What's up softball players. Today's pitching video for
fastpitch here is on how to pitch to hitters who are
crowding the plate. This can be a disconcerting thing, a lot of
pitchers get upset about it. They're like, Oh, she's crying
to play, like, I hate that hear that. I just hate when they
crowd the plate. But if you do this the right way, and you
really take the mindset to reframe it, these hitters are
really screwing themselves, they're making it harder to do
what they need to do and drive the ball. And I'm going to tell
you exactly why and how you can approach them in this video.
So if you're new here, I'm Coach Dan Blewett. I'm a former pro
baseball pitcher. On this channel, you'll find tons of
mindset, arm care, strength training, softball, overhand
throwing mechanics, lots of different videos for fastpitch
players and slowpitch players alike. But today, let's talk
about how to pitch to a player who's crowding and play this is
really important. And I really want you to just destroy these
players. So number one, there's two types of hitters that will
do this. Number one is the big power hitter who wants to bully
you, they will crowd the plate because they want to just go
warm, and extend their arms and drive out or half out or third
pitches into the gap. The other hitter that will do this is the
little hitter who just wants to just sort of spray the ball to
the opposite way, get on base, steel base, all that sort of
stuff. So you get the big hat power hitter, and the hitter
that knows they don't have power. Those are the two that
typically crowd the plate. Sure anyone can call the play if they
want to. But those are the ones where it's really approach
based, where it's again, I'm bullying you, I know you're too
scared to pitch inside to me, because I'm a big hitter. So I'm
just going to own the entire plate now. And I'm gonna drive
out or half pitches into the gap. The other one again is some
more out of fear. And then knowing what they can and can't
do. Here's the big thing, the relative middle of the plate is
going to move when you crowd the plate. And this is important for
your pitchers to understand I have a full video on this. When
a hitter crowds, the plate, the center of the plate effectively
moves, because if I'm here in a typical stance, and I can hit
the ball down the middle really well, now that I move four, six
inches closer, the middle of the plate goes with me. So I can't
hit an inside inside pitch as well as I could otherwise
because I can't get my barrel to it in time. And if I do, it's
going to go foul. If you throw a pitch that's this tight to me,
I've got to if I want to hit hit barrel on it, I've got to get
the barrel up here to make contact. And if I do that pitch,
I'm going to hit a foul almost all the time. So what happens
is, when you really jam hitters, they can either pull it foul
with authority, or they can keep it fair and hit it with weak
contact, those are really the only two options. And that's
important to know. And that's because the relative middle of
the plate changes. So now when a hitter crowds the plate, no
matter where they have the bully approach or the little weakling
approach, they can't hit this pitch hardly, which is
essentially the almost the inner half like splitting this half of
the plate. And they certainly can't hit the inner third or the
corner with any authority at all. And if you throw a heart
into them, and I know you don't throw as many fast balls and
soft balls you in baseball, but you really should be going hard
in two hitters, the crowd the plate with your rice ball or
your fastball, either one, because that's gonna give them
the least reaction time to get their barrel out in front and
hit the ball hard on the barrel. If you start throwing soft stuff
inside, it's not gonna have the same effect because they can
wait on it, they can even be a little in front of it and still
kind of throw their barrel at the ball. So the big approach
here is a mental one. Number one, it does not screw the
pitcher over. It screws the hitter over when they crowd the
plate because they give up the entire inner half as being very
difficult for them to hit. Now, it's very difficult for them to
either keep it fair, or hit it hard in fair territory. And if
you are not soft mentally and just want to give in and go away
because you won't be friends with everybody, then you'll have
an easy time just banging strikes on the inner part of the
play that they cannot hit well. However, if you're soft mentally
and you say oh, I don't want to hit her, I'm afraid I'm just
going to go away and be friends. Well, she's gonna then destroy
our half fastballs which are essentially in the middle. And
she's gonna destroy outer outer third fast balls which are
almost down the middle as well. And you're gonna have a bad day
and you're going to throw right in that little hitter who wants
to punch it, you throw these two pitches to a little hitter wants
to punch it that way she's gonna have everything she ever wanted
in her life. So look, you don't hit hitters intentionally. But
when you crowd the plate, as a hitter, you're signing up to
have more hit by pitches, you know, there's a risk, right, if
they don't want to get hit by a pitch, they can back up. If they
don't like it coming in tight because you're not going to be
perfect and you will miss and you will hit players by accident
because you'll miss. They don't like it. They can back up. But
again, and you hear coaches say that that's your plate you on
the plate, that's what this means if they don't like it,
they don't have to stand there. They can go back there or they
can get hit on the elbow once in a while because they grab the
plate and they can cry on first base. It's fine with you, but
you can't change your your mindset and your approach is a
pitcher and give in when hitters are trying to bully you and take
away the other half. And again, it's the reframed mindset that
when they crowd the plate, they're giving you half the
plate and they're not really getting that much in exchange,
you're not going to be, you're not gonna be at a pitch away as
effectively as you otherwise would. But you will be at a
pitch in
very effectively to these types of hitters. Okay, so hopefully
today's video helps. Pitching strategy is critical, and I want
every young pitcher to learn why they're throwing what they
throw, I hope coaches are not calling the game for them. If
you're a coach out there, let your players call the game. Let
them observe and learn and troubleshoot and trial and
error. That's how especially you softball and baseball should go.
Let your players call the game and players take this knowledge
run with it be perceptive watch hitters and their stances, look
at what they're trying to do, and then throw your game to the
best of your ability. All right. Thanks for watching. I'm coach
Dan. I'll see you in the next video.