Pitching signs

[marriard]

Do college coaches call because a) they don't have experienced catchers or, b) they think they can do a better job regardless?

College coaches call pitches because it is their livelihood on the line and it is hard to put that in another persons hands.
Same for MLB coaches. Lots of travel coaches do it because they see these coaches do it.

But I'd say most coaches do it because being head coach is a job for control freaks any way.

I'd love to see it limited some way especially in baseball. It is a big contributor for the games taking so long.

As a head coach it depends on who my catcher is. For inexperienced/ones I don't trust I call pitches and have a 'your call' sign which is one of the ways I try to get them experience calling games. Some the signs are more suggestions (and I actually have a sign for 'not a choice - throw this'). A few earned their way up to calling the whole game and man were they a pleasure to coach

 

[coach james]

I like the idea of a catcher calling the game as long as she fully understands how to read the batter.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Let me ask this question - how often will a perfectly executed pitch be hit with authority?

IMO, most well hit balls are the result of a pitcher's mistake re location or poor spin rather than a bad call by a coach or catcher.

 

[Phathead]

I caught baseball thru HS. 90% time I called pitches and the pitcher threw it or shook me of. Ran into a few coachs that wanted to call ptiches and i hated it. So many times based on stance or something I could see a pitch should work but the coach calls something else and batter got a hit. Now to coaching my TB SB team. I have been calling pitches and last yr there was a similar thread started I realized I needed to be teaching my catcher/pitchers. Last yr I tried to talk to pitchers/catchers at every practice and between inninings as to why I called what I did. Catcher had bad ankle one tourny so she had to set beside me and call the pitches as I told her why to call that pitch. Now this yr first yr at 14u as someone mentioned I will have sign for "call this" otherwise catcher/pitcher are going to manage that part of game. They will make mistakes but hey its a tourny-I don't get paid-they don't get paid- hard to fire the free help.

 

[undergroundga]

We have a young 12u team(by young I mean 5 of our players should still be in 10u). We are teaching our catchers to call the pitches and 2 of the 3 are part of the younger group. No, they are not prodigies. Just the way we've been doing it. We discuss strategy with them but the pitches are up to them and the pitcher.
I'm not saying that is how it should be done, just saying that is how we do it.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

Do the differences in pitch-calling among coaches vary from what we'd expect solely from chance?

Do good coaches stay good at it while the bad ones stay bad?

If neither of these conditions exist, then it's likely that any differences in coach pitch-calling are the result of random chance.

 

[Lenski]

My dd is very fortunate. She calls pitches for her HS and has called her own game in TB since she was eleven.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Do the differences in pitch-calling among coaches vary from what we'd expect solely from chance?

Do good coaches stay good at it while the bad ones stay bad?

If neither of these conditions exist, then it's likely that any differences in coach pitch-calling are the result of random chance.

Monet and a first grader in art class both paint. Would you expect their paintings to be the same?

Most coaches have no prior pitch calling experience and don't recognize or appreciate how much more effective a game can be called from behind the plate by an experienced catcher. No doubt a coach can improve with experience, but the perspective from the bench or dugout limits their ultimate effectiveness so most simply play checkers instead of chess.

 

[starsnuffer]

Mike Candrea wants catchers to know how to call the game when they leave high school. Whether or not they actually call the game in college does not matter.

I'm going with Coach Candrea's advice until someone with more experience or a more informed opinion tells me otherwise.

-W