Youth Baseball Pitchers Overloaded With Information—Coaches And Parents To Blame

All About Pitching Since 1995

Here’s an email I got from one of our clients—a concerned father about how Little League and youth baseball pitchers are being overloaded with too much information. Then during games both coaches and parents are yelling and constantly reminding these aspiring pitchers what they don’t know and why they should be constantly thinking about what they should be doing.

“Today I think kids, especially young kids, are overloaded with instruction, which is driving them crazy and preventing their natural instinct and ability from taking over. I see it everyday coaching my son and other kids. A kid is on the mound, or at the plate and you have coaches and parents yelling different instructions that make no sense, instead of just encouraging them. When I was young we didn’t have baseball camps, seminars, pitching instructors, … we just did things naturally. Instead of kids going out and playing the game they are consistently thinking about ten different things instead of the task at hand.

One of the best things I got out of your course is that only the coach should be involved in the analysis and details related to pitching mechanics. That it’s his job to determine what flaw to address first and keep the instruction to the kids very simple. Work on one thing at a time and don’t overload with instruction. Sometimes fixing one flaw addresses others. I know everyone wants to help, but it’s confusing kids and driving them crazy. It’s driving me crazy).” End…

And we wonder why these kids standing on the mound seem to be in a daze because they don’t know what to do or what to think.

The problem is the constant and non-stop feedback that these kids are getting which is far worse than not enough feedback at all. With the constant chatter from the coach or the well-meaning parent is it any wonder that they don’t just throw their gloves in the air, turn in their uniforms and go play with their friends.

I wonder if this is why so many pitchers look slow and mechanical because they are thinking about how they will insert all the drills they have been doing in practice into their delivery as they stare down trying to get that hitter out…while the coach yells THROW STRIKES! Isn’t that what all pitchers try to do!

Practice should be all about getting these youth pitchers ready for the game…and not by doing drills but by working on helping them make simple mechanical adjustments which will allow them to throw using their maximum potential power with control…without having to think. The focus in practice should be teaching these kids to hit the glove and change speeds. And when they get to the game use their pre-game bullpen to get prepared for the game. Hit the glove and change speeds.

When the game starts…the coach and the parents need to just SHUT-UP and let these kids enjoy themselves. If coaches were doing their jobs and knew how to coach pitchers these pitchers would not need all this constant reminding of what to do during the game. Save your encouraging reminders for between innings. Isn’t that what coaching is all about!

Nervous parents need to keep quiet especially since few really know what they are talking about when it comes to pitching. How about forgetting about telling your boy how to be perfect and just encourage him to have fun out there. Oops—I forgot that these games really meant life or death.

Kids are already overloaded with negative response at home by parents. It has been estimated that kids get 35 times as much negative feedback from parents as positive during their time at home while growing up.

Do they really need more of it when they are supposed to be enjoying themselves playing and learning to love our All American game.

How do I know all this. I too was once one of those screaming parents until I woke up and heard myself. It didn’t sound pretty. And I resolved never to open my perfectionistic- negative mouth again.

Dick Mills www.pitching.nexcess.net

If you have questions about this blog post or on any phase of pitching—mechanics, strength and conditioning, mental training, strategy send those questions to dickmills@gmail.com and I will answer them here.

If you want an explosive body and explosive mechanics you need to get my Free Report Free Report . We won’t waste your time. We show you how to recognize exactly what is holding back most pitchers…find the problem—fix the problem. I show you a comparison between two high school pitchers, a Little League pitcher and a major league pitcher who throws mid to upper nineties. You will see the biggest problem that reduces velocity in the majority of pitchers.

(If you are a high school or college coach, ask for our special Free Coach’s Report by emailing me dickmills@gmail.com