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How to Perfect Pitch-Calling For Your Softball Team
- By Grant Young
Calling pitches in softball can be one of the most challenging parts of being a softball pitching coach, regardless of which level you’re coaching at.
There are various factors as to why pitch-calling presents a unique challenge. The pitching coach must take into account the batter's strengths and weaknesses, the game situation, and the team's overall strategy—all of which must be communicated to the pitcher and the catcher, who are often the ones who are making the final decisions on which pitch to throw.
Furthermore, the pitcher and catcher need to be in sync, which can be difficult in noisy or hectic game environments. Lastly, maintaining control and accuracy while keeping the batters guessing is crucial, and achieving this balance can be quite demanding.
There are some obvious times when calling a fastball makes the most sense, especially when you want to surprise the batter or when you need to bring the heat to challenge a strong hitter. It can also be useful in situations where you are ahead in the count and want to maintain control. Additionally, using a fastball early in the game can help establish dominance and set the tone for the rest of the match.
Yet, if you as a pitching coach believe calling a fastball in a situation is a no-brainer, the opposing hitter is likely thinking the same thing. This is why it’s crucial to understand when to break your typical pitch-calling patterns. And Amy Hunt can help you learn when and how to do so effectively.
Coach Hunt has spent recent years working as a part-time Assistant Coach for Messiah College softball.
She was formerly an assistant coach with the team in 1998, where Messiah went to their first NCAA Final 6. Amy then continued her education, as she was a graduate assistant for the Marietta College softball team in Ohio. She moved on to coach at Catoctin High School where she was the assistant coach for 1 year and head Varsity Coach for 6 years.
Coach Hunt has made a career out of trying to perfect pitch-calling. Her ‘Championship Pitch Calling System for Pitching, Catching and Coaching’ course is a great resource for any prospective pitch-callers at any level of softball.
Why do STATS matter?
Coach Hunt explains that being able to read and understand certain statistics makes a world of difference when trying to call pitches.
One of the most important statistics to know is what a hitter’s hitting average is within the nine segments of the strike zone. Because every hitter is going to have a slightly different stance, goals at the plate, and preferred areas, having (and then using) information about how which pitch locations they hit will at and which they don’t can make a major difference in success on the mound.
Coach Hunt makes it clear that a hitting average isn’t the same thing as a batting average, which is the more commonly used statistic. The difference between these is that, while a batting average measures a batter's performance by dividing the number of hits by the number of at-bats, a hitting average is simply the number of times they make contact with a ball in a certain area.
This is crucial because it doesn’t take uncontrollable factors into account (like if a player hits the ball weakly but still gets a hit) like the batting average does. It will give an accurate indication of a player’s ability to make contact at the various segments of the strike zone. While collecting hitting average stats might sound difficult, it’s actually simpler to calculate than the batting average. A coach can just watch a recent hitter’s at-bats and chart what pitches they’re making contact with.
Pitch Location - Pitch placement is CRITICAL!
Of course, any pitching coach or pitcher knows that the worst place to position a pitch would be in the middle of the strike zone. And it’s typical knowledge that throwing the ball on the outside corner is usually a great option.
But not enough thought is put into whether a pitch should be thrown at the top or bottom of the strike zone. Typically, a pitcher will always try to aim for low in the strike zone. And while that’s a good base strategy to have, the ability to throw a pitch for a strike at the top of the strike zone can spell the difference between a good and great pitcher.
Even if a pitcher is just able to throw an occasional fastball at the top of the strike zone (or even above the strike zone, in a two-strike scenario with less than three balls), hitters love swinging (and missing) at pitches in this location. It will also adjust their eye level so they don’t get too comfortable with/can sit on a pitch that’s lower in the strike zone.
Learning about Batter Weaknesses
As we mentioned previously, charting each batter’s hitting average will give you a good indication of where they like to hit the ball. But another integral part of this charting strategy is that it will likely give you an insight into what an opposing team’s coach is teaching their hitters, as it pertains to their hitting approach.
If you notice that a team very rarely swings at non-fastballs low in the strike zone or on the outside corner, that is likely because their coach is instructing them to take those pitches. You will then be able to exploit that by focusing on throwing offspeed pitches either low or away, which will force the hitters to make adjustments.
