quote:
Originally posted by Fungo:
IF he intentionally hits a batter that is wrong in my opinion. However intentionally hitting batters is something some pitchers do in certain situations. My son pitched up into college and to my knowledge he never hit a batter intentionally. If your son decides to be one of the pitchers that needs to hit batters he doesn't need to do it to the batter following a HR simply because he made a "mistake" pitch. I see that as frustration not retaliation. Hitting home runs is great execution and not a cheap shot. If he eliminates the "mistake" pitches from his repertoire maybe frustration won't raise its ugly head and the urge to hit someone or something will diminish.
Fungo
agreed.....somewhere along the line its important for you dads and coaches to remind your player that at certain levels, we umpires take a dim view of a pitcher deliberately throwing at another players....and that our (umpires) opinion is all that counts when we eject for that.....
Now , throwing inside is part of the game, and batters will get hit.....also part of the game.....High and tight...is part of the game.....
But drilling the next batter after a homerun (at higher levels) will get you run....I have to maintain control and dumping a pitcher for the rest of this game (and probably the next) will nip it in the bud...
if left unchecked, a few hit batters later, a bench clearing later....we have ejections, and the blame goes not to the person who started it but on the umpires for "not controlling the game"......
At the youth levels, the pitcher is usually one of the better athletes, an ejection from a tourney hurts the team in the long run...