When to remove an ineffective pitcher

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Feb 20, 2021
12
3
Team fell apart. Wouldn't be surprised if the op daughter is a pitcher on the team one of the six.
Not a parent. I am mentor to one of the pitchers, she did not pitch in this game, coach splits pitching assignments evenly, and as my student leads the team in innings pitched (barely), I've few grievences.

My and the coach's frame of mind is not the issue, that's a subject for later. (Though I do wonder what my personal feelings are going to be when my student encounters a similar episode.)

As a pitcher/manager/mentor, I've removed adult pitchers showing frustration or 3 on-base within 10 pitches or two straight walks... But a U12 pitcher?

I acknowlege a young pitcher needs experience yet when is an unsatisfactory performance hurtful to the individual or team?
 
Jun 27, 2021
418
63
12U and pretty stressful scenario to come into. I wouldn't stress to much about it, even at that age they fell alone in the circle and still believe they will make a mistake. Didn't seem like the team helped her by getting 4 errors either. At that age, it's a live, learn and grow moment.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,133
113
Dallas, Texas
I would be more insulted if the coach didn’t come out to the mound/circle to get me. I would feel like I was being shown up.
How come we don't take a batter who is being pinch hit for out to the circle and explain to her why she is being pinch hit for?

If all the pitchers are treated the same way, you wouldn't care.

The kids and parents like it better. If they are shelled on the mound, they prefer to get out of the spotlight as quickly as possible anyway.

It is all about expectations. Players are replaced in football, basketball, etc. all the time. Batters are pinch hit for every game. No one makes a big deal out of it.

Yet, for some reason, in a 10U rec league where the score is 25-24 in the 3rd inning, suddenly the coach who has been screaming "just throw strikes" for the last 2 innings suddenly starts acting like a mental health counselor and goes out to the circle as if the pitcher might faint from the embarrassment.

"Sally, you aren't pitching well. We need to put someone else in."
"Gee, coach, you mean its bad that the last five batters hit the ball so hard it hasn't come down yet?"

When you play sandlot and pitch poorly, your teammates ask you one time to let someone else pitch. If you didn't give up the ball, they would forcibly take it from you.

This whole "pitcher relief" ceremony comes from MLB. The MLB does it because, back in the old days, the coach had to go to the middle of the field to signal the bullpen to send in a pitcher.
 
Jul 19, 2021
630
93
This whole "pitcher relief" ceremony comes from MLB. The MLB does it because, back in the old days, the coach had to go to the middle of the field to signal the bullpen to send in a pitcher.
Yes much of what we see on the softball fields is a result of what we see in MLB. Arguing with umps is number 1 on the list. Why MLB allows their managers to act like 6 year old children when arguing with umpires while the NFL and NBA don't has always been baffling to me. You will never see a NFL coach go out on the field, stopping play for 5 minutes to argue a call, acting like a lunatic ranting and raving and kicking grass and dirt all over the referee's shoes. And so it rolls down to the lowest levels of softball where you see coaches acting just like the MLB managers act. While with the other amateur sports, you rarely see basketball or football coaches acting like a MLB manager does in regards to arguing with umpires/refs. Instead they emulate the head coaches in their respective sports.

It's all "monkey see monkey do". As the big league coach in the sport does, so do the lower level coaches.
 
Nov 20, 2020
995
93
SW Missouri
To answer OP's initial post....with 6 pitchers the leash should have been pretty short in that situation.

DD's current team has five capable pitchers. With 1-3 getting rotational starts and 4-5 being more relief/inning eaters during comfortable leads or blow out situations. But, overall, the coach keeps a pretty short leash on everyone. Which is fine by me. He doesn't make a show of it and is very matter of fact.

Calls time. Points to whatever pitcher he wants in. Re-positions initial pitcher. And life goes on.
 
Apr 17, 2019
194
28
I never made a big deal out of taking a kid out. I would rarely go out to the mound. I would just say from the bench, "Jody, go pitch. Suzie, go to 1B," and that would be it. And, I would take pitchers out quite a bit.

As a result, my pitchers didn't have psychological trauma from being taken out.

What I looked for:

1. When a pitcher gets a look of scared or frustrated.
2. Just before the game gets "out of hand".
3. After the second walk.

.
My dd once played for a coach they would pull girls after 1 or 2 hits, a walk, but not his own DD she could walk the bases loaded even walk runs in that lost the game.

He ruined several girls confidence including my DD, so glad we got her off that team.
 
Jan 22, 2011
1,610
113
I think teams leave pitchers in way too long these days. If there are three or more capable pitchers, the pitcher should be on a very short leash, especially after the 2nd time through the order. In 14u and above, hitters figure out pitchers after the 2nd time they see a pitcher. I've seen teams use a pitcher for once through the order, bring in another pitcher for once through the order, then bring the starter back in to finish the game. Especially in High School, I don't think pitchers should be pitching the whole game.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,133
113
Dallas, Texas
My dd once played for a coach they would pull girls after 1 or 2 hits, a walk, but not his own DD she could walk the bases loaded even walk runs in that lost the game.

He ruined several girls confidence including my DD, so glad we got her off that team.
I rarely pulled kids for getting hit. I had a strict "2 walk rule" I used for everyone, including my DDs.

Once the kids realized that "no walks" was the key to staying in the game, they stopped walking batters.
 

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