Want to teach my DD about general pitching strategy
- Thread starter El Oso
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Assuming you understand pitching talk to her about pitching and situations. What age is she? Is she able to throw multiple pitches and hit her spots at least with her fastball/dropball? If she can't implement what she is learning she won't likely take it to heart. If she can implement it, watch games, pause the action, and talk about what would be a good pitch to throw or a good location for the next pitch. Throw simulated innings to made up batters and talk about pitch sequences. If you have video of her from games watch that and talk about what would have been the ideal next pitch.
I would not treat learning to be a pitcher like learning biology or trigonometry. No tests or worksheets.
I would not treat learning to be a pitcher like learning biology or trigonometry. No tests or worksheets.
I had my son throw to me in mock 2 inning games against mock leadoff bunter, line driver, and home run hitters.
We discussed strategies for each type, and what to follow up after each pitch depending on where the previous pitch went.
We discussed strategies for each type, and what to follow up after each pitch depending on where the previous pitch went.
Biggest thing DD did was learn ump's strike zone as soon as she could. Go from there. If we were visiting Team she never missed a pitch from dugout, people learned to leave her alone the 1st inning.
Unless you are dominating, throw strikes to hitters weaknesses and throw balls to hitters strengths. Change the pitch, the location, and velocity every pitch.
If you got talked into Disney+ during the pandemic, you also should have got ESPN+ too (it was the best deal IMO)...watch college softball and not just the super high level stuff. There's a ton more on the streaming than they put on the broadcast. We watched a lot of the lower level stuff without the hot radar guns (if any radar at all) and learned a lot. My DD doesn't know it yet, but I DVRed about 6 Athletes Unlimited games and her winter break assignment is going to be chart the pitchers. Both her HS and travel coach let her and her catcher call their own games so she NEEDS to do this.
If you can't do that - there's youtube. Plenty of complete games there.
Caution: don't pay attention too much to the what the announcer calls the pitches. Location & speed is what's best to pay attention to unless it's an obvious movement pitch. Low and in hard is more important, than "screwball," and slow and outside is more important than "curve." that way she can relate it back to herself, based off what she brings to the circle.
If you can't do that - there's youtube. Plenty of complete games there.
Caution: don't pay attention too much to the what the announcer calls the pitches. Location & speed is what's best to pay attention to unless it's an obvious movement pitch. Low and in hard is more important, than "screwball," and slow and outside is more important than "curve." that way she can relate it back to herself, based off what she brings to the circle.
