Parents: leave your child alone when she pitches.

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Jul 14, 2018
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He said this: "Your DD looks up to you. Of course, she is going to try to do what you tell her...she's a great kid. But, she's pitched hundreds of softball games, faced thousands of batters, and you don't know how to pitch. She knows more about pitching than you do, so STFU."

I’m going to print this on a hat and put it on every time one of DD’s coaches start talking. Think that’ll go over well?


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sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,133
113
Dallas, Texas
I’m going to print this on a hat and put it on every time one of DD’s coaches start talking. Think that’ll go over well?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It's true that most coaches have no idea what pitching is about. A pitcher has to learn how to deal with well-meaning but ill-informed people.

Dealing with a parent who is well-meaning but ill-informed is quite a bit more complicated. E.g., a coach who tries to help will likely spend less than 15 minutes talking to the player. A parent trying to help can go on and on and on for hours.
 
Jun 6, 2016
2,714
113
Chicago
It's true that most coaches have no idea what pitching is about. A pitcher has to learn how to deal with well-meaning but ill-informed people.

A question for not just sluggers, but the group: From everything but a mechanics standpoint, do you think baseball pitching experience is close enough to have an idea? I think it is. I think I can know what my pitchers are going through out there because I remember going through similar situations.
 
Nov 26, 2010
4,784
113
Michigan
When my DD was about 14 we had a discussion where I agreed that she knew more about the practical side of pitching then I would ever know. But that I might gain some information on the theory of pitching. So I could suggest things when we practiced and she was in charge of the actual pitching. It worked great for us. Especially since I was never the guy calling out instruction during a game. Just encouragement.
 
Nov 20, 2020
995
93
SW Missouri
A question for not just sluggers, but the group: From everything but a mechanics standpoint, do you think baseball pitching experience is close enough to have an idea? I think it is. I think I can know what my pitchers are going through out there because I remember going through similar situations.

I think so. Mental pressure, consistency, finding feels, exhaustion, focus, etc. Those are all things that pitchers of either sport share working through.
 
Aug 1, 2019
962
93
MN
A question for not just sluggers, but the group: From everything but a mechanics standpoint, do you think baseball pitching experience is close enough to have an idea? I think it is. I think I can know what my pitchers are going through out there because I remember going through similar situations.
Similar, but I think the softball experience is raised another notch because the setting is more intimate. Fans are closer to the players and almost always at ground level. Much easier to distract softball pitchers with comments and movements when they are right in line with looking at the catcher. Suzie Walkmaster cannot not hear Dad yelling to throw strikes. Baseball parents coaching from the stands get tired after a couple of innings trying to yell so far out to Johnny Rubberarm.
 
Jun 6, 2016
2,714
113
Chicago
I think so. Mental pressure, consistency, finding feels, exhaustion, focus, etc. Those are all things that pitchers of either sport share working through.

I also think working hitters is mostly the same. You have different pitches, but in the end you're talking fast/slow, in/out, high/low. I'm not, of course, suggesting parents should be getting involved in this stuff during games, but as a former pitcher (not at any kind of high level because I never threw hard), I've had a lot of conversations with some of my pitchers/catchers about how to attack hitters.

Focus is a huge one. I don't know if you can teach focus, but I do think conversations about it help.

In a game the other day, my pitcher dominated. What should've been the final strike of the game was an obvious swinging strike. A classic Pitching Ninja "sword." Somehow the home plate umpire didn't call it, and the base umpire I think fell asleep and didn't see it. It wasn't even a check swing. The other team's coach started walking off the field, telling his girls to line up.

Whatever. They missed one, right? Well, next pitch, HBP. Then she took the next hitter full (going 3-1 at one point) before putting her away. She lost focus because of the weird missed call and it took her 3-4 pitches to get it back. In a blowout where we just needed one more out, it didn't matter. But in a close game, those 3-4 pitches could be the difference between winning and losing. I can't say I have any idea how to help her with that though. I never really got rattled like that.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
I think with pitching, a mechanical adjustment queue during the game from somebody who knows what they are talking about ,and knows the pitcher, can be helpful. Pitching isn't reactionary. With hitting, which is reactionary, I am not sure anything you can say during the game with regards to mechanics will help. Approach, sure, but not mechanical. Even though I should know better, I am as guilty as the next guy with regards to sometimes forgetting how hard it is to sit in the box and not know whether you are going to get a 93 (63) mph on the outside corner or a CU at the knees..(to give me the benefit of the doubt, I am old, and 93 on the black was a LOOOOOONNNNGGGG time ago.... ;) )
 
Last edited:
Nov 20, 2020
995
93
SW Missouri
I also think working hitters is mostly the same. You have different pitches, but in the end you're talking fast/slow, in/out, high/low. I'm not, of course, suggesting parents should be getting involved in this stuff during games, but as a former pitcher (not at any kind of high level because I never threw hard), I've had a lot of conversations with some of my pitchers/catchers about how to attack hitters.

I've never pitched in baseball, but I would agree with your statement here. This is where, as a pitchers parent, you can really help outside games and team practices (assuming said parent isn't the coach). Which is where parents should be trying to help. Not by yelling "just throw strikes" or "quick aiming" from behind the fence.....

I think with pitching, a mechanical adjustment queue during the game from somebody who knows what they are talking about ,and knows the pitcher, can be helpful. Pitching isn't reactionary. With hitting, which is reactionary, I am not sure anything you can say during the game with regards to mechanics will help. Approach, sure, but not mechanical.

I agree. My preference is that it comes from a coach. Not a parent outside the fence. Not that you were insinuating that. I'm fine with a parent talking with a coach outside of the game with "We've been working on "X". If you see her do "Y" multiple times, you can use the queue "Z" and she should make the adjustment".

If a pitcher is seeing a pitching coach, that PC should be giving the answers to the "why" when a pitch goes wrong. Why was it in the dirt? Why was it sent to the moon? Why is it always going right? These answers become tools. The tools are then used for adjustments when Suzy puts it in the dirt 3 times in a row. The "just throw strikes" isn't a fix. And Suzy is probably thinking "no s**t Dad".
 

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