Monthly Archives: October 2022
What Undefeated Records and Huge Run Differentials Really Say About Your Team
You see it just about every weekend in social media. “It” is the excited posts from parents describing their kids’ teams’ great weekend of fastpitch softball.
“Went 6-0 this weekend,” it will start, then go on to add, “And we outscored our opponents 64-3! This team is simply amazing.”
I get that you’re happy the team did so well. But in my mind, going 6-0 with a 64-3 run differential isn’t something to brag about. Instead, you should be embarrassed because clearly your team was in the wrong tournament for their ability level.
The reality is if your daughter’s team is ripping through the competition like that it’s not good for anyone. Even for your daughter’s team.
Yes, I get it that it’s fun to win. But remember that iron is forged in fire, and steel is honed by steel, not foam. If you want to get stronger you have to stress your muscles, not go through “exercise programs” where you don’t break a sweat.
So in order to get better, your team must play opponents who can place them at a risk of losing – not opponents they can tear through like a hot knife through butter. Sure, you may not end up with as much hardware to gather dust in your house.
But you will test yourself and get better as a result. An overall winning percentage of 60% to 70% is the sweet spot.
Of course, there are a couple of reasons teams find themselves playing weaker competition than they should.
Sometimes, especially with new and/or younger teams, there are a lot of unknowns and coaches aren’t sure how good they’re going to be. So the coaches plan a tournament schedule that protects the team against getting discouraged by having their heads handed to them every weekend if it turns out they’re not so hot.
But then it turns out the players are actually as good as the coaching staff thought they were during tryouts and there was no need to play that lower-level schedule. They are stuck with the schedule, however, so they end up playing a level below where they should be.
There’s nothing malicious there, just an unfortunate circumstance that resulted from a lot of unknowns. Good coaches will recognize this disparity and want to move their teams to a more appropriate level of play as quickly as possible.
(Unfortunately, they may find resistance from some of the parents who have fallen in love with winning and don’t want to “risk” losing more. If you’re one of those parents, stop complaining and instead thank your coach for wanting to help your daughter get better.)
The other option is more nefarious. In this case, the coaches knew they had a very good team but purposely opted to play a lower-level schedule so they could win more (and look better).
These types of teams/coaches are typically referred to as “trophy hunters.” They are where they are specifically so they can go 6-0 (or at worst 5-1) every weekend while racking up a 64-3 run differential.
Then when their kids end up in a more competitive softball situation and little Suzy is on the bench the parents can’t understand why the coach doesn’t recognize how great little Suzy is.
No matter which way you find yourself there, you don’t want to stay there.
In reality you don’t want your daughter’s team ripping through the competition week after week. You want it, and especially your daughter, to be challenged every week.
That’s how she will get better. And if the team has to struggle to win, rather than dominating all weekend, the win itself will be that much sweeter.
But if all you care about is winning, then yeah, leave the team that’s trying to better itself by playing better competition and find a trophy hunter. Lord knows there are plenty of those around.
The bottom line is that going undefeated every weekend and posting a huge run differential is nothing to write home about – or write on social media about. Especially if your daughter has aspirations of playing college softball.
Instead, play on a team where your daughter will be challenged every inning of every game of every tournament – one where the team walks out exhausted but proud, knowing it took everything they had to secure each victory. And one where the coaching staff is constantly seeking to challenge the players to play at their tops of their games rather than letting them slide by by beating up on weaker opponents.
It may be tougher to take the additional losses at first. But your daughter will benefit so much more in the long run, because she will develop into the player she’s meant to be.
Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com
For the Love of Gaia, Please Stop Teaching Screwballs to 10 Year Olds
There is a phenomenon I’ve noticed lately in my area and seemingly is happening across the country as I speak with other pitching instructors.
When I start lessons with a new pitcher I will ask her what pitches she throws. For pitchers under the age of 14 my expectation is fastball, change, and maybe a drop ball.
These days, however, I have been shocked at how many, even the 10 year olds, will include a “screwball” in their list of pitches. Especially when I then watch them pitch and they struggle to throw their basic fastball with any velocity or semblance of accuracy.
Who in the world thinks teaching a screwball to a 10 year old (or a 12 or 13 year old for that matter) is a good idea? Particularly the screwball that requires the pitcher to contort her arm and wrist outward in a twisting motion that includes the “hitchhiker” finish?
There is simply no good reason to be doing that. For one thing, most kids at that age have rather weak proprioception (body awareness of self movement), which means they often struggle to lock in a single movement pattern.
So, since the way you throw a screwball is in direct opposition to the way you throw a fastball (especially with internal rotation mechanics but it’s even true of hello elbow pitchers) why would you introduce a way of throwing that will interfere with development of core mechanics? Pitchers who are trying to learn both will be splitting their time between two opposing movements, pretty much ensuring they will master neither.
Then coaches and parents wonder why the poor kid can’t throw two strikes in a row in a game.
Just as important is the health and safety aspect of twisting your forearm and elbow against the way they’re designed to work. As my friend and fellow pitching coach Keeley Byrnes of Key Fundamentals points out, “Boys at that age are cautioned against throwing curve balls with a twisting action because of the stress it places on their elbow joints. Why would you encourage a softball pitcher to do the same thing?”
Keeley also points out that most 10 year olds don’t hit very well anyway, so developing a screwball at that age is unnecessary. You can get many hitters out by throwing a fastball over the plate with decent velocity (which means it’s not arcing in).
Tony Riello, a pitching coach, trainer, and licensed doctor of chiropractic, is also concerned about the effect throwing the twisty screwball can have on other body parts. He says, “To be that spread out left to then force the arm and shoulder right seems not healthy for either the back or the shoulder,” he says.
Then there’s the fact that in 99% of the cases a screwball isn’t really a screwball. It’s just a fastball that runs in on a hitter.
Why do I say that? Because if you look at the spin on 99% of so-called screwballs, especially among 10 year olds but even at the collegiate level, they don’t have the type of spin that would make them break. They have “bullet” spin, i.e., their axis of spin is facing the same direction as the direction of travel.
For a screwball to actually be a screwball the axis of spin would need to be on top of the ball, with spin direction going toward the throwing hand side. Just as a curve spins away from the throwing hand side.
So if you’re throwing a pitch that isn’t going to break anyway, why not just learn to throw an inside fastball instead? If you want it to run in a little more, stride out more to the glove side then let it run itself back in.
But again, you’re now giving that young pitcher who’s just trying to learn to throw the ball over the plate two different mechanics (stride straight, stride out) to use, which means she’s probably going to be half as effective on either one.
Oh, and that hitchhiker move that’s supposedly the “key” to the screwball and places all the stress on the elbow? It happens well after the ball is out of the pitcher’s hand, so it has no impact on the spin of the pitch whatsoever. Zero. None. Nada.
Finally, and perhaps most important, once a young pitcher can throw with decent velocity and locate her pitches (or at least throw 70% strikes) there are simply better pitches for her to learn first.
After the basic fastball, in my opinion (and in the opinion of most quality pitching coaches), the second pitch that should be learned is a changeup that can be thrown with the same arm and body speed as the fastball but resulting in a 10-15 mph speed differential. Throwing both the fastball and change at the right speeds for 70% strikes should be enough to keep the typical 10- or 12-year old pitcher busy for a while.
Next you would want to add a drop ball. The mechanics of a properly taught drop ball are very similar to the fastball. In fact, I like to say they are fraternal twins.
Making a ball drop at the right spot, especially given so many young hitters’ desire to stand up as they swing, will get you a lot more outs, either as strikeouts or groundouts. A good drop ball will still translate into more groundouts as you get older too – just ask Cat Osterman.
From there it’s a little less certain. You can go either rise ball or curve ball. I usually make the decision based on the pitcher’s tendencies.
A well-thrown rise ball is still an extremely effective pitch, even though it doesn’t actually break up. And a well-thrown curve will actually break either off the plate (traditional curve) or back onto it (backdoor curve). Either way it moves – unlike the screwball which mostly travels on the same line.
I would save the screwball for last – unless you happen to play in an area where slappers are predominant in the lineup. Which in the era of $500 bats and quality, year-round hitting instruction is about as scarce as screwballs that actually change direction.
There are simply better pitches to learn. And if you do work on a screwball, there are better ways to learn it than trying to twist your wrist and forearm off in a contorted move that should be outlawed by the Geneva Convention.
The bottom line is that, for the love of Gaia, there is no good reason to be teaching a screwball to a 10 year old – or any pitcher who hasn’t mastered her fastball and changeup first. Let’s make sure we’re giving our young pitchers the actual tools they need to succeed – and avoid those that can lead to injury and perhaps a career cut short.
It Always Helps to Have Perspective
One of the things I often tell players on their development journey is that yesterday’s achievements eventually become today’s disappointments.
For example, when a player first comes for hitting lessons she may be striking out all the time. Which means her goal is to not strike out so often, i.e., hit the ball instead.
She works hard and starts hitting regularly. Then she has a streak where she hits the ball but right at someone and she’s out every time.
She is still achieving the original goal – not striking out – but the goalposts for her expectations have moved and now anything less than a hit is a disappointment.
Probably the easiest place to see it, however, is with speed measurements for pitchers. Everyone always wants to get faster. I’m sure Monica Abbott, who I believe still throws the hardest out of all female players, would still love to add an mph or two if she could.
So pitchers work hard to achieve a new personal record. Then another. Then another, etc.
After a while, though, that first personal record she got so excited about is now a disappointment and perhaps even feels like a step backwards.
That’s why it helps to keep some perspective on the longer journey instead of just the next step.
That idea came home to roost last night when I was giving a lesson to a student (Gianna) who hasn’t been to lessons in a couple of weeks due to a volleyball-related thumb injury. (Don’t even get me started on how volleyball injuries impact softball players!)
Now, as you know the thumb is pretty important for gripping things like softballs. In fact, the opposable thumb is one of the key advantages that separates humans and other primates from most of the rest of the animal kingdom.
Gianna’s thumb had swollen up pretty badly and for the last couple of weeks she’d had trouble gripping anything. The swelling had finally gone down, and with a tournament coming up and her team already short a couple of other pitchers due to volleyball injuries (grrrr) she wanted to do all she could to help them.
So with her thumb stabilized and a bandage that wrapped around her wrist she decided to give it a go to see if she could pitch this weekend.
The short answer was yes, she could. But her speed was a little down from where it normally is. That’s ok, though, she was able to do it without pain (so she said) and to throw all her pitches.
Later on when I thought about the speed being down I had an epiphany.
You see, a year ago Gianna was struggling with some mechanical issues that were preventing her from getting the type of whip and pronation that would bring her speed up. She was working very hard to correct them but once those bad mechanics have set in the habits they create can be tough to break.
(One more piece of evidence that saying “Start with hello elbow and you can change later” is bad, bad advice.)
As I thought about it I realized that had she been throwing the speed she was averaging last night at this time last year, she would have been very excited and gone home on cloud nine. Because it was about 3 mph higher (whereas now it was 2-3 mph slower).
And that’s the point. Sometimes in our quest to get to “the next level” we sometimes forget to take a minute and look at how far we’ve come.
Keeping that longer-term perspective can help you stay positive when you hit the inevitable plateau and keep you going until you reach your next achievement.
Spice Up Your Games with Some “Trick” Plays – Part Two
Last week we looked at some options for some defensive “trick” plays – mostly called plays where the defense uses some forms of deception to try to generate outs and get out of jams. If you haven’t read it yet you’ll definitely want to follow the link because it’s brilliant.
This week we’re looking at the other side of the coin – plays the offense can use to create confusion, take advantage of holes in the defense, and generally put themselves in a better position to score more runs.
Running offensive trick plays can be, well, trickier because for the most part the offense has little control over what happens once the ball is pitched. So it places more pressure on individual players to learn their responsibilities and react to different variables.
When they work, however, they can not only produce immediate results; they can also energize the offensive team while discombobulating the defense.
So without further preamble here are some things you can do on offense to gain a little extra edge in the game.
The Continuation Play on a Walk
This one is a classic, of course. The batter walks with a runner on third.
But instead of stopping at first she keeps going and runs toward second. Now the defense has to make a decision – go for the runner to try to get her out (either straight on or with a counter-play of their own as detailed in the last post) or hold onto the ball to keep the runner on third from attempting to score.
Having the runner sprint to second will often work to draw the throw with younger or less experienced teams. They see the runner go, panic, and go for the out at second, momentarily forgetting all about the runner on third.
With somewhat older or more experienced teams, a straight-out sprint may not be the best option, however. A better choice might be to have the batter/runner round the corner and just start trotting toward second.
It’s kind of insulting, and it may coerce the defense to go after her either because they think they can get a quick out or they’re angry at insult of her nonchalantly jogging to the base. Never underestimate the power of emotion.
At higher levels, the goal won’t be to gain second base as much as to get in a pickle and hope to either distract the defense long enough for the runner on third to sneak home or coerce the defense into throwing the ball away, in which case everyone is safe. This is best used with a smart super speedster on third and a game where the offense needs one run late in the game to tie or win.
And don’t even bother to say “high-level teams won’t make those mistakes you’re talking about.” In a pressure situation anyone can make a mistake – or at least create enough of an opening to score a run. It’s the walk equivalent of a suicide squeeze: a gutsy call that either makes the coach look like a genius or an idiot.
At the younger/less experienced levels the risk level is low. Teams will either be surprised it happened or will let the batter/runner go to prevent the runner on third from scoring.
At the higher levels the risk level of an out with no gain is fairly high so you want to choose your moments with it.
The Fall-Down Steal
Here again you have a runner on third – preferably a smart one with at least average speed – along with a runner on first. On the pitch the runner on first takes off for second on a flat-out steal, but as she gets about halfway to the base she pretends to stumble and then hits the ground.
If all goes as planned, the defense sees the vulnerable runner and decides to try to get the out. In the meantime, the runner on third has been sneaking her way down the third base line.
If the defense goes after the runner on the ground the runner on third takes off for home where she should score easily. It’s the element of surprise and vulnerability that makes this play work.
After all, who would have their runner fall down on purpose? The answer is: you.
The risk levels here are the same as for the continuation on a walk play.
The Delayed Steal
These is something about a well-execute delayed steal that even makes the victims have to nod their heads in admiration. Even while the defensive coach is screaming at his/her players to pay more attention.
You can delay steal at any base. To make it work there are three key elements the runner should look for:
- The catcher and/or pitcher are not paying much attention to the baserunners. This shows up as the catcher immediately lobbing the ball back to the pitcher after a pitch, or the pitcher getting the ball back and dropping her head without looking at the baserunners.
- The rest of the defense tends to relax immediately if the ball isn’t hit and the runner doesn’t take off on a steal with the pitch.
- No one is covering the next base. It could be that the shortstop is leaving second or third wide open after the pitch, or the catcher is turning her back after throwing the ball to the pitcher with a runner on third.
A delayed steal of second can also work when the catcher is very aggressive about trying to pick the runner at first. My daughter Kim used to be a master of this particular play.
In this scenario, after confirming that no one was going to cover second base immediately after the pitch, Kim would take a long lead-off, trying to draw a throw from the catcher. When the throw came, she would get back just in time, convincing the catcher that she could pick Kim off if she’d just get the ball down to first a little faster.
On the next pitch Kim would get out a little farther, tempting the catcher even more. When the catcher threw to first, instead of trying to get back to first she’d take off for second.
With a good lead, no one covering second and no one else on the field really paying attention to her, she’d often scamper in to the next base standing up. She only had average speed, but if you’re good at deception and a smart, gutsy baserunner you don’t need to be a rabbit to pull this off.
Of course, the most fun/aggravating (depending on which side of the ball you’re on) is the delayed steal of home.
This one really depends on both conditions in point #1 being in play. If the catcher turns her back after throwing the ball to the pitcher, and the pitcher turns away from the runner, a speedy runner can break for home rather than going back on the throw. Just be sure she goes right away so she’s not caught by the Look Back Rule.
If your runners have followed the rules above the risk level is fairly low. If not, it’s moderate to high. So be sure you keep this to your smarter runners.
The Slug Bunt and Steal
This one can work with pretty much any combination of runners on base (i.e., first, first and second, etc.), although you’d have to be pretty gutsy to call it with bases loaded. All you need is a defense that is very aggressive about covering steals and bunts.
In this situation, the batter turns while the pitcher is in her windup to apparently put down a sacrifice bunt while the runner(s) take off on a straight steal. With an aggressive defense this will likely cause the third (and maybe first) baseman to charge in for the bunt, the second baseman to cover first or second (depending on what the first baseman does) and the shortstop to cover second or third.
All of this happens before the pitch is delivered, which leaves some pretty big holes where the second baseman and shortstop used to be.
As the pitch is delivered, the batter pulls the bat back and tries to hit a hard ground ball toward one of the newly created gaps in the defense. I prefer the slug (basically a slapping motion) but it can also be done with a push bunt if it’s hard enough.
If it’s executed successfully, a runner on first actually stands a good chance of ending up on third or even scoring, depending on how deep the outfield was. A runner on second should be able to score.
And if the pitch isn’t hittable, there’s still a good chance the runner(s) will be safe at the next base.
There is moderate risk with this play, however. If the batter pops up, or hits a line drive right at a fielder, there’s a pretty good chance of it ending up as a double play.
So you want to be sure your batter understands the assignment and is able to get that ball on the ground without fail. Trust me on that one.
The Runners on Second and Third Play
I originally learned this one under the name “angle down.” As the name I’ve used says, you have runners on second and third, preferably with fewer than two outs.
The baserunners need to be able to read the ball coming off the bat. IF the ball is on the ground, and not a weak one right back to the pitcher, the runner on third commits to sprinting home and the runner on second commits to sprinting to third.
Here’s where the magic happens. While all that is going on, the batter/runner commits to sprinting to second base.
Since the defense will likely be committed to getting the out at home it will place all of its focus there and not even notice the batter/runner going toward second until it’s too late. And even if they see it there may not be anyone there to take a throw.
So worst case the runner is out at home, you have one less out to work with, but you still have two runners in scoring position instead of one. Best case, you scored a run and still have two runners in scoring position with the same number of outs you had before.
That’s a lot of upside with not a lot of downside. I’d put this one in the low risk category.
Choose Wisely
Now, understand if your team has a good lead or is clearly in command of the game you’re probably not going to need most of these plays. Just keep dominating and walk out with the win.
Running trick plays (other than maybe the Runners on Second and Third Play) would actually be rather poor sportsmanship in my opinion. You’d just be showing up the other team for no reason.
But if you need to find a way to manufacture a run in a tight game, or at least set yourself up to do so, give one of these plays a try. It could not only solve the immediate issue – it might be a way of inspiring your team to play the game at a higher level.
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 