Long story short, by spring I'm expecting my kid (incoming freshman) to be at the point where she has enough location and movement to do more than just try to hit the zone and give the defense something to make a play on. She's only 18 months into pitching and three years into playing the game. Realistically, I expect she'll have solid location, a reliable change-up, and decent drop. Top speed goal is 50.
So in addition to working hard on the physical pitching, I want to start helping her understand when to do what. How to identify hitter traits or tells, situations where she should throw one pitch or location vs another, etc. I don't know how much her coach (who I'm directly involved with since I coached MS) can call from the dugout, but I'd rather she have a decent understanding of what's going on. Since I don't always know these things myself, I'm looking for some wisdom. Her catcher has some understanding of this as well, but she's a sophomore who has yet to have a pitcher with much experience throwing to her. They intend to be working together regularly this offseason.
What are some basic strategic rules of thumb to get us started?
So in addition to working hard on the physical pitching, I want to start helping her understand when to do what. How to identify hitter traits or tells, situations where she should throw one pitch or location vs another, etc. I don't know how much her coach (who I'm directly involved with since I coached MS) can call from the dugout, but I'd rather she have a decent understanding of what's going on. Since I don't always know these things myself, I'm looking for some wisdom. Her catcher has some understanding of this as well, but she's a sophomore who has yet to have a pitcher with much experience throwing to her. They intend to be working together regularly this offseason.
What are some basic strategic rules of thumb to get us started?