Teaching Pitchers and Catchers to Call the Game

I believe one of our greatest responsibilities as coaches and parents is to TEACH our athletes and daughters that they are students of the game. The more they learn, the more tools they have to grow as individuals and teammates.

Learning how to set up hitters to get them out is one of the most rewarding parts of the game, yet many coaches don’t take the time to teach their pitchers and catchers how to do it themselves. Instead, they call every pitch from the dugout and players end up becoming robots!

I believe youth coaches often do this because they see college coaches doing it. But here’s the thing: most college coaches would LOVE for their catchers to call the game. If you ask them why that’s not happening, the majority will say it’s because their players never learned how to do it when they were younger and now they don’t have the knowledge or confidence to do it at the college level.

Let’s break that cycle by helping our pitchers and catchers understand this super fun, strategic part of the game. You’ll be amazed at how good they get once they’ve had the opportunity to learn and practice together!

PART 1: The Fundamentals

1. Know Your Pitcher’s Strengths

Make sure EVERYONE—pitcher, catcher, and coach—knows what the pitcher does best. Pitch calling should always be based on a pitcher’s strengths.

Take time to chart your pitcher during practices or scrimmages so she and her catcher both know which pitches she throws best for strikes and which locations (high, low, inside, outside) she hits most consistently.

At BreakThrew, we begin developing command by helping pitchers identify their best pitch and best location.

Rather than trying to master every corner of the strike zone, I encourage pitchers to first identify one or two locations they can consistently own, whether that is low, high, arm side, or glove side of the plate.

The goal is to be able to throw those locations confidently for both called strikes and believable balls.

When pitchers truly know which spots they can hit with confidence, they have a much clearer plan of attack.

2. Get Ahead in the Count

Teach your pitchers and catchers that their MOST IMPORTANT job is to throw strikes and get ahead in the count!

On the first pitch, they must find a spot in the zone to get ahead. Avoid being too fine on the corners early in the count.

When hitters are behind, they are forced to become more aggressive and protect the plate. That gives your pitcher a tremendous advantage and opens the door to working the edges of the zone and throwing believable balls.

But when we fall behind, the hitter gets to be selective, her confidence grows, and our job gets a lot harder.

It’s frustrating to watch a perfect out pitch get taken for a ball early in the count and suddenly you’re behind 1-0 or 2-0.

Don’t be afraid to throw over the plate! Some people think you should never throw on the white part of the plate, but that simply isn’t true.

The key is knowing when to do it!

3. The Count Dictates Location

The further ahead in the count you are, the more you can work the edges of the zone.

With two strikes, pitchers should throw their BEST stuff on the edges or just out of the zone.

The 0-2 or 1-2 pitch MUST look like a strike long enough to convince the hitter she has to swing.

If the pitch is obviously a ball, all the pressure is taken off the hitter. 

4. Use the Change-Up Anytime

Teach pitchers and catchers that they can and should use the change-up at any time, IF the pitcher can throw it for a strike.

I’ve seen pitchers succeed at the highest levels of the game using little more than a fastball and a great change-up.

The key is getting hitters to believe the change-up could come at any time: first pitch, full count, bases loaded, ahead in the count, or behind.

When a pitcher can throw her change-up consistently for strikes, it can completely change her game.

Many young pitchers only use the change-up when they are ahead in the count.

But once a pitcher has command of this pitch, I believe it should be used just as often as her best pitch against strong hitters. 

PART 2: Communication & Signals

1. Simple Signals Work Best

Create signals that are simple for your pitchers and catchers to remember and use.

The catcher calls the pitch and location. If the pitcher wants something different, she can shake her head.

Be sure to practice this in bullpens and scrimmages so they get comfortable working together and learning each other’s style.

Let’s say your pitcher throws a fastball, drop ball, and change-up:

• Fastball = 1 finger
• Drop ball = 2 fingers
• Change-up = fist

For location:

• Touch leg = inside or outside
• Point up or down = high or low

Easy!

2. Dugout Calls (Optional)

If you want to occasionally call pitches from the dugout, create a simple number system.

Assign each pitch a number:

• Fastball = 3
• Drop ball = 5
• Change-up = 7

Then call out a three-digit number. Choose before the game which digit is “on.”

For example, if the third digit is on today:

• 403 = fastball
• 357 = change-up
• 925 = drop ball

Conclusion

I believe you’ll really enjoy teaching your pitchers and catchers this strategic and exciting part of the game!

Once they’re comfortable getting ahead in the count and using their out pitches with confidence, you can start introducing hitter-specific strategies.

But they don’t need to know everything to start calling pitches. If they simply understand what we talked about here, they’re absolutely ready to give it a try.

All my BEST,

Myndie

PS - Want to Help Your Pitcher Improve Her Game-Day Command?

If your pitcher would like to continue developing these skills this summer, I have two training opportunities designed to help her become stronger, more confident, and more prepared for competition.

In my Game Day Command Mini-Camp, pitchers will work on hitting spots, changing speeds, and learning how to own their strengths during competition.

And in my BreakThrew Summer Development Program in August, pitchers and catchers will have the opportunity to work together on pitch calling, communication, and game strategy as part of a complete three-day training experience.

Both programs are designed to give athletes a clearer understanding of what to work on and how to continue improving long after the event is over.