Jim T. posted:MidAtlanticDad posted:Jim T. posted:I heard of a coach telling his guys to take until 2 (TWO) strikes are called. The situation was that his team was down by 10 runs. Is there any rationale for this? The pitcher was throwing fast balls and attacking the strike zone. He was basically pitching to contact. It sounds so crazy that I wonder if I'm missing something?
I would be interested in hearing your comments.
OK, he was attacking the zone, but was he throwing strikes? Did this strategy produce any walks? How many innings left in the game? I've watched many college games where 5-8 runs scored in one inning. One thought... if the guy is still pumping FBs after I have 2 strikes, then how much does taking a couple actually hurt me?
Sorry it has taken so long to clarify. First, the player told his father and I after the game at dinner. He along with another player were told to take until 2 strikes.
Second, the situation was the team was getting spanked and the pitcher was throwing fastballs 80% of the pitches. It wasn't until the 6th batter that day when he threw an offspeed pitch. He was absolutely pounding the zone and challenging hitters. Throwing strikes. He wasn't "Just missing".
It was the 2nd game of the series with another game to play the next day. There's no "win the game" baseball rationale for what I saw. It was either lets try to get to their bullpen to use up pitchers ahead of tomorrow's game or he simply had so little confidence in these two hitters that he felt they had a better chance of getting walked than getting a hit. If it's not one of the two reasons, I'm at a loss.
OK, that adds a few pieces to the puzzle, but the picture is not complete by any means. So, just two hitters...
Maybe these two are the best at hitting with two strikes and the P was getting close to a pitch limit for the week. Maybe he thought they were so over-matched and you were down so much and wanted to get to that same pitch limit for the week. Maybe he was pissed because those two looked at grooved FB's all day previously so he was sending a message that they are screwing themselves so they may as well start there anyway. Or maybe, he's a moron. Or a jerk with no concern with what that message tells these two. Or maybe he wanted to send that message that he has no confidence in their hitting and they better get to work between this year and next or find another sport. What better time than down 10-0?
This is fun. What else you got?