Catching and Catchers discussion When should a catcher call her own game?

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This is my first post, but I have been following for about a year.

I have been struggling with teaching my catchers to call a game. ?It seems to me that even though they are smart players, they just don't process the situations well enough to make good decisions. ?Or,....I am not giving them enough leash for them to learn, by letting them make mistakes. ?Either way, I am interested in whether any other of you coaches are doing this, and if you are, what works. ?Are the girls too young for me to be trying this with? ?I coach 14 year olds. ?I have 2 catchers that I have been coaching for 3 years. ? I tried to let them call a game each at the end of last season, but ended up back on the bucket in a couple of innings (in both games). ?In general, I think it is important for the catcher to understand the game at that level, but I have had no success teaching it so far.
 
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Here is a web site that I use www.windpitch.com/PitcherCatcherChart.hmtl ?If you study it, this is one heck of alot of info we dump on a catcher to call a game. ? Now with a lap tap Softball Stats gives us information on pitch charts, what a batter did last time up , where they hit it, ?all instantly. ?I think many are going away from catchers calling a game and using a pitching coach to give this information to the catcher.
 
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Uncle..

Ours allow them to do it at 12 years old. The kids call the majority of the game starting then and if there is a circumstance where they struggle a bit, a hey try this works too. But by the time they are in middle school, it's their game.....

Sure they will make a mistake, but oh well......

there are 7 other girls to back them two up in the field if it's a wrong pitch...
 
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I don't think I have watched a HS or a college game where the catcher called her own game. :-? ?I don't know of many catchers that are going to call a game like a coach wants it called, and at the higher levels (college) winning is to important to a coaches job, to turn it over to an 18-22 year old, or even at the HS level with 14-18 year olds.

Understanding What? and Why? something is called is good for the catcher, just as it is important for all the fielders to understand their jobs and responsibilities, but calling pitches is not a responsibility of the catcher.

I treat it no differently than a coach standing down at third and giving offensive signs. ?I have yet to see a coach not standing at third, giving signs and directing the offense. ?:-??I don't understand why a coach would put that same job in the hands of the catcher on defense. :eek:
 
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I think many college coaches I know from IL / MO allow catchers to call during 95% of the games. When a game get intense or they do not like what they are seeing from the catcher, I find many taking over to be more effective.

Most of my catchers were calling weekday double headers to begin learning the process of calling pitches at 12u. The site mentioned above for the catchers/pitchers chart is a awesome source to use for teaching catchers the when, where, and hows of calling a game. I have provided this to my players for many years in my pitching/catching signs book. I do agree though that it will depend on the girl and her ability to recognize situations and understanding the most effective pitch to use for the desired situation.

I have a signal for my catchers that indicte when I want to take on the calls and when I want them to take it back over. It is effective and it assist in the learning process. However, during intense tournament play, I call 100% of the pitches.
 
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Never - this is the coaches responsibility. The catcher has many other responsibilities during the game. Every college game I watch (either in person or on TV) is being called by the bench.
 
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I used to think it should always be the coaches responsibility...As a pitching dad and coach, I started allowing the pitchers and catchers to call their own and noticed an increase in concentration...

They were required to amp up their focus...Think about where they are in the batting order, etc...16U

I will however pass an occasional sign of what NOT to call on a particular hitter...
 
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I tend to agree with Lady_Knights post in general. We still have a talk with the pitchers and catchers about how we are going to attack a particular team or what we are going to work on but as far as calling the game I still think that the coaches are best suited for that. This is not saying that catchers are not capable of doing it but it really comes down to who you want making diffu=icult decisions at stressfull times in a ball game.

I also see many collelege coaches still calling the games. Most of the high level teams (because these are the teams that we see on TV)

I am also sure that a great case can be made as to why a catcher should call a game. I see nothing wrong with it if the coaching staff is OK with it. There is not one size fits all in this case.
 
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My daughter plays college ball, and we have attended several games now. Out of all the fall and spring games, only once did a coach call the pitches. My other daughter is a catcher and is asking this question as one of her recruiting questions. All of the coaches she has asked this question have their catchers call the pitches, which is what she prefers. She has worked hard on this part of her game. If you ask her why she called a pitch, she can tell you what she saw in the batter or knew previously about the batter to make her select that pitch.

At the high school level, I have seen more catchers calling pitches than coaches.

The one complaint I have heard the most from pitchers is that they don't like when certain catchers call pitches because they tend to call pitches that are easy for them to catch. The catcher typically stays away from pitches such as drop balls and other balls that tend to move. It makes the catcher stats look better, but it makes the pitcher look like she isn't as good.

Unfortunately, pitching coaches and catching coaches don't always focus on the pitch selection of the game in their lessons. The pitcher my daughter caught for at Queen of Diamonds North this year had a pitching coach who was teaching her how to select pitches as part of her lessons. After their first game together, the pitcher said that she was amazed at how my daughter seemed to be able to read her mind on pitch selection without ever working together before.

Another thing that my daughter (the catcher) does is pay attention to what pitches are working in warm ups. She doesn't call the problem pitches when the strike count is high or when there is a threat to score.

Untimately, the pitch selection is up to the pitcher. She is responsible for what is thrown, and she needs to feel comfortable shaking off pitches when she doesn't feel the right pitch was called.
 
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I don't think middle schoolers should be calling their own games?? even major leaguers are getting signs from the dugout these days!!! But it is important for catchers to learn how to call pitches. They need to understand when and why we call certain pitches.

I had my catcher start calling some games last season in scrimmages and league games, so she could learn, but I gave her guidlines to follow. She did a very good job and it lifted her confidence as a catcher.

If you break it down for them and explain what pitches should be thrown and when, you will find that they will typically ask for the same pitches you would. They are still making the decisions on there own and they are gaining huge amounts of confidence.

As they continue to practice calling games, give them more and more stimuli to think about when calling a pitch. for example; batters stance, their last at bat, power hitter, slapper, weak/strong hitter etc all the things you think about while calling the game.... Remember just cause they are calling the game, that does not mean they are the coach. You are still the coach, they are just calling the game based on what you've taught them. Just the same as fielding or hitting...

Coach K.
 
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Amen to Luvthegame. Been there done that, and my daughter has the same philosphy as what you have discribed for yours. You don't just learn over night and at some point you have to beging the process. As I stated before. At the younger ages, I pull the ability to call away from the catcher when a specific situation is desired, or the intensity requires a more mature understanding of the game.

All I know is my years of catching allowed me the opportunity to call and learn ...I might be older, but I certainly remember how much I learned from having this ability.
 
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My 15 year old DD has caught since she was 9. I started letting her call some pitches (mainly location because at that level, not many pitchers have developed a lot of pitches) when she was 11. By the time she was 13 and played in very competitive travel ball and had talented pitchers, she learned how to call almost an entire game along with calling the defense. If she needed help, she would give me a look, but sometimes i would let her sink or swim with it, depended upon the look!
Now when we attend minor league baseball games in our city, she will look at the batter and say, "Dad, I'm going low inside on that guy." Makes a dad proud.
 
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I started letting my daughter (catcher)call pitches last year 14u. She did o.k then when we let her and the pitcher work together where she could nod it off if she didn't agree. they worked very well together but they'll still make mistakes just make sure you let them know why that was a bad call. Soon everyone is on the same page .
 
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As soon as they are mature enough as a player, ?This means they understand the posture of the batter in the box, they remember the history of the batter, they take in the condition of their pitcher, they comprehend the game situation,

Its alot to do, but the have to be able to do it. ? Please remember that they will fail alot in the begining, but this is part of the learning process, ?They will , the same as the coach fail even after seasoned. ?

Now if it is your intent to win trophies and not to train athletes, then I say never let them call a game!

You will still lose games, but you won't be able to blame the catcher.

IMHO - we must be more concerned with training than winning.
 
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Even Joe Torre, (( :'formerly) having the highest payroll in pitchers and catchers called most of the game.
 
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Never, unless the coaches were thrown out of the ball park.
 
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This reminds me a couple years ago when a Dad got in an argument with a High School school Coach about who should call pitches. The Dad said while steaming away from the Coach," I've spent thousands of dollars in pitching lessons , hundreds of hours catching my daughter and now he has a teenager calling a pitches in a game." I have to admit he did make some sense with that comment.
 
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Yeah, but Theo, no matter how much they may pay in lessons, they still have to put the pitch in the called location. Many times everyone thinks it's the catcher's game calling that is the reason they are hitting the ball, but watch a few games on where the catcher sets up and where the pitches actually end up at the plate...

Tommy Lasorda could call the pitch and it wouldn't matter if it's not thrown there.
 
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Theo,
I understand that the Dad wants what is best for his daughter and the team. Still, unless he is one of the coaches, he doen't really have much say in the matter. Arguing with the coach probably won't make the coach change his mind but might cause other problems.
 

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