quote:
Originally posted by Gingerbread Man:
You are right in that you can't exactly get what is happening. I look at the generalness of it though and it pretty much sums up what happens most of the time. For instance- with a 3-0 count, almost all pitchers will throw a fastball because they have the most control. I am trying to teach my son the mental aspect of playing the game and trying to get him thinking and playingf outside the box. In a recent game he had a 3-0 count and threw three straight sliders that struck the player out to end the game. The video showed the batter out in front on all three pitches. He was thinking fastball each time. Luckily for him he can control his slider with pretty good precision (hit strike zone the majority of the time with pitch) and at times goes to it over his fastball when he needs a strike.
Well GBM, I can’t fault your logic, but I will say this. In
GENERAL, coaches call pitches now-a-days, and in
GENERAL, you won’t see many of them having a pitcher throw an OS breaking ball 3-0. That doesn’t mean it
WON’T happen because there are so many situations, to say something that definitive would show real stupidity. But typically, unless it’s a very dangerous hitter and the situation could cost the game if he clubs one, the
GENERAL idea is to not walk the batter.
The 1st step in doing that, is to at least give yourself one more chance to get him out if he doesn’t swing, and that means throwing the highest percentage pitch possible, which for most pitchers is a FB. The reason for that is, it’s the pitch
ALMOST every pitcher throws the most, and is in
GENERAL, the pitch most can control the best because it breaks the least. Anything else is just reducing the chances of throwing a strike. It doesn’t at all make it impossible, but it does reduce the chances.
What I’m saying is, when he’s in a tight game in HS, and he decides to throw a 3-0 slider, don’t be surprised if when he gets home, he’s a little lighter in the backside.
quote:
Throwing first strike fastballs is a pretty general norm in every level of play. Occasionally you will see a pitcher throw offspeed first pitch. Baseball is about finding patterns and then guessing right. What i am working on is creating a state of rather disrupted organized chaos for the batter with our pitcher. Constantly work to change the timing and thought process that goes on in a batters mind.
True, that’s generally true of all but the very best pitchers in HS ball and below. But here again, I think there’s a disconnect between what people
THINK is taking place, and what
REALLY does. Here again, in
GENERAL, coaches are calling pitches, so the matter is really out of the pitcher’s hands. And why do coaches
GENERALLY call 1st pitch FBs? Because they
GENERALLY believe their pitchers are much more accurate with the FB than anything else, so they’re betting on the best odds.
And because of the way the game is currently played, in
GENERAL it’s a pretty good bet, and why is that? Because in
GENERAL, coaches today believe that the more pitches hitters see, the better their chances for seeing a mistake they can drive. Put the two things together, and it’s a pretty good bet that in
GENERAL, most young hitters won’t be hacking at that 1st pitch, even if it’s a beach ball right down the middle.
But the thing that fouls that up is, there are a lot of good hitters who can and do take a whack at 1st pitches, if they think they’re good enough to put the barrel on. We have one kid who starts drooling when he thinks a pitcher was going to throw a 1st pitch FB, and it doesn’t matter if its 75, 85, or 95. And I’m gonna guess that if everyone really checked, they’d find at least one of those guys on their team, and prolly that kid would be one of the better hitters.
The see more pitches is good thing mindset does work at almost every level, but the lower the level, the less the advantage, because the pitchers don’t have ML skills, and neither do the hitters.
, were you agreeing with me, or reaffirming that you already knew what i had just learned?