Cy Nielson retweetledi
To add to this, I’ve received some comments saying that it depends on the catcher, especially at lower levels like youth and Highschool. Of course none of these kids are going to be good at calling pitches. I certainly was not.
The problem with travel youth and college coaches is that they are coaching for a paycheck. Highschool guys, not so much, although I know from coaching HS that, as far as I’ve seen, no catchers are calling their own games. Except my guys😀
If the coaches call the games, then they aren’t dependent on the player to call the right pitch, giving them a sense of more control and “job security.” Even though many of these coaches have no idea of what they are doing outside of the basic principles of game calling.
I recently had a discussion on this with a D1 head coach at one of the most prestigious programs in the country. I won’t name him here, but he is making over a million dollars a year on a multi year contract.
He told me the same thing I’m saying here.
He said that he can’t risk putting the game calling duties on his catchers, simply because of job security.
I get it from a coaching career standpoint. However, now you have a whole generation of catchers that are way behind the 8ball on game calling and game management.
On my team, we do have the ear pieces and I can talk to the catcher. However, the way I do it is I give the catcher a quick highlight on the hitter.
He has a slow bat, we jammed him last time, he ambushed an 0-0 FB his previous at bat and pulled it down the left field line, etc. he chase up, etc.
Just a quick hitter highlight to the catcher.
I then let the catcher call the pitches based on the info I gave him. We then discuss it after the inning.
Here is another way to put this.
Teachers don’t take the tests for the student. They don’t give answers during the exam. They teach the material then test the student on what they have been taught.
To me this is the best middle ground where the catcher learns and the coach still has influence and some “control” over the game calling.
RightTC@Right_TC
I love this answer so much. The eyes and the gut analysis are actually in the game, they have more value than the numbers geeks can ever understand.
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