Throwing a variety of pitches in a game.

[PEPPERS]

I would like an opinion from some of the members my daughter has a number of different pitches she throws. She is better with some pitches than others, but all when working can be effective.

The HS coach may only call for the fastball in one game, the next game only the fastball and screw know and then, then she may call for the rise and screw and changeup in a game. This works with the average teams, but against the better teams if she gives up a few hits, she expresses her frustration of not throwing more of her pitches to keep batters off balance. She has talked to the coach, but she still follows the same patter. My daughter also expresses frustration when she advises you threw the fastball for 5 innings all at once she calls the rise and not having thrown it for a while and she doesn’t get the good spin and it gets hit because it doesn’t rise like it should.

Just wondering how some of you feel about this situation.

 

[Greenmonsters]

While the coach is the boss, it doesn't sound like they're a knowledgeable boss. When does travel season start?!

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I am guessing that the coach will have no idea what your DD throws. Perhaps, she can't even recognize a drop, etc.

Anyway, the catcher should be calling the game, by HS.

 

[CoachFP]

I'll take the other side here. Does your daughter really have all of these pitches? Maybe the coach knows what she is doing. You said that "She is better with some pitches than others, but all when working can be effective". Well maybe the coach likes to stick with the pitches that are better.

 

[Greenmonsters]

I'm w/ Amy and agree that the catcher is best situated to call pitches based on the situation, the hitter, and what the pitcher has working well at the time. Getting most coaches to recognize that is the challenge. It can't hurt to ask to try it for an inning, which hopefully will evolve into 2 innings, the entire game, the next game, season etc.

 

[starsnuffer]

She might be one of those pitchers that has "7 pitches", but in reality she has 1 fastball that she can aim and 6 not-quite-as-fast fastballs that she can't aim as well. 90% of pitchers are like that (yet, of course, it's never the daughter of the dad you're talking to at the time).

Her coach may have also watched her warm up and noticed what pitches were working and what were not working, and decided to go with those.

That said, I'm all for catchers calling pitches and not coaches. At HS age, the kid is the one trying to improve and get better and get into college, not the coach. It's the kids who need to develop their strategy at this point, not the coach (HS ball is rec ball for older kids). The coach is doing the kids a disservice by not letting them call pitches.

-W

 

[starsnuffer]

HS is far more than rec ball for older kids. These are the memories you take with you.

In my area, a certain college coach saw a player at the HS championship, which was held at the college, and the (Underclass) player sealed her scholarship as a result, with dominant play.

I guess it depends on where you live. In California, we tend to have a higher number of high schools with a smaller number of students. I grew up and went to HS in Florida and South Carolina and the schools had a larger number of students but there were not so many of them. (IE if you have 10,000 students we would have 10 high schools of 1000 students each instead of 4 schools with 2500 students each or 2 schools of 5000). This means in California we don't have as much competition for spots on HS teams (though I know some SoCal and some private high schools are different) and generally the girls play with and against the same kids they played rec ball with or against, and if they want real competition they have to play some form of travel ball.

Either way, I agree with the memory statement and I would never suggest a kid forgo the opportunity to play HS sports irregardless of the level of play.

-W

 

[PEPPERS]

My daughter has a great pitching coach who I will give credit to developing all the pitches she has, he and her have worked hard to perfect these pitches. I totally agree with the catcher calling the game, this season the HS a had senior catcher who was great, but not allowed to call the game.

My daughter lost three games last year in HS two to an undefeated state champ and one to class 4A runner-up she just felt she would have a better chance against these better teams using more of her pitches. Example she has four different change-ups, reverse spin, change-up drop, one we call 2 knuckle which is like a change-up curve it curves and drops in to a right handed batter and a knuckle ball. This summer the coach let her throw all the pitches.

She has been talking about the losses during HS and thinks she would be more effective using all the pitches against the better teams. As mentioned earlier she threw fastball after fastball in one game and then coach called for a rise and it did not break like her normal rise according to her and the girl got a hit. She felt that the rise did not work as well because she had not thrown one for 5 2/3 of an inning. The coach called all fastballs the remainder of the game and at the end batters were catching up with the fastball. She was leading 2-0 at that point but ended up losing 2-3.

 

[Quake Softball]

I hate to be negative, but most pitchers don't have the pitches they think they do. As 10U we had a pitcher that was way above average with her fastball and change up. But as soon as she started throwing a "curve" and a "rise" as a 12U she went backwards. She always begged me to throw those other pitches because her pitching coach said she could. Become dominate with the fastball and change and then work on the others ONE at a time.

 

[jacketsfan]

From I have seen, ability to call a good game is not a requisite skill asked in interviews for HS coaches. OTH, hindisght is 20/20. If every coach could take back about 3 pitch calls a game, they'd probable win a lot more than they lose.

Also, it's really easy to get too cute in pitch calling. The fact is, if you are holding a team down with just a FB, then another pitch might give them a chance to catch up, and boost their confidence. It's easy to think you will mix things up, and outsmart yourself.

There are lots of different ways to approach calling the game.

It's tougher than it looks from the outside to call a game. It's waaaayyy easier to do from the outside of the fence.

One question I would have - can she shake off a pitch?