Runner on 2nd signaling pitch location to batter

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Jul 16, 2013
4,659
113
Pennsylvania
In order for this to be at thing you need a pitcher that can hit their spots 70% of the time AND you need a hitter that can receive and act on the information. Outside of the top levels of P5 schools this is a moot point. Certainly will not matter in HS or Travel Ball. The main benefit of this exercise is to get into the heads of the pitchers, coaches, and parents. As you can see from the responses in this thread in the context of getting in someones head it is pretty successful.

Ken Eriksen used to play these type of stupid games every time my DD pitched against USF. He would stand at 3rd and try and pick her grip and tell the hitter what he thought she was going to throw. Near end of her last game against them her Senior year, she looked over at at him and asked if he finnally figured out that she used the same grip for every pitch. He was not amused. :)

This has been my experience as well. Even at the d3 level. Some coaches simply think they are smarter than everyone else. It rarely works and often hurts their own team more than it helps.

Returning to the title of the thread. Relaying pitch location from 2nd base is extremely common at the college level. A lot of high school teams in our area also try to do it but when 90% of the pitches called are to the outside, why bother.
 
Feb 17, 2014
551
28
Cassie Reilly-Boccia was the 1B on the Alabama team that won the title in 2012. She wrote a book about that season called "Finished It".

In that book, she talks about a senior who was injured all 4 years of her career at Alabama. During the 2012 season, it was her job to pick the pitching signs and figure out what was being called. Reilly-Boccia says there was no way they would have won the title without this player picking pitches.

It is all part of it. If you don't like what the other team is doing, adapt.
 
May 15, 2008
1,913
113
Cape Cod Mass.
I had several girls on my 16U team tell us about their HS coach's steal signal, he called out their name and gave them the outs with his fingers. Next spring my daughter's team is playing them in a league game. So my daughter asked me what she should do. I told her it was her decision. She surprised me by telling the catcher, and we caught the first four runners that attempted to steal before he stopped trying it.
 
Mar 13, 2010
1,758
48
Reading a pitcher is the real skill. We work hard to make sure that the stride on a changeup is the same as a fastball. One of DDs pitching coaches played fastpitch internationally, has a lot of experience and stories.
He told us about going up against a pitcher with a devastating riseball. Until someone picked up on the fact that prior to throwing it he tensed his forearm when he set his grip, people stopped swinging. Someone told him and after he started wearing a sleeve no one could read his riseball anymore.

Catchers should be calling the game anyway.

yupppp. Men are evil at picking pitchers. One of the men in my club has been catching for me at training and he’s been really good at telling me how to hide it. Andsome of the other coaches will yell what I’m throwing.

and they would lose it to be told they have to call the game. Catchers call.
 
Feb 26, 2010
27
3
West Chicago Il
Sign stealing on the field is part of the game. Catcher needs to to go to a 2nd or third sign for different pitches & set up for location just before the pitch is thrown. We did this all the time in baseball & Men’s Major Fastpitch Softball
 
Feb 18, 2014
348
28
My opinion - There is so much more going on than just reading a batter or knowing what a pitcher can do. I think there is value in letting them take an inning here and there, or like a pitcher shaking a pitch if they see something to call a pitch, but there is enough to focus on in playing the game and executing. In addition, catching is both physically and mentally draining. Coaches are in a better position to be successful, year over year.
I agree for younger girls, but I am done telling the older girls what their limits are.
I can't tell a girl, congratulations on graduating HS with your associates, I just wish you were smart enough to call pitches.
My all time favorite catcher just passed on the second half of her Senior year to go D1 to a top ten school. The difference between her and most young women is that she never believed in the limits that coaches tried to place on her.
We have local girls that catch entire tournaments, not because they have to but because they are a beast behind the plate. I think that is extreme, but these girls are athletes. My own DD struggled with a high school conditioning test because while running she couldn't get and keep her heart rate up into the requested range. She may have grown up all elbows and knees her entire life while being razor thin, but she is stronger and faster than most of her classmates.

To me it doesn't hold water that the coach, from the dugout will have a better view of what is actually happening. Their pitch calling is based upon a bad view of if the pitch was what they called and if it was where it was supposed to be. Every time the catcher gets asked, where the ball came in because the pitch calling wasn't the expected result, I just have to laugh.

But I guess it depends upon what you are trying to accomplish. The argument seems to be that the coach can win more games because they are capable of controlling the game, and the players are not. I contend that a well taught player will beat that coach.
 

radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
:) This discussion makes me want to do a BACK PICK to 2nd !;)
 

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