High School Baseball

I think it all really depend on who you've got as coaches and the makeup of the catcher himself.  In HS, I've only seen a rare case where the catcher himself will make the call and most often it's the HC the makes the calls (in what was my little area of California).   Even in college (even high level programs), catchers do not typically call the pitches (not very many calls, anyway).   

I feel it's unfortunate that catchers don't get to make the calls more as it helps them learn the game better.   But when winning is such an overriding issue, the person that knows the game best and/or understands hitting along with studying the individual hitters will be the one most likely to call the pitches.  And that most often is the HC . . . huh???

My husband is a hs pitching coach. He calls the games. The main reason is that the catchers we currently have do not have the level of experience needed to understand how to call a game or the knowledge about the individual hitters to know what to call. Although my husband is making the calls, he's being informed by the scouting reports the team has on the opposing batters. I think it would be great for the catchers to learn to call the game, but most high school coaches don't have the luxury of time to fully teach it or don't want to sacrifice the win to allow a kid to learn through trial and error.

Sometimes our head coach call it. Sometimes I do (catcher coach). Very rarely do we see a catcher calling pitches. If they do it is usually a mediocre team that doesn't have a very good staff. They pitch every batter the same. Get ahead and work outside. Throw off speak when ahead. Very generic.

Wow, talk about over-coaching. Do coaches also tell players where to throw the baseball when it's hit to them? Players need to be able to think on their feet and make their own decisions.

I wasn't what you'd call a "good high school player" but rarely did our coaches call pitches for us. And our coaches are pretty good coaches... but they let us learn by making mistakes. How else are they supposed to do it? 

I totally agree
my sons travel and AAU team my son the catcher calls all the pitches

sportsmomof3 posted:

I totally agree
my sons travel and AAU team my son the catcher calls all the pitches

I think the travel team catchers should call pitches.  It's for development, and you are paying for it.

High school, it's on the coaches.  Whatever gives them the best chance to win.  Whoever calls pitches need a holistic strategy....fielders positioning, batters strengths/weaknesses.  It depends how the team's coaching is set up.  But it's ultimately on the head coach.

95%+ of good HS teams have coaches calling pitches. Those of you that think that's wrong just have never been in the position, or you had extraordinary circumstances.

Why don't high school quarterbacks call plays or high school point guards call plays?  I called pitches in high school and what little bit I played in college (very low level) but looking back on it I had no clue.  I was an assistant coach for softball this year and we called pitches as a staff then halfway through the season we turned it over to the catcher and there wasn't any difference.  Regardless of who calls pitches if the pitcher isn't hitting spots it's a moot point.  If the spot is fastball low and away but he throws it inside then what did it matter what was called?

Me as a coach if I have faith in my catcher AND pitcher then I'll let them call their own game but if I call something they better throw it.  But that's a trust built up between us over time.  If you win then it's the right call for _______ to call the pitches.

This is a discussion/debate that comes up fairly often here.  As some have pointed out, most HS and college programs have a coach call pitches and there are many valid reasons.  Will your HS son catcher actually be up on scouting reports and spray charts of opponents as much as the most qualified coach on staff?  Even if he is, will his other responsibilities suffer a bit in order for him to keep track of all this?  The catcher has so many responsibilities and things to keep track of without calling pitches.  How many HS kids are really equipped to add that and put the team in a better position to win than if that qualified coach was calling? 

I agree that a catcher will learn a lot from calling games and there are right times to have him do so.  We do it with our summer games and most inter-squads.  In the rare instance where a C shows the ability to handle this well without the rest of his game suffering, we're all for it. 

Also, it does depend on the coach alignment as well.  Is there a qualified coach who knows his P's, can do it and put the team in a better position to win? 

Coach' analogy of the football QB is a good one.  No one ever says "well, how is he supposed to learn the game?" when the QB doesn't call plays.  Is It "over-coaching" when the FB HC calls plays?

Catchers learning to call pitches starts or should start when pitchers are learning to pitch. 

Simple instruction in certain counts and let them learn. When he calls for a FB and it lands/set up lane one or two in an 0-2 count, then he needs to hear about what he called and why.

We are so wrapped up in winning at an early age that catchers nowadays seldom learn to call a game. College coaches know these catchers don't know the game and are not willing to gamble their livelihood on their inability. 

Ask any pro scout. This is one of the reasons for the shortage of qualified catchers and the reason catchers at the ML level are able to play many years beyond the other position players. 

After all, no matter what level your kid plays ( rec, TB, ect) it is ALL practice until you make it, if you make it. 

Whether you like it or not catchers are not going to be calling games in high school and 17/18u. Even in MLB you see catchers looking towards the bench a lot. The bench has so much information assessable it would be unwise not to use it.

Before high school the catchers shou,d learn how to call games. It will make them smarter players. From 13-16u we had all but one catcher (he was t very bright) call their own games. We sometimes signaled for a certain pitch from the bench. 

In preteen rec, all stars and travel the catcher called his own game. That is except for the 9u control freak travel  head coach who wanted to prove he knew the game. He called game with 21 pitching zones for nine year old pitchers. 

My son, the regular catcher was amused. He told the pitchers, "Unless I call for a change just throw it by the hitter."

Backpick25 posted:

 

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After all, no matter what level your kid plays ( rec, TB, ect) it is ALL practice until you make it, if you make it. 

Respectfully disagree... if you got an honest opinion on why they play from any kid at any level, it is about liking/loving playing the game, trying to win, trying to succeed, trying to do better than his friends or opponents on the other team and having fun with his friends/teammates.  This applies from T-ball through college.  Yes, it is also about aspiration but that is not primary purpose for the majority.  The last thing any of them would agree to is "it's all about practice" unless it is something they are parroting from adults.  The day baseball becomes "all about practice" 'til you make the bigs is the day I swear off the game. 

I see you are a youth coach.  I will say that the best youth coaches are able to prioritize development, but without the players knowing that is happening.  They need to think, at least to a large extent, that they are playing to win.  

Most players don't ever "make it".  Why, on earth, should it be all about practicing for something you will never do?

I do agree with you that catchers should start learning how to call games as pitchers  start learning how to pitch.  But that usually doesn't really start happening until teen years.  So, there is typically an awful lot still to be learned when they become HS catchers.  As said before, mileage varies.

 

There isn't a standard one size fits all here.  Typically, I called the pitches for my new catchers until they learned the system.  Naturally, bullpens and in game discussions were where I taught my system.  The goal is to wean them off as fast as I could.  Then, we had signals where I would tell the catcher I wanted to make a call or the catcher had a signal asking me what to call.  You can't leave the pitcher out of the equation and so, we had a signal for the pitcher that I called a pitch and so, no option on a shake off unless I verballed it.  The pitcher could shake the catcher. 

Cabbage- the reference of  "ALL practice" is from a developmental and coaching perspective. This perspective is shared by many of my friends and associates at the MiLB and collegiate level and is in no way to influence a kids perspective of the game or how to play it. Every time they hit the field there's a want to improve their game. It's the continued improvement on intensity and execution or as I reference, practice.

"Making it" can have many meanings to many different players.  For some, it's making it to TB or HS ball, others it's college and so on. 

 

I always called the pitches. My son's current HC allows the catchers to call the game. My reasoning was that I am making a lot of decisions in positioning and what I am trying to get a particular hitter to do - minute-to-minute strategy changes that my catcher may not be privy to. For example, I may have reason to believe there's a good chance that the offense might be trying a hit-and-run on the next pitch and I decide I want a fastball inside. That's something I can't communicate to my catcher quickly enough, so it's better that I'm making the calls.

sportsmomof3 posted:

I want to find out what you guys think.  Who should be calling the pitches during a game, the pitching coach, catching coach, head coach or catcher?  Just want some feedback on what happens in your neck of the woods.

For my high school, our pitching coach calls the pitches, doesn't mean that the pitcher throws what I give him the sign to throw, he might throw a change up when I call curve, or a fastball sometimes before I even get the chance to give him a sign he is already in the windup delivering to the plate.

Wesleythecacther posted:

sportsmomof3 posted:

I want to find out what you guys think.  Who should be calling the pitches during a game, the pitching coach, catching coach, head coach or catcher?  Just want some feedback on what happens in your neck of the woods.

For my high school, our pitching coach calls the pitches, doesn't mean that the pitcher throws what I give him the sign to throw, he might throw a change up when I call curve, or a fastball sometimes before I even get the chance to give him a sign he is already in the windup delivering to the plate.

So do you and / or the pitching coach say anything to him?  I know if I'm catching we will have a nice heart to heart about me knowing what's coming so I could do the best for him to buy strikes on border pitches.  If you're trying to figure out what pitch it is midflight you're not going to do a very good job of sticking pitches.  But if you're able to catch him with little problem and not knowing what's coming then he may not be very good.

When my son caught for his HS team during his sophomore year the coach called the pitches. His junior and senior years he played 3B and 1B. 

In Legion his coach trusted him to call the game.  However, when some of the other players were behind the plate the Legion coach would call the pitches.  It depended on how much he trusted the catcher behind the plate to make the right call.

In college (JuCo & D2) the coaches made the call.

coach2709 posted:

Wesleythecacther posted:

sportsmomof3 posted:

I want to find out what you guys think.  Who should be calling the pitches during a game, the pitching coach, catching coach, head coach or catcher?  Just want some feedback on what happens in your neck of the woods.

For my high school, our pitching coach calls the pitches, doesn't mean that the pitcher throws what I give him the sign to throw, he might throw a change up when I call curve, or a fastball sometimes before I even get the chance to give him a sign he is already in the windup delivering to the plate.

So do you and / or the pitching coach say anything to him?  I know if I'm catching we will have a nice heart to heart about me knowing what's coming so I could do the best for him to buy strikes on border pitches.  If you're trying to figure out what pitch it is midflight you're not going to do a very good job of sticking pitches.  But if you're able to catch him with little problem and not knowing what's coming then he may not be very good.

Well, he just told me that he doesn't throw what I give him the sign for, so I can't do much now, regular season is over, we have Districts tomorrow and I am not catching that game because we need someone to play first. I sometimes do have trouble sticking the pitches, but I was able to do it most of the time by reading what it was out of his hand. Also, check out this video that I just uploaded: https://youtu.be/Vuhg5M0bSQg