Hitting and Hitters Discussion Take the first pitch, or swing away?

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As a coach, do you want your girls taking the first pitch, or do you give them the green light?

 

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A question, does being behind 0-1 improve the batters odds or the pitchers odds? Answer this and you may answer your own question.

 

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Green Light. It might be the best pitch they see.

 

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I know how I coach, but I have heard many different philosophies on this subject, and thought I would throw it out for discussion.

 

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This may be one of those areas that there is not a clear cut answer. The discussion could literally be endless with a thousand different senarios. Each player is different and each coache has a different approach. Statistically speaking it makes sense to not be behind in the count. I think that all would agree here. Therefore be predisposed to take the first pitch could leave the batter in a negative situation after the first pitch if it was a strike because now the pitcher can throw any pitch in her arsenal.

Personally I think it is more important to teach the batter the importance of the situation, strike zone, and count etc.. in order to allow them the best oppertunity to succeed. When all of these things are understood and the batter is confident it should put them in the best situation to have success against the many different pitchers, umpires, and game situations that they will face during their careers. Having just one way to do things will limit their success IMHO. Players play the game, it is our job to help them understand how to best do that.

 

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Hitters need to be in the box and ready to hit the first pitch if it's down the middle. Unless you're facing a pitcher who is extremely wild and you're behind and need a baserunner late in the game, there is no good reason to have a policy of taking the first pitch.

Don't you teach your pitchers to try their best to get ahead of the hitters? Of course you do!
Knowing that, why would you think that the opposing pitchers aren't trying to do the same thing?
Of course they are. If you get behind against a good pitcher, you'll be seeing the rise, the drop, the screw, the curve, the change -- inside, outside, up high and down low. Now, mix in an umpire with a generous strike zone-- and you'll be waving at balls five inches outside and neck high trying to protect the plate.

If your hitters tee off on first pitches down the middle early in the game, you won't have to worry about your policy anymore. The opposition will likely stop throwing first pitches down the middle. That would obviously work to your hitters' advantage because they'll all be starting with a 1-0 count. Then, however, you have to let them swing at the 1-0 pitch down the middle!

If you force your hitters to take the first pitch, then the opposition will quickly notice and soon all of your hitters will start in the hole, 0-1. That's a recipe for a no-hitter for the other side.

It's tough enough to get a base hit in this game without having to do it behind in the count. Let the kids play! I don't know many kids who bust their tails all winter in the batting cages so they can jump in the batter's box LOOKING FOR WALKS! Teach them to be smart hitters, instead. If it's down the middle, crush it! If it's not, then wait for a better one. Teach more. TINKER LESS. Let them play the game.

 

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different situations call for different approaches.

i know many experienced coaches want the leadoff batter to take a few pitches so everyone else can learn a little prior to going to bat.

 

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I agree with Rich & thetruth. I can add a couple of situations where you might want to take the 1st pitch.

• 1st pitch of the game.
• Runner stealing.

 

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Many options here but in general hit the first pitch you think you can drive.

 

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If its in your power zone hit it hard.

Elliott.

 

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It always amazes me how many kids are told to take the first pitch. I have played teams over the years that would not allow the girl to swing at the first pitch. I will agree with the rest. I have only done this once. We had a girl with control problems and she was walking many. I had a young team and I had them take, since 70% of the pitches she threw were balls. I wanted to make her throw a strike like Elliott posted so we could stroke it.

 

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We do not teach our hitters to think IF we are going to hit the ball but want them to think WHERE are we going to hit the ball. Their job is to get on base or advance the runner.

If the ball is in THEIR zone hit it as we do not have a paradigm of a strike zone and feel it is the hitters job to call balls and strikes and determine what they can hit?and the only thing we want the umpire to do is call safe or out.

We teach how to hit in/ out and up/ down 5 inches out of the official strike zone in all of our drills so they will not think it unusual to be able to do it in a game.

At a local game last night?scored is tied, bottom of 7th, runners at first and second, our hitter is already 3 for 3 so they decide to walk her?ball 1 away and the next pitch is just a little off the plate so she swings and misses, next pitch ball 2, next pitch as the pitcher goes into her motion she moves in towards the plate with the back foot and hits one to the warning track and the runner at second tags up and the play is at the plate and she was safe?game over.

I would never want to give the pitcher a 33.333% advantage of giving her a strike when I know the hitter can hit, especially at this level. If they can hit give them the green light and roll the dice. If they swing and miss I never say any thing however do not leave it on your shoulder looking.

Howard

 

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I want my players to have an "Aggressive" approach to hitting. As mentioned above, the first pitch very often is the best pitch to hit.

I simply like to see the girls swinging the bat. Aggressive hitting can be contagious just as passive can be.
There are definitely situations where going after the first pitch is not the right thing to do, I have just seen times where a girl begins to think they are calling balls and strikes rather than trying to hit the ball.

Step in the box...Ready to Hit!

 

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I'll backtrack just a bit. If a hitter has just reached first base and she is absolutely a cinch to steal second because of her speed or because the catcher can't throw or both--- I DO want the next hitter to take the first pitch to allow the runner to steal second so she can be driven home with a single. But that's usually not in play at higher levels where almost all catchers can throw and there are no sure things.

 

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I agree with Rich & thetruth. I can add a couple of situations where you might want to take the 1st pitch.

• 1st pitch of the game.
• Runner stealing.

I'm curious as to the reasoning of taking the 1st pitch of the game. My dd batted leadoff one year & hit 4 HRs off the 1st pitch of the game.

 

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I agree with Truth on this one. If it's there go get it unless you have the takes sign going.

Mine would rather start off 0-2 as she is a dead eye for some reason with two strikes. Drives her coaches nuts, but she focuses more and more with it the last two years and is getting on with two strikes on her regularly and pushing counts to full count as well...

She doesn't feel pressure at those times for some reason and just goes with it. It's funny how different kids in the same family react to different situations, she's like ice, another would be nervous with it but is younger and still learning....

Sounds like a clone of my DD. Finally someone can feel my pain. MD

 

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I had a girl that had this habit of taking the first pitch, would step out of the box and look down at me in the 3rd base coaches box and nod her head up and down...I guess to let me know that, Yep..that was a strike! Drove me nuts. I just know the umpire was pleased to know that the hitter agreed with his call!

 

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I was having this conversation with several other coaches last year. I was getting frustrated early on in the season when the girls would pop-up, or hit easy outs swinging at the first pitch. Several games in a row we would let the pitchers off the hook with 5-6 pitch innings. My personal feeling is that the first pitch will be the best pitch, and always drilled that into my players heads. They certainly listened. My assistant recommended that we start making them take the first pitch. It was hard for me to hear, since I was always a firm believer in my way. However, It had gotten tough to be committed to that philosophy when instead of 0-2, we were already staring at 2 outs. Tough to get anything going. I started making my team take the first pitch. I was suprised that our "at bats" got better. We went deeper into the counts, and made the pitchers work. We put more runners on base, and subsequently scored more runs. It was a dramatic difference. I do not tell the girls to take the first pitch as a rule, I just don't drill it into them that they should be swinging at it.

I learned a valuable lesson. There are very few strategical absolutes in this game. As a coach and a teacher of the game, I try to keep myself open minded enough to try new things, even if they seem unconventional.

 

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I was having this conversation with several other coaches last year. ?I was getting frustrated early on in the season when the girls would pop-up, or hit easy outs swinging at the first pitch. ?Several games in a row we would let the pitchers off the hook with 5-6 pitch innings. ?My personal feeling is that the first pitch will be the best pitch, and always drilled that into my players heads. ?They certainly listened. ?My assistant recommended that we start making them take the first pitch. ?It was hard for me to hear, since I was always a firm believer in my way. ? However, It had gotten tough to be committed to that philosophy when instead of 0-2, we were already staring at 2 outs. ?Tough to get anything going. ?I started making my team take the first pitch. ?I was suprised that our "at bats" got better. ?We went deeper into the counts, and made the pitchers work. ?We put more runners on base, and subsequently scored more runs. ?It was a dramatic difference. ?I do not tell the girls to take the first pitch as a rule, I just don't drill it into them that they should be swinging at it.

I learned a valuable lesson. ?There are very few strategical absolutes in this game. ?As a coach and a teacher of the game, I try to keep myself open minded enough to try new things, even if they seem unconventional.

When they aren't being selective enough I'll generally tell the girls to look for their (favorite or one they can drive) pitch when they have no strikes. Then they widen their hitting zone with each additional strike that they get.

 

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I agree with pretty much everyone else here. The two times I'll give a take on the first pitch are (1) a steal in the situation truth explained when you pretty much know your runner will be safe; and (2) to start the game if the pitcher looks really wild in warmups. Otherwise, we're hitting away.

Getting beyond the first pitch, though, the one thing I see all the time is teams absolutely bailing out a struggling pitcher. You'll see a pitcher walk one girl on four pitches, go 2-0 on the next girl with nothing even close, and then the hitter swings at a so-so pitch on 2-0 and pops up in the infield, and the pitcher is then bailed out and settles down.

So while I agree it's almost always a green light on 0-0, don't bail out pitchers who are struggling!

I'm reminded, I actually have a story to that effect. Way back in maybe 2000 or 2001, it was the first or second Heat team I had and we pretty much were unknown. We were playing one of the top organizations and teams in the state in the Stingray tournament out in Pickerington and it was down to the final eight or so of single elimination. For whatever reason, there was a really big crowd at this game. The other team's pitcher walked something like 6 straight to start the game and we took a 4-0 lead in the first inning. We held on to win 5-4 or 6-5 and pretty much the whole crowd was cheering for us. In that first inning, had we started swining away, we likely would not have scored four runs and never won that game. To this day, I think of that game as the biggest hump the Buckeye (then Worthington) Heat got over in terms of earning respect and being thought of as a viable option for serious travel players.