roothog66 posted:PGStaff posted:Truth is the one guy that knows what pitch is most likely to work... is the pitcher in most situations. It's not every day that a pitcher has complete command of all his pitches. He knows what pitch he wants to throw and has the most confidence in. That is the pitch I would want him to throw. It is more important for him to throw the pitch he feels best about, than the one I feel best about. The second guy that knows what pitch is likely to work best... is the catcher, provided he isn't a dunce.
At the same time, often the coach knows his players and feels extra confident his pitcher will perform whatever pitch is called.
But IMO even when the coach is calling the pitches, there has to be some leeway given to the catcher and mostly the pitcher to change that pitch. That is if the coach has people at those positions that he trusts.
If all of this sounds like I'm on both sides of the fence about this, it is because I am. I do think in a few isolated cases, coaches are calling pitches just because others are doing it and some have no idea of what they are doing. Might as well be pulling the pitch call out of a hat. However, especially at the higher levels, there are coaches that are great at it. All those that call pitches, just like all those that throw pitches, are not created equal.
Exactly. When it's the case that a pitcher isn't comfortable with a pitch I'm calling, he needs to be able to shake it off. If he continues to be uncomfortable with certain pitches in certain situations, then I need to adjust my pitch calling based on his comfort level. There does have to be some give-and-take.
This makes total sense to me so you had better reevaluate everything you are doing...