Let's Play Detective
- Thread starter Cannonball
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Between the concession stand, my phone, and napping requirements I can't imagine calling pitches for my DD. I'm way too busy.
This was a 12U rec league if you can believe it. She was a solid pitcher who honestly should not have been in that league because she was way more advanced than the competition. I got the sense that they didn't have the money to spend on club ball or pitching coaches, so he did everything himself.
The coach tolerated him because if his daughter didn't pitch, we'd all have to grind through a walk-a-thon, which doesn't help anyone. Plus the coach was a volunteer and really didn't want to bother with some silly power struggle. The kid had really good command, and nobody could hit in that league. So the coach would just have her throw fastballs, with maybe some change-ups tossed in. That was more than enough for her to win every game she pitched. But dad has Pac-12 aspirations, so he's got her throwing all of "her 7 pitches." Those pitches were much less effective than the FB/CU.
That night he had his wife sneaking around the backstop while she held up her phone so that he could see the kid pitching. Then he'd tell the wife what to call, and she'd give the kid a signal. I remember she threw her "rise ball" about 12 ft up the backstop and the coach was befuddled as to what she was doing. I looked over at the mom's phone, and there he was, red-faced and screaming because he didn't have any control over what was happening. It was hilarious.
- Jan 22, 2011
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Can't remember the penalty, but the rec league my DD played in had a rule against anyone but the coaches calling pitches to protect the catchers from getting hurt.
- Jun 1, 2015
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And this is the EXACT reason I put a black/blue tarp on the fence behind home plate whenever I coach my 16U rec team. I don't need/want any distractions (friends, little kids, parents, whoever) throwing off ANY pitcher (my own or my opponent's pitchers). It makes it pretty obvious when it ends up coming from down the sidelines who's causing it. Plus, they are relatively cheap, and with a few zip-ties here and there, it's a once-up, once-down matter.
- Jun 8, 2016
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Seems extreme..
- May 29, 2015
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Not as extreme as the mirror that is there when the opposing team is pitching ... 
- Jun 1, 2015
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Extreme? Yes. Effective? Yes, and that's the E-word I prefer remembering the most.
- Jun 8, 2016
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Effective for you but those kids aren’t going to play for you forever..Extreme? Yes. Effective? Yes, and that's the E-word I prefer remembering the most.
- Jun 1, 2015
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Absolutely agreed. It's about 50/50 in my area of fields (HS, LL, etc.) that do it. Some choose to, some don't. The league I coach in/organize only runs from late June to early August, so it's not a MAJOR issue. It actually started in the LL program I officiated in many years ago. They wanted to prevent kids behind the backstops from being a distraction (yelling at the batter, trying to throw off the pitcher, etc.) Ever since I've coached, it's just become a habit to "tarp up the backstop" to prevent it before it happens, and old habits die the hardest.
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