Can college players or high school pitchers pitch for money?

[bobcajun]

Yeah, and she uses the Occulus to see pitches, but she still doesn't get many live pitches thrown at her. So we'll see if this helps. Don't know that it will but she's going to be a senior this fall, and I'd like her to have her best chance at making the team. I figure if she can hit, even the coach that dislikes her and us will have a hard time not giving her at least a spot on the bench.

Can you tell me more about the Oculus and how you use it? We have one collecting dust but never thought about incorporating it into softball training.

 

[Westwind]

@bobcajun

Has anyone use WINreality?

My son got an Occulus 2 for Christmas, and I was wondering if anyone had experience with using virtual reality batting training. Their facebook ads look good, and they seem to be used by a lot of colleges. It's not too pricey ($24/month) and maybe it could help. Anyone have experience with it...

www.discussfastpitch.com

Im also interested in any comments WinReality users have

 

[whiporee]

Can you tell me more about the Oculus and how you use it? We have one collecting dust but never thought about incorporating it into softball training.

Take a look at Win Reality.

 

[Tatonka]

and your hitter can get hit somewhere during BP or scrimmage. There's risk in everything. For a pitcher, especially one who is struggling with something mechanically, NOTHING beats repetitive BP... yes just letting them hit it. Of course there's benefits to the "live pitching" or "simulated games".

I always had a rule during BP, YOU hit me, I hit YOU. When a pitcher is serving it up and throwing pitches for hitters, there's NO Reason someone should hit the ball up the middle at them. Pull the inside, take the outside pitches to opposite field. If your hitters cannot do that, use a pitching screen. The pitcher can still get his/her work done with one of those.

Bill - thank you and just for clarification here, you are saying this first part about a pitcher taking BP so that they can get into the groove hitting and feeling their swing mechanics, seeing the ball and getting on time, yes?

And yes, when being asked to throw BP (without a screen) you always hope that the hitter is working on something other than ripping line drives up the middle!

 

[Strike2]

and your hitter can get hit somewhere during BP or scrimmage. There's risk in everything. For a pitcher, especially one who is struggling with something mechanically, NOTHING beats repetitive BP... yes just letting them hit it. Of course there's benefits to the "live pitching" or "simulated games".

Getting hit by a pitch isn't nearly as dangerous as getting hit by a batted ball. I know this personally and I'm sure you do as well. Frankly, I'm surprise you're equating the two.

I always had a rule during BP, YOU hit me, I hit YOU. When a pitcher is serving it up and throwing pitches for hitters, there's NO Reason someone should hit the ball up the middle at them. Pull the inside, take the outside pitches to opposite field. If your hitters cannot do that, use a pitching screen. The pitcher can still get his/her work done with one of those.

Unless you're training your hitter to square up on a ball over the plate and hit it to the alleys, or right back up the middle as hard as possible. Yes, bat control during SP batting practice (and games) is a thing. During fastpitch BP, I'm teaching my kid to hit the ball hard where it's pitched, and not worry about hurting someone. I don't think I'm alone on this.

I spent my teenage years pitching as much BP as I could to the men's teams. This would be like your 13 yr old daughter throwing BP to Oklahoma or UCLA. It's also how I pitched in leagues, against grown men. And it was "chuck and duck" (throw it and duck for cover) as a kid playing against adults. But, it made me better.

Glad it worked for you. You're lucky your shoulder (and the rest of you) held up doing that. Using that as a basis for advising parents to have their kids pitch BP to their own FP teams is more than surprising.

 

[Hillhouse]

I'll agree that getting hit by a pitch isn't as common as a line drive up the middle, but I've seen people have their wrists broken, concussions, etc. from errant thrown pitches.

Well, anyway... sooooooooooooo sorry I disappointed you. LOL

 

[uncdrew]

So she doesn't get any hitting reps in any practice because the coach is ONLY pitching her for live pitching? How old is she (not that it matters)? Does she also pitch every game of every tournament? I would be having a talk with the coach. I find it hard to believe that no other girl can throw live pitching. Your daughter shouldn't be throwing every pitch of live pitching either.

Agreed. She should get as many hitting reps in practice as the other girls

 

[uncdrew]

We would pitch to you for free, as my DD needs pitching reps. But she's 11.

And we happily volunteer to pitch to other teams that need to see good live pitching. But she'll be working on her pitches, trying to strike you out, etc. I wouldn't dream of charging for it. However, you have to provide the catcher, you have to understand we have a pitch count and it's over when we say it's over, and of course we're not just there to groove fastballs. Several teams have taken us up on it.

 

[black17]

you have to understand we have a pitch count and it's over when we say it's over, and of course we're not just there to groove fastballs.

While I understand 100% what you are saying, and would be the same if I had a pitcher that age,... this is actually why we prefer to pay. Real ABs certainly have there place, but for the $, we have a plan and we drive the session from beginning to end. That sounds worse then it really is, but we let the pitcher know what the general plan is with her input as needed. The pitcher and catcher call the pitches for themselves unless something isn't working, then we adjust. 30 minutes and its done most days. I'd guess around 70 pitches total with breaks.

I try to keep it a positive experience. If the pitcher has my DDs number that day, yeah,... we ask her to dial it back. LOL. Its happened. What can you do?

 

[uncdrew]

While I understand 100% what you are saying, and would be the same if I had a pitcher that age,... this is actually why we prefer to pay. Real ABs certainly have there place, but for the $, we have a plan and we drive the session from beginning to end. That sounds worse then it really is, but we let the pitcher know what the general plan is with her input as needed. The pitcher and catcher call the pitches for themselves unless something isn't working, then we adjust. 30 minutes and its done most days. I'd guess around 70 pitches total with breaks.

I try to keep it a positive experience. If the pitcher has my DDs number that day, yeah,... we ask her to dial it back. LOL. Its happened. What can you do?

That makes sense. I could see paying to work just on hitting outside fastballs, or curves, or whatever.