Pitching and Pitchers Discussion Intentional walk loss//

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From my DD watching my 16 yr old neice in Florida yesterday. Her team batting bottom of the 7th, runners on 2cnd and 3rd, they go to Intentionally walk the batter and pitcher throws the pitch overhand!!!

Ump calls ball, one of the dad's is an NCAA ump and starts telling Blue it's an illegal pitch. Home confirs with field ump, illegal pitch, run scores game over...

It is amazing how many kids do not know how to set up for an intentional walk, but this one took the cake!!!

 

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Holy cow!

That one takes the cake, the pie and all of the ice cream!

 

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I watched the same exact situation a year ago at a rec ball tournament, I knew the coach that gave the command and he felt like a fool. It was hilarious

 

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Oh but this was higher level travel ball......

 

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Yes, unfortunately, practicing an intentional walk is something that most coaches know they should do with their team, but probably rarely ever does get practiced. Note to self . . .

 

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Oh but this was higher level travel ball......

I know but the cringe factor is still the same.

 

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The cherry on the top is that the ump didn't immediately call it an illegal pitch. He had to confer, after coaxing from a parent.

 

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This one is so strange that I could see myself standing there, kind of stunned, just wondering if my eyes really did see my my brain thinks it did! I have NEVER seen a pitcher deliver an overhand pitch in a fastpitch game. Nevertheless, this is an illegal pitch.

The only thing that comes close to this play for me was in a high school baseball game a couple of years ago.

Extra innings, winning run on third base. Pitcher begins his motion when his own coach starts yelling, Time!" (not really sure why). This caused his pitcher to stop mid-pitch. That's a balk! Runner on third scores, game over.

Of course, the defensive coach tries to blame it all on the umpires- "But I called time!". When that doesn't work, he goes into the typical "the game is for the kids, let the kids play" routine.

Sorry. A rule violation is a rule violation, whether it happens on the first play or the last play of the game. If you ignore it, you're ripping off the other team full of kids!

 

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Sometimes throwing a ball is harder than throwing a strike.

Saw a high level game in ITB where after a sac bunt, there was a girl on third with 1 out. Defensive coach suspected a suicide squeeze and guessed correctly. Called for a pitch-out and would have had the girl on third dead except for one minor problem. "Pitch-out" was not quite "out"... and the squeeze was successfully executed.

 

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This is a lesson from johnnies in another thread. I don't know that the coach of the team that tried to perform the intentional walk got mad at his girls, but if so, then he needs to look at himself. You can't assume the players know most things, no matter how high the level of ball.

If you don't practice intentional walks, it will be a disaster.

 

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This is a lesson from johnnies in another thread. I don't know that the coach of the team that tried to perform the intentional walk got mad at his girls, but if so, then he needs to look at himself. You can't assume the players know most things, no matter how high the level of ball.

If you don't practice intentional walks, it will be a disaster.

Right on the money.....Dave Leffew said that is something that pitchers and catchers should practice during EVERY PRACTICE. In fact, he said he won several regional games where the other team was trying to intentionally walk a hitter and either threw the ball over the catchers head or threw it in the zone and the batter tagged it for a hit

 

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I would also add that the batter should swing at two of them to force as many pitches she can during the at bat just in case of an error on the catcher....

 

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I would hate to be a batter with two strikes while the defense was issuing an intentional walk.

That worked out real good for Johnny Bench back in the '72 World Series.

Suppose you swing at two pitches way off the plate to "see more pitches and possibly force an error". Now you have two strikes and the pitcher has to throw (possibly) one, two, three or four more pitches.

If I'm this pitcher, I'm going to slip one over the plate for strike three while you stand there expecting a freebie!

http://baseballengineer.com/2009/10/25/world-series-bluff-sends-johnny-to-bench/

 

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I would hate to be a batter with two strikes while the defense was issuing an intentional walk.

If I'm this pitcher, I'm going to slip one over the plate for strike three while you stand there expecting a freebie!

Best to swing at ball 4 twice....

 

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We tried to walk a girl last year and I guess the pitches were not far enough out and she obliged us by swinging at three of them and striking out.

 

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I would also add that the batter should swing at two of them to force as many pitches she can during the at bat just in case of an error on the catcher....

I love the thought process here. It makes me a little mad I never thought of this before! I would try this - for at least one strike, I don't know about two - at the 16-U level on down and maybe at the high school level, depending on the pitcher. Even when we work on intentional walks all the time at the small college level, I know our pitchers hated to to do it and were mental about it, no matter how correct the strategy. A batter getting in their head even more by swinging at one or two of the pitches would frustrate the pitcher even more, I have no doubt.

I think I'd be a little afraid of getting the hitter into a two-strike situation, though.

 

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Best to swing at ball 4 twice....

Okay. Now you have a full count and at least one more pitch coming, which you don't know if it's going to be three feet outside and at eye level or right down the center of the plate.

That doesn't seem like an ideal position for a batter to be in, when the alternative is to be standing safely on first base.

 

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My DD and I practice pitchouts and IW's at least once a week in the off-season. Yet, in a 0-0 tie in the 8th inning with a runner on third and 0 outs, we called for an IW and she laid the first pitch right down the heart of the plate. Batter took it up the middle for the game winner. Credit to the batter for staying ready and not assuming that the pitches would be off the plate! Also a big leasson for DD, you have to focus on every pitch!

 

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Hilliarddad - what tourney was it? We do things differently down here.

 

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If the batter is swinging at intentional walk pitches then maybe it would be easier to accidentally on propose hit the batter and let them take the base. Just saying. hehe JK