In your honest opinion, do you think you are just as capable of calling the pitches as your high school coach? I would think that an experienced catcher should be more than capable by the time she is in her early teens? Let the girls play the game. Its probably more fun for you too!
Who should call the pitches the coach, dad, or catcher?????
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In your honest opinion, do you think you are just as capable of calling the pitches as your high school coach? I would think that an experienced catcher should be more than capable by the time she is in her early teens? Let the girls play the game. Its probably more fun for you too!
- Dec 15, 2009
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in high school, i perfer the coach calls it. I think it's because I don't wanna be the reason the girl hit the homerun to win the game. The coach has also worked with this pitcher for a while. She will be a senior this year and I will be a sophmore. The last time I worked with her she was 14 and wasn't nearly as fast, didn't have as much movement, or know as many pitches. It was always a lot of fastballs with the occasional change up. And my high school 2 years ago won 2 games. This year we are 7-5. Big improvement, for this farm school who "didn't know how to play ball". This past year was also my first year of catching a pitcher that had movement and a lot of speed. So it's a lot easier for the coach to call the pitches. But now, since I've worked with her a lot, I'm sure I'll call a game or 2 in high school. Part of me likes it better when the coach calls it because then it's not "what was she thinking calling that pitch?". It becomes "well with my 35 years of expierence, I called that, it just didn't work".
Interesting. You only mentioned the downside of calling the pitches (giving up the homerun) but not the upside (e.g. striking out the clean-up batter with your excellent read of the batter and pitch count call that maybe the coach did not pick up on). I wouldn't sell yourself short or worry too much about any negative consequences. Ultimately the pitcher is the one that accepts your pitch call or not and she is the one that gives up the homerun or strikes out the batter. Again, the coach should let you girls play the game, especially once you get more experience working with the high school pitchers.
Greenmonsters
Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
SBC - Have confidence in your ability and don't ever sell yourself short. I've never heard a convincing argument that the catcher isn't in the best position to evaluate the pitcher's stuff, the umpire's strike zone, and the batters body language and subtle adjustments at the plate. I probably caught somewhere in the vicinity of 1000 games in my career from LL, HS, college, and semi-pro and called every pitch, but I honestly believe that my 16U catchers have a better read from behind the plate than I do now from the bench. Occasionally, I see something that they may (or may not) be missing and relay in a location or specific pitch - but we talk about why I did it between innings so that they learn.
Regarding accountability for results, here's another way to think about. If a pitch gets hit hard, its rarely because the catcher made a bad call, its typically that the pitcher didn't execute perfectly. At your age (16U?), I'm assuming that your pitchers are good enough to hit their spots with consistency and that you're setting your target on or just off the plate black unless the count is 3-0. When a ball gets crushed, even in MLB, you'll normally hear the pitcher say that they made a mistake or, alternatively, when a masher goes yard on a ball below the knees 6 inches off the plate, its simply that a good hitter hit a good pitcher's pitch. Let me ask you this - do you get credit for a strikeout? No, the pitcher does, even though you called the pitch. So why should you be entirely accountable for a pitch hit for a homerun? Even if it was the wrong pitch, the pitcher had an opportunity to shake it off and throw something else. In reality, the accountability and credit should be shared by the pitcher and catcher; however, it rarely happens because the spotlight is on the pitcher (e.g., does anyone remember who caught and called Roger Clemen's record-setting 21 strike out game or who was Danielle Lawrie’s catcher in the 2009 WCWS?). Your job is to earn you pitchers' trust and respect and keep their confidence high so that they can perform at their best - sometimes you may need to tell them you called a bad pitch or the hitter hit a great pitch even if you know that's not the case. And if you do happen to call a bad pitch, review the situation and learn from it.
Those who strive to be great at anything, whether it be career, softball, , etc., assume greater responsibility and accountability. I suspect that your HS coach would be willing to give you the responsibility to call at least some HS games if you convince him (and yourself) that you are willing to be accountable. Then it will be all up to you (and to your pitchers to execute perfectly
)!Good luck - GM
Greenmonsters
Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
Absolutey right - the put out goes to the C. But for statistics, the Ks are listed for the Ps!!!
I can see both arguements for pitch calling. As a coach (travel, HS) I have to work close with the catchers and see how they have developed. I used to call pitches and then give catcher 2/3 innings a game. Noticed I said used to...for the last two years we have had the catcher call. She is a Senior now. There have been problems but it has worked (unless you talk to some of our parents!!). I am not saying I wouldn't go back to calling.. if i believed our catcher wasn't ready!
