The intent of the Baseball Collegian Pitching Project is to inform coaches and players and parents of some of the many theories on being a successful pitcher.
Most every concept has advocates with very strong opinions on either side of the argument. Too often, a theory is chosen based on popularity, conventional wisdom, or because someone famous does it that way, as opposed to one’s own analysis. With so many contradicting theories, it is essential to have an understanding of all of the possible options, before deciding which one to commit to.

These pitching theories are presented without judgment, without confirmation bias, with no preconceptions, and without dogma or commercialism. In turn, the strong hope is that people are inspired to do the work to make up their own mind based on as much information as possible – and in turn, do what makes most sense to them.

Last month, the discussion was about staying healthier. This month, the discussion turns to calling pitches.

Q. Who should call the pitches?

General Belief:
• Catcher
Wayne Graham, former Rice coach
“I grew up believing that educating the catcher on how to call a game was extremely important, and I have done this for the past 32 years with pretty good success,” (baseballnews.com)

• Catcher
Mike Matheny – former MLB catcher
“It really shouldn’t have been a surprise to me as an overwhelming percentage of youth coaches have decided to call the game for their young catchers. I believe this to be a mistake. If the man sitting on the bucket knows which pitch is the right pitch, then why doesn’t he teach the catcher how to do it? It may take some time, and some (a lot) of patience, and it may actually cost the team a couple of wins (heaven forbid) but it will give these aspiring players the foundation of what it really means to wear the “tools of intelligence.” (mikematheny.com)

Other Philosophies:
• Coach
Paul Mainieri, Georgia/former LSU coach
“How many college football coaches are letting their quarterbacks call the plays?” said Mainieri, knowing the answer is not many. “Why? Because the coaches understand they have a greater knowledge.” (al.com)

• Coach
Mitch Gaspard, former Alabama coach
“As a coach, if a mistake is made with a pitch, I would much rather it be on one of our coaches having called that pitch than a 19-year-old catcher being questioned on a pitch call,” he said. “Coaches also feel they’re putting their team in a higher percentage to succeed.” (al.com)

• Coach suggestion
Scott Brown – former Vanderbilt pitching coach
In our system I’m basically suggesting a pitch, then our catcher is seconding it, and the pitcher commits to it – we don’t have any “Well, I didn’t want to throw that.” Our guys can shake off whenever they want. (insidepitchonline.com)