"Tells"

[corlay]

sounds like a skilled analyst could develop a tidy business as a "picker",
hired by schools to analyze their OWN pitchers to identify and eliminate "tells"...

 

[Rick Pauly]

The smart colleges are spending an equal amount of time analyzing video of their own pitchers to detect anything that can be picked.

 

[Sparky Guy]

One of the things I do with the young pitchers is to tell them to practice getting their grips in from of a mirror. I want them to watch themselves so they do the same thing every time. Then I will tell them to get their grips in from of their mom/dad and see if they see a tell. Also I have the catcher call the pitches and I will stand behind the catcher and in the 3rd base coaches box trying to pick the tells. It makes the younger ones more aware of what they are doing in the circle at an earlier age so it becomes second nature to them when are older.

 

[Ken Krause]

Here's another way to think of a "tell."

What if the coach on the other team or the pitcher announced what pitch was coming. Would it be unethical for the hitter to use that information to her advantage? That's essentially what a tell is - announcing what you're going to throw. If you're going to do that for us, we're going to say thank you.

That said, a lot of girls at the lower levels IME don't want to be told by a coach signal, audible or otherwise. They say it just breaks their concentration.