Throwing behind a batter

Jakster Welcome to HSBBW,

I don't know what you are looking for in terms of a reaction.

Your son actually made your son's coach look very bad by hitting the batter.

The coach was trying to send a message to the other team because of an unwritten rule that his coach thought was broken. By throwing behind the batter he was sending the message, but was not looking to harm the batter, your son was in the wrong by hitting him. There is a lot of area behind the batter!

After your son apologies to the coach I would move on!

quote:

My son is 15 and plays on a Sunday travel team.

the other team bunts with a big lead. Yes it is not what you do. so a coach tells a 15 year old kid to throw behind the batters head. yea a 15 year old with pin point accuracy. I would never tell a kid to throw anywhere near a batter to "send a message" never mind behind the head. these are kids. did you hear me kids!!!!

The coach's response was correct for a high level of ball. It was inappropriate for 15U. When pitchers throw at hitters for doing something bush they're not trying to injure them. They're hurting them enough to send a message. A 15U pitcher may not put the ball where he wants and injure the hitter.

quote:

Originally posted by jakster:
My son is 15 and plays on a Sunday travel team.

The team is coached by a 21 year old recent grad who played baseball for an ACC school. Coach is generally a good guy, excited for the kids and they like him.

Even though the other team was up by 15 runs they decided to bunt.

My son throws the kid out at first.

Coach gets a bit agitated about the bunt and calls a conference with my son, the pitcher.

Coach apparently instructs my son - 15 year old high school kid - to throw behind the next batter.

My son, good kid, good athlete, honors student, attempts to throw behind kid and hits him.

My son gets tossed from the game.

How do you react to this? What do you say to coach? What do you say to son?

Obviously, I have already spoken to both but I am curious what others think?

Thanks.

I wont get into the "is this appropriate for the level of play" debate since it clearly isnt....these things happen in higher ball, and the pitchers are more skilled at placing the ball......this happens, the message is sent, we umpires issue a useless warning and the game goes on....But that is at the college level, and it has no place in Kid ball...

In your instance the only thing missing is the ejection of the coach....In my past experience, In youth ball, a mound meeting followed by a Hit batsman equals possibly 2 ejections.....Coach and Pitcher... your confirmation that the coach called for it would seal the 2 for 1 deal for me....

Your son owes no apology to the coach, he did what he was told, and he looks bad enough for it...

The ejection was valid, and deserved...

Will, where did you come up with "throwing behind the batters head". The head was never mentioned in Jakster's post.

I don't think a coach should tell a 15yo kid to throw at a batter, but 15yos are competitive and some might want to do it on their own. The coach who bunts or steals in this situation is putting his players in a potentially harmful situation. He should know better!

quote:

I don't think a coach should tell a 15yo kid to throw at a batter, but 15yos are competitive and some might want to do it on their own. The coach who bunts or steals in this situation is putting his players in a potentially harmful situation. He should know better!

There's a lot here that we don't know. Maybe the batter was just bunting on his own. Maybe he's bunting into an out on purpose just to move the game along. Maybe it's payback for something that's happened before. (I admit that we put up a lot of runs we didn't have to in one game this season against a team that did the same to us last year... )

But we don't throw at batters and I'm not aware of anyone throwing at us....

Thanks for thre replies.

When I spoke to my son after the game he said that while the coach had told him to throw behind the kid he thought that doing soon with the first pitch after the mound conference would have been too obvious, so he said he was actually trying to go way inside on the kid and the kid turned into the pitch.

He said he still intended to throw behind the kid later in the count because that's what the coach told him to do.

I know "retaliation" is a part of major league ball but this is the first time I have seen it at this level.

I thought it was a bad situation to put a 15 year old in.

I just wondered how much he had pitched on Friday to be able to come back and pitch Sunday...But hey, that's just me.

quote:

Originally posted by CPLZ:
I just wondered how much he had pitched on Friday to be able to come back and pitch Sunday...But hey, that's just me.

He only pitched two innings on Friday (30 pitches max) because he really wanted to pitch in the Sunday game.

quote:

Originally posted by jakster:
I thought it was a bad situation to put a 15 year old in.

It definately was.....

While throwing at a batter is somewhat accepted at higher levels, there were still certain "rules" ...the ball stays below waist high; Throw behind the batter and there will be a serious escalation by the opposing team. After you hit my batter, it's over,everybody is even and let's play ball.

We were taught to throw at the knees if we wanted to hit a batter; mistakes will be at butt level or ankle level, never around the head. I've had hitters ask me what pitch and when were we going to hit him and I'd tell him 2nd pitch, cut FB to the butt. They knew what was going to happen and understood why and that was the end of it. Never, ever had a hitter even begin to walk towards the mound in this situation or chirping from the other dugout ( that is not to say there weren't problems if a hitter got tagged by an inside FB that was a mistake).


15U...too young of a pitcher. That age is still lucky if most of their pitches are in the right zipcode. Coach was very wrong asking the pitcher to throw behind the hitter as the hitter usually backs into the ball; just asking for a payback to happen. I understand the coach's request and at a different level I'm fine with it...but not at this level of play. Being that American Legion is the highest level I've coached personally, I have never told a catcher to intentionally hit a batter and can't see the situation for the need to arise until everybody is getting paid to be there.

JMO.

quote:

How do you react to this? What do you say to coach? What do you say to son?

I agree with most of what is written above about the inappropriateness at this age level. But I think we've somewhat forgotten to answer jakster's question.

jakster - This would be one of the rare instances where I would calmly explain to my son that the coach made a mistake. That he was wrong. I'd tell him that at this point in his baseball life, it is not right to throw at or near hitters on purpose. I'd tell him that we can talk about pro baseball players doing this, but he's a long way from that point and for now...he is not to do it again.

And then I'd talk to the coach...calmly. I would simply explain that I was not comfortable with this at this age. I'd listen to the coach respectfully. And then I'd reiterate my thoughts.

I've had my kids thrown at or hit on purpose...I've seen their ankles stepped on while covering a base on purpose. I don't like this style of play in HS. IMO, the coach opened himself up for some serious litigation if the batter had been seriously hurt.

quote:

Originally posted by jakster:

quote:

Originally posted by CPLZ:
I just wondered how much he had pitched on Friday to be able to come back and pitch Sunday...But hey, that's just me.

He only pitched two innings on Friday (30 pitches max) because he really wanted to pitch in the Sunday game.

Thanks for the reply jakster, glad to hear. The short rest just threw up a red flag.

I don't know how it is at other universities, but at my sons, there is NEVER an instruction to throw at a batter or behind a batter. They have a sign for "move his feet", which means get him off the plate. The coach will get mad if you don't throw it inside, but won't get mad if you hit him. It's sort a fine line, but there is a definite line, and it is NEVER crossed by the coaches.

I keep reading that this level of behavior is acceptable at higher levels. But in the MLB umps will throw players and managers out of games for throwing at a batter.

So what does this dad OP say to the coach?

Jakster,
Your son's so called coach finally showed his immature, inexperience,low caliber of knowledge, he is still a wet behind the ears kid who actually cannot teach your son or for that matter any one else how to play a good fundamental game of baseball and the individual skills that go along with it with that kind of attitude, I observe these types all the time, he may be likeable to your son and the rest of the players but to tell your son or any one else to throw behind the batter, which is the best way to hit a batter is certainly creating a potentially dangerous situation no matter where the ball hits you and he is violating baseball safety rules, sportsmanship rules and the very most important "COACHES CODES OF CONDUCT"rules,I played some professional ball and back then we played hard baseball, we even played that way when I played Legion and Ban Johnson league baseball in Kansas City, Mo. things are different now, I as a father, grand father and coach instill in my young people that sportsmanship, fair play, playing by and knowing the rules and respecting the rules and themselves and their coaches"WHEN THEY DESERVE IT," the opposing coaches, umpires, parents and all other officials at all times, those who cannot and do not abide by these rules should not be allowed to coach, young people and even many adults are highly impressionable and the kid handling your son's team put your son in a very precarious and unnecessary position and gets your son ejected from the game,You certainly did in my opinion the right thing by talking to both of them, I am so cautious of these types of behavioral actions as are my kids and grand son that they would have said something to me before purposely throwing at a batter, they do not respect people who tell their players to do something that could potentially hurt some one, actually I teach them that if they want respect they must first earn the respect that you want.I would never let a situation such as yours drop, I would certainly have to approach the situation as you did, we do need to understand though that he is very young and inexperienced and possibly learned some not so good habits from someone else, hopefully he learned a good lesson in ethics and sportsmanship and will handle those situations in such a way that he will in the future bring good positive out put to your son and the rest of the players and all others who he comes into contact with during his coaching experiences.
Well, I hope my comments have been of some help
Don Ervin
kom_ervin@yahoo.com