When should catchers start calling pitches?

[RubberBiscuit]

On average, a second year 12U and definitely by 14U.

+1............

 

[Sweet Lou]

This won't be popular, (start the volley of insults),but I'm not a fan of catchers calling there own games for alot of the same reasons WinThemAll states. When they play in college, most coaches are calling pitches. As a coach, I can watch the on deck batter for swing tendancies, like hands dropping. If I see this, then the batter is getting pitches up in the zone. Catchers can't see the on deck swings.
I can also see the batter in the batters box swing tendancies, which the catcher can see sometimes, but most of the time not, as she is concentrating on catching the ball. I am the extra set of eyes for the catcher, and No I don't have control issues, I do what I think is best for the team.

This may be true but good catcher can pick up a lot more clues by watching how a batter stets up, she knows better what her pitcher is throwing well that day and what she is not, and she should have a better idea of what the ump is calling as a zone that day than the coach.

So it goes both ways.

 

[About Them]

I would love to see catchers calling the games by 13/14u. This means that they have an understanding of count, situation, and can identify weaknesses and strengths in the batters. Having a pitcher who can hit spots and a catcher who can make solid calls is gold.

But.....no offense GS

"Coaches that call pitches have control issues (not saying they are bad people)."
I rarely see games where the coaches don't call games, therefore 99% of coaches must have control issues.

Calling pitches is not a skill. Research has shown even at the MLB level calling pitches is random chance.
MLB players pretty much all have great swings so you do have a point. Few teams in 14u and below have 12 girls with perfect swings. Those imperfections can be exposed and taken advantage of by the right call (ie excessively wide stance makes batter susceptible to a high inside FB or RB). It really is a skill that can give a good pitcher and advantage over a good hitter.

If it were a skill some players/coaches would be better at it than others (or random chance). That fact is (no matter what they want to believe or tell you) they are not."

Some coaches really are good at it. Some players are really good at it. I had my DD call pitches last year for our #2 pitcher during a few tournaments....and she did better at it than I (she broke down the hitters and called pitches accordingly). Not luck, she consistently called pitches that I didn't didn't always agree with. She explained why she called them (made sense) and the other pitcher got the K or an easy infield play.

This is just my opinion based a what I've seen and been involved in over the past few years.

 

[riseball]

You would find over a large enough sample size that you and the magic eight ball have roughly the same amount of impact on the games.

Magic Eight Ball says - "Very doubtful"

 

[Rocketech1]

Calling pitches is not a skill.

I couldn't disagree more. There is an art to calling pitches that you fail to understand. I have been calling pitches for about 5 years and I am constantly learning.

First off, knowing what pitches NOT to call has a great influence on the outcome of the at-bat. For example, with my DD, when she throws high-inside, she tends to get hit hard because she doesn't get the ball inside enough. I don't call that pitch much!

Her change-up is arguably her best pitch, and we use it liberally every at-bat, especially against the power hitters.

Where the batter stands in the box is important in how to pitch to the batter. If they are far from the plate, we work outside, if they are crowding the plate, we can work inside more to jam the batter, then work away.

Is the offense not swinging at c/u's unless they get two strikes on them (as wrongly taught by some coaches), you better believe I'm exploiting that strategy.

Understanding batters tendencies is also important to pitch calling. Does a batter like a high pitch, low pitch, etc..

Whether or not there are runners on base, influences pitch calling. Are we trying to induce a ground ball out (throw drop balls)

The score of the game, how many outs in the inning, where is the other team in their batting order, what did the batter do last at-bat.

Who's pitching, are they a flamethrower or junk ball pitchers?

I could go on and on about pitch calling but in my experience, who calls the pitches and what their strategy for calling the pitches is has a huge influence on the defenses success during the game.

One last example. This summer, DD played at 10U Nationals and in the semi-final game faced arguably the fastest pitcher at the tournament and who's team had dominated all summer. Their pitch strategy was to throw a lot of fastballs for strikes hoping we would be intimidated by the speed and/or late on the pitch or swing and miss. However, DDs team had been practicing all summer with the pitching machine cranked way up to 55mph. During our at-bats, the players put a lot of balls in play (some for hits) and their defense who wasn't used to much fielding made some errors, including the pitcher and we quickly scored several runs. By the 3rd inning, they had to pull their #1 pitcher and the game was essentially over.

Had the opposing coaches called change-ups more often during our at-bats, our batters timing would have been compromised and I 100% feel we would not have been as successful. IMO, the coaches lack of quality pitch calling cost their team the opportunity to play in the championship game.

To say "calling pitches is not a skill" is a complete fallacy.

 

[KCPRK]

I would suggest a question as a precursor to yours:

At what age are pitchers able to effectively throw pitches to specific locations?

I know that there are exceptions but I usually do not see this until 14U.

Keep in mind that the trend in college is catcher are NOT calling pitches.

And every D1 softball conference or convention I attend the D1 coaches complain about catchers never being taught. We as coaches are usually yelled at by the same D1 coach/speaker and told to let go of our egos or control and let them call games so they are ready. if they have called a game by 19yo then theyll lack years of exp

 

[Cannonball]

When they know how to call a game. In saying that, it is a learned process and so, catchers have to talk to pitchers and their coaches as to why certain pitches are called at certain times? What is the reasoning between having pitcher A work up and down and pitcher B working side to side? When is it alright to throw a pick to 1st? IMO, catcher can make their own path on this by being proactive and letting the coach know that they do know what to call as well as letting the coach know that they are not afraid to step up to the responsibility.

Edited to add:

Went and read some of the responses. There are as many if not more D-I coaches calling pitches than not calling them. The reason is very simple. Their jobs are on the line. If you don't believe that, get out and go watch games. It is rare that I see a college catcher call games and I see a lot of college softball each year at the D-I and D-II levels.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Just my 2 cents - some of the college catchers can call a better game, than a "pitching coach." It is imperative for the pitching coach to call the pitches, so that he/she has a job to do.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Haha. I hadn't read Cannonballs response, before I posted.

 

[02Crush]

I agree with the balanced approach. Start teaching them to do it, what to do and why. Give them the reigns some times and pull the reigns back in some times. It is a learning process. Personally, my tournaments would be a lot less mentally draining to NOT CALL all the pitches and delegate it to the person with the best view on the field. However, calling pitches also requires knowing your opponent as well and in 12U tournament ball most catchers do not know of have the time to scout their opponent. I suppose the answer is in the balance. At this point my Magik 8 Ball is hazy...

Forgot to add... It is a TEAM sport and Coaches AND Players are on the TEAM together. So working together would be best.