Hitting and Hitters Discussion Hitting Batters???

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Never heard of a call to hit the batter in softball, but my sons high school baseball coach had a sign for hitting the batter. I told my son that was crazy and he should never hit a batter on purpose. My husband told him if he is given the sign he better do it. It's part of baseball. Men!! LOL ;D

 

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My DD is strong and steadfast in the way she presents herself on and off the field. If I did have a sign to intentionally hit a batter, she would ignore it and fight her hardest to strike the girl out. Pitch high and tight, sure, but she would never put a ball in a peer's back intentionally...

...in this case, the apple fell far from the tree as that was one of my and my catcher's favorite pitches in the OLD days... ;D

 

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well, you know there's some men coaches out there who have been on both sides of this argument...we stomp when one of our agressive hitting girls gets drilled for being on top of the plate, especially when there is a smile, high0five gesture from the other bench...and there are times when the mentality is, "well, she shouldn't have been so close inside" or "well, we just gave up first base to a girl who knocked the cover off the ball the first time up, so so what"
my DD, who is a catcher, has from time to time, thrown back at runners on 3rd and hit a girl diving back to the bag (when she first started, not so much now)...i knos she doesn't do this intentionally because she always makes this wince sound when she does it or says sorry...now, I'm betting you want to know what i told her after she came back from the dugout, but that's for statman premium members only

 

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Hitting batters intentionally and pitching inside are 2 different things. Lets not mistake the 2. I agree with pitching inside it is a must for a pitcher and kids get hit, its the nature of sports that you might get hurt. That being said an adult that tells a kid to intentionally hit another kid is seriously mis-guided and I would say perhaps living through their own kid or living through somebody elses. I live by a saying, I am raising a daughter not a softball player. I personally would be very disappointed in her if she intentionally hit another kid. BTW she is a pitcher, if you cant beat them on the field sometimes just a tip of the cap to the other team is all that is required not a beamball war.

 

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I thought that I couldn't have made it plainer that Ron was NOT telling our dd to intentionally hit a batter, but I'll say it again. My post was in response to ifubuildit's thoughts that girls have to be exposed to the risk of failure and deal with that. If our DD didn't have the rising curve, which was the pitch in question, completely under control, she was likely as a lefty to hit a batter (the pitch going up and in to a right-handed batter). She had to overcome the FEAR of throwing the pitch. Even now, in college, she has been known to hit batters with this pitch, but it's certainly not intentional. Ron's point was clear: if you don't throw a pitch because you are afraid you will hit the batter, you might be abandoning the development of a very effective weapon. Heck, you could say the very same thing about fastballs at the 10U level.

 

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She was a lefty ? How'd I miss that ? guess I oughta pay closer attention to players on my teams

 

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And here I just figured you were thinking of Brooks Robinson when you played her at third. ;D

 

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Brooke ? which one was she ? to many lefties for me to keep track of

 

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My daughter also sees Ron and was taught to throw inside. He did not instruct her to throw at a hitter but if she happened to hit one, get the ball from the umpire and go back to work, business as usual.

I did see my daughter hit one intentionally once. A couple of hitters were peaking back at catcher signs and location. After our catcher asked them to stop and my daughter buzzed them inside, they continued. She put fastball in the rump. That was the end of that.

I do like the idea of "Hit the Bull". We had a 1st base coach yelling the catcher's set-up position to the hitter. They simply crossed him up a few times and it stopped. Would have been a good time to have a warm-up pitch get away.

 

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I thought that I couldn't have made it plainer that Ron was NOT telling our dd to intentionally hit a batter, but I'll say it again. My post was in response to ifubuildit's thoughts that girls have to be exposed to the risk of failure and deal with that. If our DD didn't have the rising curve, which was the pitch in question, completely under control, she was likely as a lefty to hit a batter (the pitch going up and in to a right-handed batter). She had to overcome the FEAR of throwing the pitch. Even now, in college, she has been known to hit batters with this pitch, but it's certainly not intentional. Ron's point was clear: if you don't throw a pitch because you are afraid you will hit the batter, you might be abandoning the development of a very effective weapon. Heck, you could say the very same thing about fastballs at the 10U level.

I thought it was pretty clear that no one was accusing Ron of telling his students to intentionally hit batters. Pitching coaches don't call pitches during games. I've used the same advise; as a pitcher you can't worry about accidentally hitting a batter now and then, it is part of the game.

The topic is more about team coaches asking pitchers to intentionally hit batters.

 

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Heck, you could say the very same thing about fastballs at the 10U level.


Very True CGS.

 

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PLEASE all 10u coaches ---when you have your kid square around to bunt tell her NOT to bring that back foot over the plate , which also brings the shoulders and hands over the plate. We had a 10u pitcher who was a big girl who threw plenty hard. She hit a kid in the hands/wrist at sluggerfest and the pitch was definetly a strike. Umpire called a dead ball/awarded 1st. Girl was in some serious pain. Could have been seriously injured over improper technique. MD

 

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DD knew that putting a runner on base in travelball and HS would usually result in a run and stayed disciplined not matter how she felt towards a hitter with an attitude but I did learn that her and the catchers had a signal to hit the umpire

 

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Hitting the Umpire seems fair lol.....Kidding ;D

 

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Any Team coach that has a signal or tells a child to hit another child with any pitch, softball or baseball should never be around any kids in the future period. That's not coaching, that's cowardness. It theoretically could be construed as assault with a weapon as well if an injury were to take place, along with contributing to an act of commiting assault for the coach, if it were ever to be proven by anyone the conversation, sign or even an incling that such a sign existed.

With that said, the pitcher has the right to the inside part of the plate, not the batters box, the plate, just as the batter has the right to reach for the outside part of the plate. Kids get hit as part of the game, so be it. Intentionally throwing at anyone, someone should have their head examined....

That's why the TD's should have rules instituted that if you get tossed from a game for whatever reason, you not only are out of that game, but the next one also... ?These are kids we are talking about, regardless of 16, 17, 14, whatever, they are still kids playing a "GAME"

 

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... but I did learn that her and the catchers had a signal to hit the umpire ?

I remember a few years back, dd and her catcher (12u) were having an especially hard time with this ump who was a real troll. ?Catcher called time out, walked out to the rubber, both talkin' with mitts to faces and then some giggling. ?

When they came back in after the inning was over, had to ask dd what they talked about?---She said they had worked out how they were gonna hit the ump (catcher was gonna signal low, and pitcher was gonna throw high). ?

Now, I wanna reassure everyone that they did NOT do this, but it made them feel better to plot this. ?So I don't wanna scare all the umps (most are good, and we are very grateful for the job they do), but just a heads up to all the troll-like umps out there (you know who you are), I'll bet there are other pitcher/catchers who might not always show such restraint. ?

 

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I have never heard this in softball but when my son played baseball it was pretty common to teach a pitcher that if a player squared to bunt to make them bunt. This meant to throw in hard to put the hitter into a defensive bunt instead of an offensive bunt. This was not designed to hit the batter but take away the option of placing the bunt down in a specific area.

 

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Bednarik - Don't blame the batter for "peeking" at the catcher's setup position! The answer to that is have the catcher use better technique, NOT beaning the batter.

Watch a college softball game, or MLB game. The catchers give their sign, then you'll notice them eyeing the batter as the pitcher just starts into their windup. At that point, the batter is forced to look at the pitcher, which is when the catcher can quickly shift to their setup position. If the catcher just squats into their receiving position immediately after giving the signal, I don't blame the batter for looking!

Plus, if the pitcher mixes in a few timing tricks (they have ten seconds to deliver the ball after their hands come together), batters will quickly learn to ignore the catcher.

Smart, well executed technique will prevent those things from even happening.

 

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Hillarddad don't get upset at me over this, but what about the coach that teaches and instructs his batter "to get hit"?
We played a particular team MANY times during a fall, again in winter league and there was a particular batter that NEVER came close to touching a ball was a clear strike out each at bats.
Come spring time, each time we played this particular team, coach and player she managed to get hit no matter which pitcher was pitching. She would crowd the plate, not move and even leaned into pitches. Coach would praise her for doing a good job. Her on base percentage was great in the spring, and he was able to get to the top of the order.
We ended up facing them in a "key" tournament situation, in a 1 run game. This same player managed to lean into a change up and umpired awarded her first. The pitcher after finishing the inning asked if she could really hit her with a pitch, my response was......
you cannot throw a pitch directly at her, but if she threw her screw ball for a ball it would hit her anyhow as she was crowding the plate (which was also discussed pre-game with the umpire with this particular batter) This pitchers screwball was once of her hardest thrown pitches at the time.
When this girl approached the plate again, the pitcher looked at me, the score was still a 1 run game. I told her to think about the "game situation" and was it worth it. We pitched the curves and change ups away and sent her to the bench. I think the ump had a feeling what it was all about and was pleased to send her out on 3 strikes as well.

POINT IS......what about the clown coaches that teach this method of "just playing a game with a 12 yr old". Lets not teach you how to hit, just to get hit and get on base. Worst part was is that the batter was a big girl (not heavy) and extremely slow on the bases. But if someone would have actually taught her how to hit, she would surely put them out and over the fence.

 

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Ram,
Wasn't that in a movie too? So Sad it comes down to stuff like that isn't it. By any chance did Reggie Jackson have a daughter?? Only kidding, but you are so right that someone would stoop that low to have a kid get on... What are they playing for each week a $5.00 trophy?? I would have loved to see that kid say, why don't you go get hit for a change....

I actually had to separate a husband coach and his ex wife fighting over an AllStar trophy last year and another parent came up and said if it's that bad take my daughter's trophy...

Crazy stuff...

Can we just put a bubble over the field and let the kids play?