast balls with many of them down the middle. While she is not elite pitcher and still learning the craft she is a better pitcher then they are allowing her to be. When I call her pitches I call alot of rise/drop combos, use fast ball to set up CU on occasion. Yes if she is missing with spin pitches I will go to FB in and out to break it up but always go back to spin pitches and utilize the one that is working the best that day. I do not pretend to be guru since practicly all of my knowledge pitching has come from this site and I have stats showing when she is throwing fewer FB's she gets better results that both her and I look at together. For those of you who have went thru this how/what do you tell your pitcher/student/DD? The only thing I have told her is down the middle FB is a good way to find out how hard that girl can hit. I don't want her to ignore her coaches but I and her know better plans to approach a hitter than feed them low to mid 50mph fast balls that even when located well will be hit. Do you have her shake them off, nod yes and then throw something different etc. I will not resort to calling her pitchs.
Poor pitch calling
- Thread starter Phathead
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If she is playing 18U, she needs to tell the coach not to call fast ball down the middle. I mean, she has to be blunt.
Of course it is crazy to throw FBs down the middle of the plate, especially at 18U. But, it isn't crazy to throw FBs and CUs located at different spots around the plate. If she is playing lower level 18U, it might work against mid-level teams. Most kids only throw a FB and CU anyway.
Here are my suggestions:
1) Get someone who knows softball to evaluate whether your DD actually throws a rise and a drop. Few kids can throw both. It might make sense to step back and get an objective evaluation. Given that she is throwing in the low 50s, you might find out that she actually doesn't have a rise.
2) I would tell her not shake off the signs, but change locations. This is going to require her to think on her own and figure out how to pitch to batters.
Here are my suggestions:
1) Get someone who knows softball to evaluate whether your DD actually throws a rise and a drop. Few kids can throw both. It might make sense to step back and get an objective evaluation. Given that she is throwing in the low 50s, you might find out that she actually doesn't have a rise.
2) I would tell her not shake off the signs, but change locations. This is going to require her to think on her own and figure out how to pitch to batters.
Sluggers. Regarding rise and drop question, the rise you are correct it is still work in process. Sometimes nothing more than low to high fast ball with a little tail, more off axis bullet spin, other times it stays higher longer when she gets more towards back spin (avoiding rise debate). Drop ball is a rollover pretty consistant down and away movement. Regarding speed that I mentioned is strictly what some have guessed not clocked. Could be faster might be slower I would rather error on slow than fast (refuse to wear the rise colored shades). Mechanics vary some which shows up in velocity. She is 14 age playing up for another guy when not playing 14u. I know playing up will cause her to get hit more with all tHings equal. The competition we play in both age groups can vary. I called one game 18u since coach had to leave for something against decent team. Mixed it up got good results, coach came back and called game later that day against a weaker team she got hit more (stats) and harder (opinion). Asked what happened she looked at me and said fastball about 12 times. I like sluggers option 2 and that is where I will probably lead her.
If the end game is college then by your reasoning there is no reason to teach a fastball. Why teach them at 10u what they will never use again after 12u? Bucket dads and pitching coaches need to leave pitch calling to the coach. I agree if they don't like then go elsewhere. Coach may have been throwing it for a reason. Maybe weaker batter, maybe swing flaw, maybe she hasn't played with him enough for him to be comfortable with her pitches yet, mayne he doesn't know what he is doing, or maybe he has seen control issues. If 80% of pitches were fastballs then why the walks? This past weekend I bet 30%-40% of my pitches were fastball, the rest were curves, screw, drop, and cu. My pitcher had 31 k's this weekend and we are in 14's. The best hit off of her in the past two weeks was a screw ball she didn't execute properly. Show me the guy that says there is no use for a fastball and I will show you a guy with a slow pitcher.
- Oct 22, 2009
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Biggest pet peeve of mine. Rarely do one of my pitchers get a pitch caller that actually knows what they're doing.
I've even have a high schooler who will be pulled if she doesn't throw what's called and her coach is calling pitches and she's a control freak and won't turn it over to the pitcher and the catcher.
I've even have a high schooler who will be pulled if she doesn't throw what's called and her coach is calling pitches and she's a control freak and won't turn it over to the pitcher and the catcher.
I still see this quite a bit - even at the 18U level. In my experience, it's a coach with a flamethrower DD that has no change-up or other type of offspeed pitch. There are absolutely still coaches out there that think their Nolanette Ryan is just going to keep blowing it past batters no matter the age.
My pitchers all know my signal for fat and down the middle. It is sort of a cross between the chicken dance and the hokey pokey. That way there is no confusion, if you tube it you own it. If you are lucky you hopefully won't wear it.
This issue of pitch calling doesn't end in HS or travel ball. One of my students played D3 college ball last year. The "pitching coach" they hired (who was just fresh off her playing days where she'd probably never called a game in her life) took a dislike to my student early on. Not sure why because she is legitimately one of the nicest kids you'd ever want to meet and a total team player.
Anyway, it wasn't fastballs, it was screwballs. Understand my student had an awesome curve. It was her go-to pitch, and a pitch that sent many a California A-level player back to the bench. Her screw was good too, but not as a steady diet. Which is what this coach was calling. She'd do well for a couple of innings, but then the other team would figure it out and back off the plate. Then it was rip city.
She tried talking to the PC to get her to call other pitches, but the PC refused. (She threw a great change that was rarely used either.) It was like she was trying to punish and/or humiliate this poor kid who wanted nothing more than to help her team. Eventually my student went from compliant to defiant. So there'd be runners on second and third (thanks to the predictable screw) with two outs and two strikes. The PC would call another screw and my student would throw a curve for the out. Then, of course, she'd get yanked.
She tried talking to the PC, and to the head coach (who turned out to be quite the wimp). No help. So she played out the season and quit the game. Sad part is the PC left for parts unknown so maybe it would've been a different situation this year. But we'll never know, will we?
Anyway, it wasn't fastballs, it was screwballs. Understand my student had an awesome curve. It was her go-to pitch, and a pitch that sent many a California A-level player back to the bench. Her screw was good too, but not as a steady diet. Which is what this coach was calling. She'd do well for a couple of innings, but then the other team would figure it out and back off the plate. Then it was rip city.
She tried talking to the PC to get her to call other pitches, but the PC refused. (She threw a great change that was rarely used either.) It was like she was trying to punish and/or humiliate this poor kid who wanted nothing more than to help her team. Eventually my student went from compliant to defiant. So there'd be runners on second and third (thanks to the predictable screw) with two outs and two strikes. The PC would call another screw and my student would throw a curve for the out. Then, of course, she'd get yanked.
She tried talking to the PC, and to the head coach (who turned out to be quite the wimp). No help. So she played out the season and quit the game. Sad part is the PC left for parts unknown so maybe it would've been a different situation this year. But we'll never know, will we?
