Unraveling Pitching Frustrations

[Greatdaytobeawildcat]

RAD - this is a great topic and the issues are real. Frustrating for the pitcher who has to shake off weak D, a bad plate ump or bad pitch calling....yet all of it is a learning experience.

Summer league of my rising senior college year (so my "career" was close to over anyway)...I arrived late (like 5 minutes before start) because of my job - which the coach knew, but he told me I was starting. So...no warm up. Our D sucked. Our catcher sucked. I wasn't great. And the Ump was KILLING me. Somewhere around the third inning, after three walks on terrible calls, I absolutely grooved a fastball right down the middle....for ball four. I hissy quit the team right there and then. Told the ump he sucked. Told the coach he sucked. Walked off the field, got my keys, drove home.

This is an example of what NOT to do, by the way. Do the opposite. Do not do this.

 

[radness]

What sort of team are you talking about? There are teams for the softball obsessed that practice everyday and there are teams where the girls don't want to work that hard.

Step one is to find the team that is the right fit for you. I think most players understand that the pitcher has special challenges, but that doesn't mean they feel a need to practice like and elite team does.

Talking about what pitchers encounter at any level.

To schwabach's comment
'think most players understand the pitcher has special challenges, but dont feel the need to practice like'

Exactly the point !

If you have a pitcher who is expected to work on control.
And does so by applying individual work.
*The defense should also!

IMO
that comment is a gap that shouldnt exist!

 

[schwabach]

That's why there are different teams. I think one of the teams my pitcher daughter liked best was a town travel team where were never practices. But is was a great group of girls - 1/2 just finished 7th grade, 1/2 just finished 9th grade. The chemistry was brilliant. The quality of play - uneven. The pitcher really didn't want the ball to be in play too often or fielding mistakes would occur.

The other extreme, of course, is teams like Oklahoma where Gasso expects 110% effort all of the time. You can bet that she has a nose for the right stuff during recruiting.

 

[Butch18507]

This is a great topic! My DD pitches and I've always taught her to have a bad memory in the circle when it comes to pitches/plays in a game. She works hard and expects a lot of herself and what she is learning on her own is not every girl is going to work as hard, play as hard, or care as much as she does and on the flip side there's going to be girls she meets that work, play, and care more then her. All I tell her she can do is, help the ones that need it and learn from the ones that she can.

 

[radness]

That's why there are different teams.





I think one of the teams my pitcher daughter liked best was a town travel team where were never practices. But is was a great group of girls - 1/2 just finished 7th grade, 1/2 just finished 9th grade. The chemistry was brilliant. The quality of play - uneven. The pitcher really didn't want the ball to be in play too often or fielding mistakes would occur.

The other extreme, of course, is teams like Oklahoma where Gasso expects 110% effort all of the time. You can bet that she has a nose for the right stuff during recruiting.

Really? Are you saying dont expect players on 'c' teams or 'b' teams to give a hoot like pitchers do?
Or even 'A' players dont need to fix inconsistancies?
What?

Well thankfully there are players young and older who do try to improve!
Beyond just 'oh well bad throw' 'oh well cant catch the ball'.

The 'want to improve mentality'
is not limited to only upper talent level players.

 

[cnardone]

So this question~
How do pitchers handle the bad defensive plays?

There is a lot to unravel in your post. but to this specific question, Confidence, Mental Toughness (the ability to re-focus), Understanding and Maturity.

I think most of that is inherint in the player or learned. I say learned because I am not sure you can teach them. You can expose the player, give them the opportunity to experience, but they have to interalize it all. It is not like teacih a running on 2nd when to hold on a grand ball to the 3b.


Playing the field and making their own mistakes is a good reminder that this game isn't so easy.

 

[schwabach]

No, I am saying that at the age of 64, I have learned that trying to push a string does nothing but make me crazy. Having children taught me this.

Now, if I was the coach of a team, I would push the girls to be better. And if I was a good coach, I would create an atmosphere where the girls didn't want to let me down and didn't want to let each other down.

My daughter finally found a team with a good coach and reasonably hard-working bunch of girls and it was great. And it helped to be starting with a higher natural skill level.

 

[schwabach]

from https://quoteinvestigator.com/tag/john-wooden/

"Sport doesn't build character, it reveals it."

These words have been attributed to renowned basketball coach John Wooden and influential sportswriter Heywood Hale Broun. Would you please explore this topic?

Quote Investigator: The earliest strong match located by QI was published in January 1974 in the “Ames Daily Tribune” of Ames, Iowa. Heywood Hale Broun who was described as an “off-beat sports commentator for CBS television” had recently visited the city and delivered a speech. Boldface has been added to excerpts: 1

Some persons say that athletics, and coaches, build character. Broun has a different outlook.

“Anybody who teaches a skill, which coaches do, is admirable. But sport doesn’t build character. Character is built pretty much by the time you’re six or seven. Sports reveals character. Sports heightens your perceptions. Let that be enough.”

 

[ArmWhip]

As far as pitchers dealing with defensive errors I tell my students to look at a base on balls as an error by the pitcher. Then I ask them how many errors they typically make in a game.

 

[_MIA_]

“Anybody who teaches a skill, which coaches do, is admirable. But sport doesn’t build character. Character is built pretty much by the time you’re six or seven. Sports reveals character. Sports heightens your perceptions. Let that be enough.”

I agree with this for the most part...