Signals from the coach to the pitcher

[Rich]

Originally Posted by RPatrino

Rufus, you hit the nail on the head, particularly with very young pitchers. Coaches tend to 'over complicate' things at this level ( sometimes I think HS Varsity coaches do too).

Keep things super simple. Limit the number of different pitches you throw, learn to throw your fastball for consistant strikes in different places (low, high, outside, inside). Use a 2 seamer and a 4 seamer. Learn to throw a change-up before you try a curve. Try to learn a cut fastball or slider. Don't walk anyone, ever.

I was working a game earlier this week where the home team was severely overmatched by the visiting F1. They couldn't touch his fastball. So what did F1 do when he got ahead in the count? Throw a curveball, which the home team jumped all over.

I wanted to go over to the coach and tell him he was an idiot, but I didn't. Why would you ever stick down anything but number 1 if the other team proved they couldn't touch it no matter how many times the pitcher threw it?