Coaching Controversy

[coach D'E]

The coaches of our 12-U team are in disargreement over a long debated issue. Maybe some of you could shed some light on the topic. Should our pitchers pitch live batting practice to our hitters? The pitching coaches say "NO". The hitting coaches say "YES". Each side has compelling arguements. My concern is the overall affect that it would have on our batters. We hit great off of the Jugs Pitching Machine that is usually set at speeds up to 60 MPH. Our Tee Work and Soft Toss are also good. Come game time the hits, at times, are not plentiful. There are some Tournaments games where we may only have 1 or 2 strike-outs per game. We are looking or answers. Thanks, D'E

 

[Mike]

What are their compelling arguments for not live pitching/batting? IMO, live pithing is a must. One station during winter batting practice is live pitching with hitters only bunting. Make sure your pitchers get to rotate in to bunt. Once outdoors it's still imortant here and there. The hard part of live pitching/batting practice is keeping everybody engaged. We hit grounders to fielders between pitches. My main objective is to get pitchers and hitters situational awareness practice more than actual batting practice. You don't want a kids first live pitching/batting expierence of the season to be at the first tournament.

Mike

 

[sluggers]

As Han Solo might say, "Good against machines is one thing. Good against the living is something else..."

There should be live hitting. The real question is whether your 12U pitchers should throw it. I don't think so, because it is too hard to get the pitcher warmed up and get a catcher, etc.

So, my recommendation is to have one of your coaches do it. Buy an old pitcher screen for protection. Either cut a hole in it, or learn to throw and step behind it.

 

[CoachFP]

As Han Solo might say, "Good against machines is one thing. Good against the living is something else..."

There should be live hitting. The real question is whether your 12U pitchers should throw it. I don't think so, because it is too hard to get the pitcher warmed up and get a catcher, etc.

So, my recommendation is to have one of your coaches do it. Buy an old pitcher screen for protection. Either cut a hole in it, or learn to throw and step behind it.

"I don't think so, because it is too hard to get the pitcher warmed up and get a catcher, etc."
What does that mean? Do you coach a team? That is the stuff that you have to do. Come up with a better reason not to have the pitchers throw to the hitters.

 

[Mark H]

Best thing to do is get a kid on the team whose dad used to be a men's pitcher. A broke down old men's pitcher ought to be able to cruise at the girl's speed all day long if he can slow down that much.

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

"I don't think so, because it is too hard to get the pitcher warmed up and get a catcher, etc."
What does that mean? Do you coach a team? That is the stuff that you have to do. Come up with a better reason not to have the pitchers throw to the hitters.

How about these reasons:

1) if your hitters are hitting off of your pitcher all of the time, the pitchers confidence can be damaged

2) if your pitcher is blowing it by the hitters all of the time, the hitters confidence can be damaged


If you are friends with the coach of another team, see if you can get the pitcher of that team to do an occasional BP for you, you can also let your pitcher do an occasional BP with another team.

For regular BP, a pitching machine should be used ONLY for working on MECHANICS. My personal opinion is that a TEE is better. When working on other aspects of hitting (ball tracking, visual cues, pitch selection, etc...) when you need a live pitcher, a coach is generally the best choice.

JMO

 

[Mike]

Everything in moderation. Pitchers need to practice throwing game speed to live hitters. Hitters need to practice hitting off of live pitching from a girl their age. Its the coaches job to regulate how much this is done. Our pitchers and hitters have no problem working with each other because we have not made it an issue. They understand they are there to help each other get better.
Maybe we have tougher kids than most but confidence has never been an issue in live drills. Trying to retain a kids confidence by not letting them practice live doesn't make sense to me. I do agree on using a pitching maching less frequently, and for the right reasons.

Mike

 

[Bill Bollinger]

What I did this season (I coached 10U), was to hire good/decent 12U Pitchers. I would pay them $10-15 dollars for 1 hours worth of work. We would have those pitchers throw to our batters. Most of the pitchers would throw 48-53 mph, so by and large that would be at the top end of what a 10U top team would see. Of course it was a huge challenge for our team to hit off them, but it really helped their confidence when they got into tournaments.

Personally, I do not like having our own pitchers throw to our own batters. If the pitcher is getting hit by your batters it hurts her confidence and if your batters can't hit off her, it hurts their confidence. Go find an outside (older) pitcher. Some of the older girls take it as a compliment and you treat it like baby sitting money. Make those girls for pitching hire feel special.

Bill

 

[Amy in AZ.]

No, no young pitchers pitching batting practice.

The coaches can pitch. They just haven't tried. Set a screen up, from where you can throw strikes and do it. You don't have to use softballs, use whiffles or tennis balls.

If that fails, throw tennis balls overhand.

I can't tell you the times that a coach will have a 9 yo, throw a complete 2 hour practice, after she has pitched 3 games over the weekend and a pitching lesson on Tues. I had a coach pitch a little girl against the boys, recently. Her folks asked me if she should do it and I said "no." The parents didn't have the ______ to tell the coach and she went ahead and pitched.

Nothing happened, but you just never know. I lean towards the side of safety, anymore.

 

[sluggers]

CoachFP: Getting them warmed up is a pretty good reason. You are talking about 12U girls. They aren't going to be able to throw for five minutes and get on the mound and throw strikes. If they need 30 minutes to warm up and you have two pitchers, that means 4 players are going to miss 25% of practice.

I'm not a big fan of specialization, and certainly not at 12U. Everyone needs to learn how to field ground balls, catch fly balls, cover 2nd base, etc. By pulling the pitchers and catchers out for 30 minutes to warm up, you are penalizing them.