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Hey! Stop Throwing Waste Pitches!!


MadMax

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A Hall-of-Famer has spoken: 

“The hardest count to hit in is 0-2”… well Mister Maddux, I’m going to say that the count that sees the most plate umpires get hurt on is 0-2. 

 

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We see this so often in youth baseball...fireballing ace who is blowing it by everyone and is hitting his spots at will. Then we all catch our breath on 0-2, he throws garbage to go 1-2 and then comes back with a heater and gets an out with maybe weak contact at best. I get it. We're all working on things and trying to get better. It's hard to advance very high in The Game just throwing gas. Most have to develop some different pitches. 0-2 is a good time to work on things. But, as Maddux says, 0-2 is the hardest count to hit so, make the hitters hit on 0-2. Thanks for sharing...the guy is so smart and direct.

~Dawg

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Especially in this day and age of pitch counts. I understand don’t groove one down the middle 0-2, but OTOH, don’t throw it 8” off the plate or in the dirt either. 

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8 minutes ago, Richvee said:

or in the dirt either.

ie. spiked at 58 feet, changes direction to somehow miss the catcher and blast against the Plate Umpire’s ________________. 

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2 minutes ago, MadMax said:

ie. spiked at 58 feet, changes direction to somehow miss the catcher and blast against the Plate Umpire’s ________________. 

#1 answer…. Forearm for me. 

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My least favorite instantiation of this is LL All-Stars, and ace pitchers messing around with the #8-10 hitters.  Save that curve, and those pitches, to upset the timing of the top five hitters who can take you deep!  This kid has just shown he can't catch your heat.  [Mortal Kombat Voice]Finish him![/Mortal Kombat Voice]

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1 minute ago, stevis said:

My least favorite instantiation of this is LL All-Stars, and ace pitchers messing around with the #8-10 hitters.  Save that curve, and those pitches, to upset the timing of the top five hitters who can take you deep!  This kid has just shown he can't catch your heat.  [Mortal Kombat Voice]Finish him![/Mortal Kombat Voice]

Or…  0-2 , two outs, followed by 5 pick off throws to 1b. 😤

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8 hours ago, stevis said:

ace pitchers messing around with the #8-10 hitters

This!

Kids, please don't throw a changeup to a slow bat. I tell my young pitchers that they generally need good batters for good pitches to work.

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LOL I came in last night, after a JV game, saying the same thing to my wife.

You're up 0-2, and after three offspeed, junk pitches it's now 3-2... and we used an extra 20-25 minutes to complete the game.

Finish him off! Why let them get back even in the count, keep the pressure on the batter! 

Got to be one of the dumbest things I see in HS baseball.  The kid pitching can barely throw 3 strikes in a row, so when he's up 0-2, it's time to play stupid games and try to fool a hitter that can't hit it out of the infield anyhow. SMH

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16 hours ago, MadMax said:

ie. spiked at 58 feet, changes direction to somehow miss the catcher and blast against the Plate Umpire’s ________________. 

And strikes the vein directly over the bone in the top of your forearm. MAN, THAT FU$%^&G HURTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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17 hours ago, Richvee said:

Especially in this day and age of pitch counts. I understand don’t groove one down the middle 0-2, but OTOH, don’t throw it 8” off the plate or in the dirt either. 

I didn't care what the count was...I had two rules for my pitchers.

1. Not down the middle

2. Close enough to the plate to make the batter think about it.

And I'd let number 1 slide in certain situations.

But nothing drove me more nuts than a pitch that a batter never had to worry about.  At least make it look like it could be a strike.

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5 hours ago, umpstu said:

And strikes the vein directly over the bone in the top of your forearm. MAN, THAT FU$%^&G HURTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You mean something like this???IMG_1800.jpeg.448e856ef3038974dcacb7396cf7998c.jpeg. From today.  It wasn’t a spiked 0-2 pitch… it was completely missed inside fastball. I told f2 “you gotta catch it before you can frame it🙄

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3 hours ago, Richvee said:

You mean something like this???IMG_1800.jpeg.448e856ef3038974dcacb7396cf7998c.jpeg. From today.  It wasn’t a spiked 0-2 pitch… it was completely missed inside fastball. I told f2 “you gotta catch it before you can frame it🙄

Yes, Exactly like that. Last time it happened it was swollen like that before I even saw another pitch. And it was a spiked pitch. Like how catchers always tell you not to worry because they'll protect you. I let them know it's those guys throwing 57' fastballs that scare the hell out of me. Not so much in college ball as most catchers do everything possible to block that pitch as they know how much it hurts.

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3 hours ago, Richvee said:

You mean something like this???IMG_1800.jpeg.448e856ef3038974dcacb7396cf7998c.jpeg. From today.  It wasn’t a spiked 0-2 pitch… it was completely missed inside fastball. I told f2 “you gotta catch it before you can frame it🙄

Pretty disgusting looking

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9 hours ago, umpstu said:

Pretty disgusting looking

That was after the game...Pre ice. This morning it's almost gone. (The pretty colors haven't started yet 😄)

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31 minutes ago, Richvee said:

That was after the game...Pre ice. This morning it's almost gone. (The pretty colors haven't started yet 😄)

Are there seams on your arm...that's always a fun conversation topic too.  I can't wait to see that wonderful shade of yellow that follows the purple.

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9 hours ago, umpstu said:

Like how catchers always tell you not to worry because they'll protect you

It's amazing how much they can accomplish when they focus on it.

We had a rec league game where the ump didn't show up, but we found one volunteer willing to do it (OK, gun to my head I would have, but I was away coach and this is home's responsibility) - he's a fine ump as far as us volunteers go, he'd done it many times, but this time wasn't expecting it, so not only did either team have any real equipment for him (there was a spare catcher's mask) - he was wearing shorts and sandals.

At our plate meeting he pulled in both catchers and pitchers and said to all of us "if a single ball hits me I walk" - he was, I believe, the safest umpire I've ever experienced...not a whiff of a WP or PB all game....and somehow not even a foul ball hit him.

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5 hours ago, beerguy55 said:

Are there seams on your arm...that's always a fun conversation topic too.  I can't wait to see that wonderful shade of yellow that follows the purple.

I don’t want to hijack  the thread anymore than we have already. But yeah  there’s some cool red stitches on my forearm. No NCAA logo though. 🤣

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On 3/12/2024 at 5:07 PM, Richvee said:

You mean something like this???IMG_1800.jpeg.448e856ef3038974dcacb7396cf7998c.jpeg. From today.  It wasn’t a spiked 0-2 pitch… it was completely missed inside fastball. I told f2 “you gotta catch it before you can frame it🙄

image.png.06908cd91f9277ca82b43f156614be0d.png

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The other mind boggling 0-2 count move is when the catcher sets up  6-10 inches outside and they think I am going to call it a strike because it hit the mitt.

This move also causes umpire pain when the pitcher throws the ball inside.

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