5 hole behind cleanup masher

As a pitcher's dad, I tell my son to never give the hitters too much credit.  You compete and make them play.  You make your pitch, you win, you leave it in the middle, good hitters win.

I also tell him, sometimes the ball will land on the other side of the fence.

When I coached, it really just depended on the hitter. I tried to quickly assess if there was a "hole" in the swing.

Can he get the barrel to the inside fastball? Can he stay back on the soft stuff? Does he pull off of the outside pitch? Good hitter or not, as GO44 said, it's about making quality pitches.

But to answer your question, I think most pitch callers would treat a five hitter pretty similar to a cleanup hitter. 

Well... the discussion I was having was along these lines... I thought it would be "bettter" to hit behind the masher and see fastballs in the zone if he was walked, as the pitcher wouldn't want to walk two in a row.

The flipside to this discussion, is that it is preferable to hit in the 2 hole behind the leadoff. You would see more fastballs if the leadoff got on in order to give the catcher a better chance on the steal. A completely different discussion.

But, to stick on point to my original question, how would you as a pitcher or coach pitch the 5 hole if you just walked the big bopper at cleanup?

Do not assume. Questions  - How many outs, the score, the inning, wind blowing out or in, the umpires strike zone, turf, grass or dirt infield. 

Bob

Consultant posted:

Do not assume. Questions  - How many outs, the score, the inning, wind blowing out or in, the umpires strike zone, turf, grass or dirt infield. 

Bob

You are correct, Sir, however... that's why I'm looking at this over the course of a season. Can't break down a hypothetical for each individual at bat. Just wondering over the course of a season what would be expected.

Well, keeping it very general (over the course of a year), you've already walked/worked around/somewhat worked around the 4 hitter so there is less wiggle room to somewhat work around the 5 hitter.  So, emphasis tilts more toward throwing strikes.  Which, generally, means likelihood of FB goes up.  But, man, there are a lot of variables.  Specific pitcher and hitter strengths, of course, come into play.  I'm as concerned with location as I am with pitch type.  Keep it down to keep double play in order.  But, then, so many LH hitters with some power seem to be good low ball hitters.  If I have a P that can locate a CU down in the zone, I'm likely to start with that.  But, if he misses and hitter doesn't offer, now it's almost a certain meat FB next pitch.

I'd be more concerned with the ability of the guy in the 6-hole. That dictates how I pitch a guy more than what the 4-hole hitter can do.