Throwing the ball back

[jchamp]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

Then I might as well bowl the ball back to the Pitcher. LOL

MTD, Sr.

I developed this habit during little league (7-9 y.o.) games:
During warm-ups between innings, I will stand near a batters box. When the pitch gets by the catcher, I will bounce a spare ball back to pitcher essentially bowling it towards the mound, just hard enough for it to get back to the rubber. Bowling it like this also prevents the catcher from chasing the ball and on his subsequent throw, sending it into the outfield because he thought that the additional twenty feet meant he had to heave it as hard as he could.

Maybe I just don't have patience to wait for the catcher to run after 5 passed balls, and I would spend more time arguing with the coaches about why Jimmy only got two warmup throws in his "one-minute warmup" between innings, so its a nice preventative compromise that keeps things moving.