Take the first pitch

[Mrek]

The problem with saying if you are going to strike out take 3 swings is not a bad attitude for young hitters, but as you get better most good hitters don't strike out very much. I know our our 12U team the top 6 or 7 hitters will put a ball in play on a very high percentage of swings. I would never tell a kid to never swing at the first pitch, but I stress to my DD to only hit if it's where you want it. If they throw a inside corner at the knees or a borderline pitch take it and hope for a better one. If she swings at it she will either foul off or not hit it solid. It's the same with 1-0,2-0 even 2-1. Again this is for good hitters who don't miss a lot of pitches and are comfortable hitting with 2 strikes which most older hitters are. Now with hitters that miss a lot I would expand the first pitch zone and go back to the 3 swing idea, but I see teams that swing at a lot of first pitches hit week grounders and popups.

The pitchers get better as they get older too.
Define "don't strike out very much"...

My DD averaged 11K/7 in her junior year in HS, and 14K/7 through 72 innings (before a season ending injury) in her senior year.
Most decent pitchers will have a least 1 out pitch at this age that is basically unhittable (say <= .050 BA against) in 0-2 or 1-2 counts.
(She was under 7K/7 this year as a D3 Freshman, but looking to get her groove back around 8-9K/7 this year)

Taking strike 1 against average pitching is OK.
Strike 1 against good pitching should always be the best pitch to hit in that AB.

But this thread is about the team that was forcing the batters to take a pitch...

You want your players to be excited to go up to the plate.
That it's OK to use that $250-$300 bat.
That's it's really hard to score a run with 4 walks.
But you can score a run with one swing of the bat.

Every hitter has to be taught zone management.
Let the batters learn what a good first strike pitch to hit is.
Then let them hit the crap out of it.

 

[Westwind]

Good post MREK. Lot of good stuff in it.

 

[Comp]

That was always one of my pet peeves back in little league was the coaches that insisted you ALWAYS watch the first pitch. You only get 3 strikes, why would you tell a kid to purposely give up 33% of their chances at hitting the ball? What they need to be teaching is pitch selection on the 1st pitch. Do you swing at a high outside strike or a low inside strike on the first pitch, absolutely not. But if the pitcher feeds you a belt high middle of the plate pitch, by all means go after it.

 

[cmustangsfp]

Yes, I too have seen HC that were percieved to be "good" HC use that strategy. I see it all the time. What bothers me the most about that strategy is when you see the batter tense up and just start to begin their swing and then stop because they were given the take the first pitch instruction. My DD's were on a team like that for a VERY SHORT amount of time. I never use that strategy when coaching because it robs the hitter of the ability to be able to jump on a pitch if they like it. Plus it adds to the frustration/anxiety of the batter when they know they are already going to be in the hole 1 strike. It is pretty easy to spot from an opposing coaches view too! It also gives the pitcher a boost because they just bettered their chances to get a K It is used by coaches that are not very good.

Now on the flip side, I have no problem if a girl tells me she wants to "watch one go by" before she swings at one, I just will not pre-limit them from swinging at what could be the best pitch they get.

This is especially detrimental at the younger ages, which ironically is when it is used the most. What I ususally see after the first taken strike is an automatic swing on the next one, no matter where the pitch is. If they don't swing at the next one and it also happens to be a strike, you can almost guarantee that they are swingin on the next pitch, which is when the changeup usually comes.

 

[canyonjoe]

If the question is "Should you always take the first pitch?" I would answer with no. However I think you should more often than not take the first pitch. The situation and the hitter makes all the difference of course. If a pitcher is just firing pitches down the middle to get a quick strike it's a good time to be aggressive. If the pitcher just walked 2 batters and you have a hitter that understands zone hitting it's not a bad time to green light them. In my observation I see just as many hitters get into a hole by swinging at a bad pitch on the first one as I do just taking the first one. If our coaches see a team that is just hacking at everything the guy who calls the pitchers will just eat up the hitting team. They will spend the whole game wondering how they kept hitting weak grounders to the infield.

 

[obbay]

Taking the first pitch no matter what is a better strategy than to go for the first pitch no matter what. I have seen too many 3- 6 pitch innings and one pitch outs.
It depends on your batters comfort zone and IF they know where they want the pitch. A good batter shows good discipline at the plate.

Work with the team you have, not the one you want to have.

 

[JJsqueeze]

Taking the first pitch no matter what is a better strategy than to go for the first pitch no matter what.

That is the only strategy that it is better than...it is a lazy, passive approach to hitting and is only used by bad coaches.

 

[JAD]

A few years ago we were playing a team and happened to throw a first pitch change-up to one of their batters. Their HC (coaching 3B) came unglued and shouted "we never swing at a first pitch change up"! Guess what the first pitch was for the next 9 batters in a row? It would have been every batter after that, but we changed pitchers because we were up big and our replacement pitcher did not have a very good change up. LOL

 

[ConorMacleod]

How can you possibly employ this strategy, or state it's even ok, without seeing the pitcher first? Wild pitcher? Sure, employ that strategy. At the 12U level, I simply teach, swing at a strike that you like. My daughter is also a pitcher on the team, and I would love to see the take strategy against her. Because after the first pitch fastball down the middle, I won't be calling for another pitch over the plate. Last game, DD had 3 at bats, saw 3 pitches, and hit 3 singles (to left, to center, to right fields). On my team, I compliment my players for putting the ball in play. Good things happen at 12U 'C' when you put the ball in play. I tell them; "what's more fun, taking a walk or hitting the ball and running some bases?!" You can't win if you don't swing the bats!

 

[obbay]

How can you possibly employ this strategy, or state it's even ok, without seeing the pitcher first?

Correct! At the same time, there are many different factors involved here, not least of which is the skill level of the batters as well as the skill level of the pitcher. So you cannot hang a coach out to dry because he employed one particular strategy in one game.

...it is a lazy, passive approach to hitting and is only used by bad coaches.

if you are talkijng about going for the first pitch no matter what, then I would agree with you. One size does not fit all and trying to apply one philosophy (Take or swing) to every situation is lazy. I know (3) coaches who frequently dictate that all players must go after the first pitch. none of them are successful when they do this. (one team I was AC and the record documented we made a stronger offensive showing when working the count. After they were instructed to "hit the first pitch because it will probably be the best one", we immediately bailed on the offensive game, giving up many one-pitch at bats with easy infield outs.)

How do you get a kid comfortable at the plate without teaching them to take pitches? My kid is a pitcher and apparently I'm the only one who loves to see the other teams swinging at the first pitch - this typically winds up as a strike or an out and they haven't seen anything yet.