DD called off her HS coach's pitch....

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Apr 25, 2019
285
63
And let me tell you.....it went over like a lead balloon.

Here's the situation, my DD is a 2025 catcher for her 5A varsity team. She catches the majority of the time, especially when their ace is pitching. So she is young and still getting to know the ways her coach works. This weekend, our team was down 2-0 in a game with their team going through the line up for a second time. Their 3 hole batter was set up in the middle of the box, in the middle of the plate and they were able to get her to hit a weak grounder with an outside curve ball for the out. Well, the second time through the line up she was still in the middle of the box but was now crowding the plate and looking for that outside pitch. First pitch was a ball, second pitch was an outside curve ball that got fouled off (which my DD tried gesturing to the coach that she was set up close to the plate), third pitch was a change up for a strike. The count is now 1-2 and the coach calls the outside curve ball again. My DD shakes it off and again gestures that the girl is set up close to the plate. The coach calls the same pitch and the pitcher tells the coach "She is crowding the plate, coach." Just trying to back up my DD. Well, the coach loses her sh*%. Throwing clipboards and telling my DD and the pitcher to call their own pitches while she storms off. This was in the 3rd inning. My DD calls the rest of the game and they still end up losing but she called a good game. After the game, my DD and the pitcher get called know-it-all princesses and she rants for a while to the whole team. Ends up calling the pitcher a bad influence, even though it was my DD that shook off the pitch.

My DD has a great softball IQ. She has been shaking off pitches since 12u and up to this weekend, no one has ever had an issue with it. I mean, it makes sense, right? She is the one who can see what is working and what is not.

Any way.....that all happened on a Friday night. Saturday morning rolls around and my DD assumes that she is being benched so she talks with the other catcher on the team and tells her to get it done and have a good game. Before game time, the HC pulls my DD aside and tells her that the general consensus with the other coaches is that the catcher is the ONLY person that can shake off a pitch. My DD says, "yes ma'am" and catches the final 2 games of the weekend. My DD actually called the entire game on Saturday morning and her team ended up winning 9-0. It was fun to watch.

I say all that to ask this, what are your thoughts on a catcher shaking off a pitch? Do you take it personal? Or do you trust your catcher?
 
May 17, 2012
2,804
113
And let me tell you.....it went over like a lead balloon.

Here's the situation, my DD is a 2025 catcher for her 5A varsity team. She catches the majority of the time, especially when their ace is pitching. So she is young and still getting to know the ways her coach works. This weekend, our team was down 2-0 in a game with their team going through the line up for a second time. Their 3 hole batter was set up in the middle of the box, in the middle of the plate and they were able to get her to hit a weak grounder with an outside curve ball for the out. Well, the second time through the line up she was still in the middle of the box but was now crowding the plate and looking for that outside pitch. First pitch was a ball, second pitch was an outside curve ball that got fouled off (which my DD tried gesturing to the coach that she was set up close to the plate), third pitch was a change up for a strike. The count is now 1-2 and the coach calls the outside curve ball again. My DD shakes it off and again gestures that the girl is set up close to the plate. The coach calls the same pitch and the pitcher tells the coach "She is crowding the plate, coach." Just trying to back up my DD. Well, the coach loses her sh*%. Throwing clipboards and telling my DD and the pitcher to call their own pitches while she storms off. This was in the 3rd inning. My DD calls the rest of the game and they still end up losing but she called a good game. After the game, my DD and the pitcher get called know-it-all princesses and she rants for a while to the whole team. Ends up calling the pitcher a bad influence, even though it was my DD that shook off the pitch.

My DD has a great softball IQ. She has been shaking off pitches since 12u and up to this weekend, no one has ever had an issue with it. I mean, it makes sense, right? She is the one who can see what is working and what is not.

Any way.....that all happened on a Friday night. Saturday morning rolls around and my DD assumes that she is being benched so she talks with the other catcher on the team and tells her to get it done and have a good game. Before game time, the HC pulls my DD aside and tells her that the general consensus with the other coaches is that the catcher is the ONLY person that can shake off a pitch. My DD says, "yes ma'am" and catches the final 2 games of the weekend. My DD actually called the entire game on Saturday morning and her team ended up winning 9-0. It was fun to watch.

I say all that to ask this, what are your thoughts on a catcher shaking off a pitch? Do you take it personal? Or do you trust your catcher?

These are separate issues at play here.

1. The coach is an immature jackass and shouldn't be coaching if it played out how you indicated.

2. Assuming that you have some insight as a catcher that the pitcher and/or the coach can't comprehend is short-sighted. You are suggesting that your daughter's random is better than the coach's random (with years of experience calling pitches) and the pitcher's random (the one actually throwing the pitch).

Pitch calling should be a group effort between pitchers, catchers, and coaches. All teams do this a little different but this is considered best practice. Things change when coaches are getting paid (think college for example).

Another way to put this is that there isn't some random sequence of pitches that you can magically call based on how the "batter is standing in the box". Perhaps the batter stands that way to get you to call the pitch that they want. Unless you have data on this particular hitter you are just guessing in the end just like everyone else. A three-hole hitter on a 5A team knows how to hit and would probably laugh if you told them how you were trying to pitch to her. It matters little in the end, throw to the pitcher's strength.

Good luck.
 
Last edited:

Strike2

Allergic to BS
Nov 14, 2014
2,044
113
Whoever is doing it, without a pitcher who can reliably deliver and some good scouting on a hitter, pitch calling is little more than an expression of hope. "I 'hope' you can accurately throw what I call and I 'hope' the hitter will miss it." In reality, it's more of an exercise of figuring out what's working for the pitcher that day than calling some magic number that will generate an out.

The coach's reaction was unprofessional, if that's what happened. However, the issue of "shaking off" pitch calls should be something that's discussed and agreed upon by all concerned in advance, not argued about during a game. Ultimately, it's the coach's decision.
 
Dec 2, 2013
3,410
113
Texas
The coach's reaction was unprofessional, if that's what happened. However, the issue of "shaking off" pitch calls should be something that's discussed and agreed upon by all concerned in advance, not argued about during a game. Ultimately, it's the coach's decision.
This right here. I had dinner with DD and one of the pitchers and the topic of shaking off pitches came up. DD (C) calls all pitches. The pitcher said that one of the pitchers didn't want to call off DD's pitch calls. DD asks why not? The other pitcher didn't want to upset DD. HUh? Meanwhile I thinking why has this not been discussed over the past two year? DD said it's a team effort and if pitcher feels strong about throwing a certain in a particular situation, go for it. I am thinking the other pitcher didn't want to take the responsibility if it goes badly.

But yeah, there should be a discussion in practice, between innings with the coach, pitcher and catcher about the game plan and situations.
 
Jul 22, 2015
851
93
Bottom line is that this should have been discussed prior to having it happen in a game. The pitcher should always feel comfortable shaking off a pitch, and the coach should have a good enough relationship with the players to allow it. If my catcher shook off a pitch I trusted them, and got the explanation after the inning. That said, if the coach had a strict policy of "No shaking off" it is certainly within their rights and should have been clear. I always wanted my pitcher confident in the pitch, so if they weren't I wanted them to shake it off. Occasionally I would call the same pitch because I just wanted to see it in a certain situation.
 
Feb 7, 2014
547
43
Golfer - caddie partnership... caddie can give great insight and advice. Golfer still has to hit the shot.
 
Jul 29, 2013
6,782
113
North Carolina
The coach's reaction was unprofessional, if that's what happened. However, the issue of "shaking off" pitch calls should be something that's discussed and agreed upon by all concerned in advance, not argued about during a game. Ultimately, it's the coach's decision.
This in a nutshell! Generally a coach that gets pissed off for a pitcher or catcher shaking them off don't know how to call pitches to start with! We've all seen it before, they call pitches like they're reading it from a menu or something?
 
Jan 20, 2023
219
43
Really basic question- how does one shake off a pitch? Like the coach calls it and they shake their head no and wait for a new pitch to be called? Or they just nod but throw a different pitch? My daughter’s coach told her to shake off pitches whenever she isn’t feeling it- but she’s so new she’s never done it.
 

Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,854
113
Your dd was calling a pitch based upon one factor of many. As a coach, I might be calling a pitch given:
  • I noticed a flaw in the hitter's swing.
  • I have a recorded history of this hitter.
  • We have done the same thing in the past and this pitcher should know not to throw the ball in a position where the ball could be hit. IOWs, the hitter will chase a ball.
  • I might believe that the hitter is setting us up to throw an inside pitch so that they can drive the ball.
  • "I'm thinking that they are thinking so I'm thinking that if they are thinking, I'll throw this particular pitch. (Much the same as the above bullet point.
  • I didn't like how the pitcher threw the last curve and I want that curve.
 
Last edited:
Jul 27, 2021
276
43
These are the types of situations why SAFE SPORT is in existence. (USA gymnastics is probably the major reason) The OP is actual examples using in the SS training.

A record/paper trail has to be created. I have run in to a few situations where a habitual offender never had an official report filled. When things got bad enough, the first official report was made and that person got a "warning".

Sounds like the coach was trying to make up for their tantrum the next day. Bet someone talked to them that night but nothing official will be done.
 

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