Over Coaching?

Sons HS coach prepares the hitters to recognize the situation. They have already been over most situations in skull sessions and know what the coach wants most of the time. He does  give signs on most every pitch, but some of that is for show.

I think it just to make sure they are on the same page.  But he does not go over board to the point that the batter is not thinking for himself.

Not sure I'm completely following you here.  You say he calls every swing and then says he tells them when to take, bunt, hit/run, swing, etc... 

So is he telling them if he gives the swing sign they have to swing or what? 

A coach should call bunts, hit / runs, steal and even when to take SOMETIMES.  Personally I'm not a huge fan of a take sign because you should teach them when to swing or not to swing.  But there are those who are a little more difficult to get to understand or there's a situation where you don't want any possibility of a misunderstanding of it to take or not to take.

But if he's telling them when to swing I can see where that might be a little overboard.  I want my guys to swing the bat so that's why I rarely call a take sign.  In fact my take sign is I point to my head as in be smart and don't hurt us.  It should be understood if you get a good pitch to handle then swing the bat.  That's why you have it.

Two questions come to mind - is this guy young and how experienced is your team (other than your son)?  I know when I was in my early 20's and a head coach I was a little more insecure about things and had more control over what went on.  As I got older with more experience I learned to let the guys decide more on what to do based on what I taught in practice.  It may take this guy some time to lighten up as he gets more comfortable.  But the thing to realize is he's still the head coach and it's his decision as to how things should be done.  If the coach tells a player to bunt then the player needs to do everything they can to lay down a great bunt.  Same for a hit and run or anything else he puts on.  If he gives some sort of swing sign then the player needs to recognize the pitch in the zone and hit it hard.  It will be frustrating for you but if the guys are executing what he's calling then they are probably going to be successful.

If the team is young / inexperienced (read the thread started by d8 on ideas for starting a team and you will see why you have to micromange a lot of things) and this is way of controlling things until they are caught up.

micromanaging can hurt the players confidence----we like to  turn them loose and then talk to them if they make a mistake---this helps them grow baseball wise

I think the question is, what exactly are you talking about?  I believe all head coaches call bunts, hit and runs, and takes.  If they aren't calling one of these the kids are swinging.

No, not necessarily.  How many times have you seen players (even experienced ones) forget the count or how many outs there are?

Believe it or not, this is probably normal depending on the overall experience of the team.  Son played three years of varsity and the coach signaled in such calls, depending on the situation.  Even in his senior year coach still signalled in "takes", "bunts", "hit and runs", "steals" and "swing away".  It was very predictable to see the "take" sign on a 3-0 and 3-1 pitch.  And by his senior year, the starting lineup was pretty much Jr's and Sr's with one or two sophomores sprinkled in and all were "experienced": players.  And unless the team has an experienced catcher who knows what he's doing, most HS coaches signal in the pitch as well.

Is this really any different than a HS football coach signalling or sending in offensive plays during a HS football game?  I don't know many HS quarterbacks that call their own plays in the huddle.

By "calling" the play, the coach is taking the decision making from the player and allowing him to concentrate on hitting the ball, bunting, stealing, etc. 

Thanks everyone.  I really appreciate your opinions!