default
Member
Cindy Bristow
Pitchers work their guts out to improve themselves and make their pitches better and yet their game success can all come down to pitch calling. How confident are you in the person calling your pitches?
I spend most of my time working with pitchers, or pitching coaches, on the fine art of pitching. Our work involves improving the movement of a certain pitch, correcting some technical issue the pitcher?s having, building workouts to improve game success and even helping their mental frame-of-mind. Pitchers put in hundreds of extra hours to improve themselves in order to help their team win.
And yet, it all comes down to pitch calling. With very few exceptions, if you put a good pitcher in the circle and repeatedly call the wrong pitches, she?s toast.
Recently I did a clinic with former Fresno State Head Coach Margie Wright, the winningest softball coach in NCAA history and, the winningest coach of any sport in NCAA history. In addition to being a tremendously successful coach, Margie is one of the greatest pitch callers in the game, having an incredible ability to tear apart the opposing hitters and render them powerless.
In listening to her talk Margie made 3 key statements about Pitch Calling that really stuck with me:
I know there will be times that a particular hitter can cream an inside pitch and yet your pitcher?s best pitch is inside. So, at times like this, instead of simply calling outside all the time, setup the inside pitch by using her other strengths. Possibly an inside changeup, followed by a high-outside pitch and then come in with the inside pitch. But when it?s a matter of the batter?s strength is also the pitcher?s strength, you?ve got to have the confidence in your pitcher to call her strength. The whole idea of pitch calling is to use THIS particular pitcher?s pitches in a way that puts her in charge of the hitter. The key being THIS pitcher?s pitches, as every one of your pitchers will have different pitches they control to different zones. As the person calling the pitches it?s YOUR responsibility to know what pitches each one of your pitchers have, in what order of confidence and control, and to what zones. If you call her worst pitch at the most crucial time to their best hitter ? don?t blame the pitcher with it all blows up! If you stick to the rule of The Pitcher?s Strength Trumps All then you?ll be amazed at how much more successful, and comfortable your pitchers will become!
For more help on how to Call Pitches, check out our eClinic:
The Art of Calling Pitches; All the Things You Need to Know to Call a Great Game
In regards to a Waste Pitch, don?t prolong the at-bat ? The more pitches we throw to a batter the more opportunity they have to hit. Based on that simple statement, it seems crazy to prolong at-bats by throwing ?waste? pitches. Sure, once-in-a-while they?re effective, but those times are scarce. Most pitchers and pitch callers are so predictable in their pitch calling that they always throw the same type of waste pitches to the same locations on the same counts. Remember, ?always? is predictable and predictable gets you beat!
Help your pitcher?s practice keeping a pitch away from the hittable part of the zone while still making it seem like a pitch the batter needs to consider. The picture above shows chalk lines on the inside and outside edges of the plate to help your pitcher better understand where her pitches should be when she?s ahead in the count. The further ahead she is the more on the chalk she can pitch ? conversely, the further behind she is the more toward the plate she has to pitch. Remember, you?re trying to ?waste? the hitter, not the pitch. And you don?t want to prolong the at-bat if you can help it. You got ahead in the count by calling and pitching aggressively, so stay aggressive when you get ahead. Too often, the reason that pitchers end up walking a batter after getting ahead is because they shift from being aggressive in order to get ahead, to being conservative or careful once they were ahead. Get ahead and stay ahead. Be aggressive and stay aggressive will serve your pitchers much better than switching aggressive gears half-way through the at-bat.
On a 2-1 count, avoid throwing anything for a ball to go 3-1 ? While this sounds logical it?s another very common pitfall that pitching coaches fall into. When your pitcher falls behind and gets a 2-1 count, she needs to throw whatever pitch gives her the BEST chance of getting to 2-2 and putting her back in charge, instead of falling further behind to 3-1 and clearly putting the batter in charge. Too often on a 2-1 count, I see the person calling pitches disregard any previous pitch that was thrown for a ball, even if it?s the pitcher?s best pitch. Just because a pitch was a ball doesn?t mean you shouldn?t throw it again in that same at-bat.
Remember that you need to work from your pitcher?s position of strength and if that means going back to a previous pitch she threw for a ball then call it again. It?s not as much of a risk as you might think, since most pitchers are far better at their best pitch than they are at any of their other pitches (I said most pitchers. Of course the elite pitchers are elite because this rule doesn?t apply to them). So if I?m really good at my riseball, but I threw it previously in this at-bat for a ball, give me the credit that I can make a slight adjustment to it and throw it again for a strike. As a pitcher, I?ve got a far better chance of throwing my best pitch for a strike when I?m behind in the count than any of my weaker pitches.
For more help on handling the 2-1 count plus all the Critical Counts, check out this eClinic ? Critical Counts: How to Stop the Walks
As the person calling pitches, instead of trying to surprise the batter by calling random pitches she might not expect, try instead to keep your pitcher in a position of strength, and ahead in the count. Call her best pitches the most and mix in her weaker ones, instead of the other way around. Sometimes that means you?ll have to throw pitcher?s strength to batter?s strength, but that only shows your pitcher that you have confidence in her and the batter still has to out-execute your pitcher in order to hit.
Pitchers work their guts out to improve themselves and make their pitches better and yet their game success can all come down to pitch calling. How confident are you in the person calling your pitches?
I spend most of my time working with pitchers, or pitching coaches, on the fine art of pitching. Our work involves improving the movement of a certain pitch, correcting some technical issue the pitcher?s having, building workouts to improve game success and even helping their mental frame-of-mind. Pitchers put in hundreds of extra hours to improve themselves in order to help their team win.
And yet, it all comes down to pitch calling. With very few exceptions, if you put a good pitcher in the circle and repeatedly call the wrong pitches, she?s toast.
Recently I did a clinic with former Fresno State Head Coach Margie Wright, the winningest softball coach in NCAA history and, the winningest coach of any sport in NCAA history. In addition to being a tremendously successful coach, Margie is one of the greatest pitch callers in the game, having an incredible ability to tear apart the opposing hitters and render them powerless.
In listening to her talk Margie made 3 key statements about Pitch Calling that really stuck with me:
- The Pitcher?s Strength trumps all
- In regards to a Waste Pitch, don?t prolong the at-bat
- On a 2-1 count, avoid throwing anything for a ball to go 3-1
I know there will be times that a particular hitter can cream an inside pitch and yet your pitcher?s best pitch is inside. So, at times like this, instead of simply calling outside all the time, setup the inside pitch by using her other strengths. Possibly an inside changeup, followed by a high-outside pitch and then come in with the inside pitch. But when it?s a matter of the batter?s strength is also the pitcher?s strength, you?ve got to have the confidence in your pitcher to call her strength. The whole idea of pitch calling is to use THIS particular pitcher?s pitches in a way that puts her in charge of the hitter. The key being THIS pitcher?s pitches, as every one of your pitchers will have different pitches they control to different zones. As the person calling the pitches it?s YOUR responsibility to know what pitches each one of your pitchers have, in what order of confidence and control, and to what zones. If you call her worst pitch at the most crucial time to their best hitter ? don?t blame the pitcher with it all blows up! If you stick to the rule of The Pitcher?s Strength Trumps All then you?ll be amazed at how much more successful, and comfortable your pitchers will become!
For more help on how to Call Pitches, check out our eClinic:
The Art of Calling Pitches; All the Things You Need to Know to Call a Great Game
In regards to a Waste Pitch, don?t prolong the at-bat ? The more pitches we throw to a batter the more opportunity they have to hit. Based on that simple statement, it seems crazy to prolong at-bats by throwing ?waste? pitches. Sure, once-in-a-while they?re effective, but those times are scarce. Most pitchers and pitch callers are so predictable in their pitch calling that they always throw the same type of waste pitches to the same locations on the same counts. Remember, ?always? is predictable and predictable gets you beat!
Help your pitcher?s practice keeping a pitch away from the hittable part of the zone while still making it seem like a pitch the batter needs to consider. The picture above shows chalk lines on the inside and outside edges of the plate to help your pitcher better understand where her pitches should be when she?s ahead in the count. The further ahead she is the more on the chalk she can pitch ? conversely, the further behind she is the more toward the plate she has to pitch. Remember, you?re trying to ?waste? the hitter, not the pitch. And you don?t want to prolong the at-bat if you can help it. You got ahead in the count by calling and pitching aggressively, so stay aggressive when you get ahead. Too often, the reason that pitchers end up walking a batter after getting ahead is because they shift from being aggressive in order to get ahead, to being conservative or careful once they were ahead. Get ahead and stay ahead. Be aggressive and stay aggressive will serve your pitchers much better than switching aggressive gears half-way through the at-bat.
On a 2-1 count, avoid throwing anything for a ball to go 3-1 ? While this sounds logical it?s another very common pitfall that pitching coaches fall into. When your pitcher falls behind and gets a 2-1 count, she needs to throw whatever pitch gives her the BEST chance of getting to 2-2 and putting her back in charge, instead of falling further behind to 3-1 and clearly putting the batter in charge. Too often on a 2-1 count, I see the person calling pitches disregard any previous pitch that was thrown for a ball, even if it?s the pitcher?s best pitch. Just because a pitch was a ball doesn?t mean you shouldn?t throw it again in that same at-bat.
Remember that you need to work from your pitcher?s position of strength and if that means going back to a previous pitch she threw for a ball then call it again. It?s not as much of a risk as you might think, since most pitchers are far better at their best pitch than they are at any of their other pitches (I said most pitchers. Of course the elite pitchers are elite because this rule doesn?t apply to them). So if I?m really good at my riseball, but I threw it previously in this at-bat for a ball, give me the credit that I can make a slight adjustment to it and throw it again for a strike. As a pitcher, I?ve got a far better chance of throwing my best pitch for a strike when I?m behind in the count than any of my weaker pitches.
For more help on handling the 2-1 count plus all the Critical Counts, check out this eClinic ? Critical Counts: How to Stop the Walks
As the person calling pitches, instead of trying to surprise the batter by calling random pitches she might not expect, try instead to keep your pitcher in a position of strength, and ahead in the count. Call her best pitches the most and mix in her weaker ones, instead of the other way around. Sometimes that means you?ll have to throw pitcher?s strength to batter?s strength, but that only shows your pitcher that you have confidence in her and the batter still has to out-execute your pitcher in order to hit.
