- Aug 21, 2008
- 2,386
- 113
I began thinking of this when posting on the Dropball drills thread. I think one of the most challenging parts of coaching pitchers isn't what we think of first when choosing what the ACTUAL hardest part of teaching pitching is. It's more subtle in some ways. In 2 words: Peer pressure.
In 23 years of doing lessons, every crop of new students all have one common denominator: the kid's friend who's also a pitcher and sees another pitching coach has her throwing 8 pitches, while my student does not. Since kids are brutal to each other, the pitcher without 8 pitches is ridiculed and feels inferior because she doesn't know there really is no such thing as 8 pitches. But kids believe one another. If Sally tells Jane that she is being taught her 7th pitch at the 12u level, Jane is going to believe it. Jane goes home and tells mom/dad that Sally's coach is teaching her 7 pitches already. Sally's dad in many cases is also the team's coach so, pitching time isn't equally divided. But Jane and parents are led to believe that Sally is superior because of the 7 pitches and that she gets the most time in the circle. It's an absolutely vicious cycle. And a couple things really exacerbate this problem:
1. at the young levels, a pitcher who can simply throw strikes is going to get 16 K's per game simply because so many young girls are afraid to swing the bat. So, strikes turn into strike outs fast.
2. Every pitch they watch on ESPN, with those wonderful announcers, tell her that every pitch thrown is on purpose. I pitcher on TV can literally slip when throwing, the ball sails over the catcher's head, and the audience is told about a great riseball there that "just got away" from the pitcher. Or anything inside is a screwball. Everything outside is a curve. Then we start getting into the "new pitches" or the inventions of a "Scrise". Or a "crop", when it was just a dropball thrown outside.
Personally, I don't have any solutions for this problem. I tell my students up front that they won't be learning 8 pitches as I think I had a pretty ok career with 3. I encourage families to watch ESPN games with the sound OFF. I also encourage them to study and figure out the difference between good pitching and bad hitting, they are not the same thing. Although the tricky part is they can be the same. Sometimes a great pitcher can make a good hitting team look silly. But, that's always the case and knowing the difference is a path to pitching wisdom. Anyway, sorry everyone. Just needed to vent.
In 23 years of doing lessons, every crop of new students all have one common denominator: the kid's friend who's also a pitcher and sees another pitching coach has her throwing 8 pitches, while my student does not. Since kids are brutal to each other, the pitcher without 8 pitches is ridiculed and feels inferior because she doesn't know there really is no such thing as 8 pitches. But kids believe one another. If Sally tells Jane that she is being taught her 7th pitch at the 12u level, Jane is going to believe it. Jane goes home and tells mom/dad that Sally's coach is teaching her 7 pitches already. Sally's dad in many cases is also the team's coach so, pitching time isn't equally divided. But Jane and parents are led to believe that Sally is superior because of the 7 pitches and that she gets the most time in the circle. It's an absolutely vicious cycle. And a couple things really exacerbate this problem:
1. at the young levels, a pitcher who can simply throw strikes is going to get 16 K's per game simply because so many young girls are afraid to swing the bat. So, strikes turn into strike outs fast.
2. Every pitch they watch on ESPN, with those wonderful announcers, tell her that every pitch thrown is on purpose. I pitcher on TV can literally slip when throwing, the ball sails over the catcher's head, and the audience is told about a great riseball there that "just got away" from the pitcher. Or anything inside is a screwball. Everything outside is a curve. Then we start getting into the "new pitches" or the inventions of a "Scrise". Or a "crop", when it was just a dropball thrown outside.
Personally, I don't have any solutions for this problem. I tell my students up front that they won't be learning 8 pitches as I think I had a pretty ok career with 3. I encourage families to watch ESPN games with the sound OFF. I also encourage them to study and figure out the difference between good pitching and bad hitting, they are not the same thing. Although the tricky part is they can be the same. Sometimes a great pitcher can make a good hitting team look silly. But, that's always the case and knowing the difference is a path to pitching wisdom. Anyway, sorry everyone. Just needed to vent.
