Look, this isn't the attitude of the player. It's the parent on the sidelines. The parent said they wouldn't mind being hit by a pitch to end the game. The kids aren't going out there saying "Oh boy! Hope I get hit!" |
I agree. In fact, my catchers practice their framing strategies every week in P&C practice. Where the glove starts at the pitch, angle of the glove, etc. For sure. You can steal strikes at the youth levels. Leaning into a pitch and trying to pretend that you were actually trying to get out of the way is not a skill any youth player has. It is 100% the umpire not wanting to make that call and having to deal with the angry coach and parent. |
No, I am not splitting hairs. I am correcting someone’s incorrect use of terminology. |
I think you're taking this way too seriously. It's youth baseball. Parents joke about leaning into the pitch. The kids don't want to get hit and they want to turn that into a grand slam. |
I've heard that getting hurt by a ball is the #1 reason why kids quit softball and baseball, probably true. Hopefully she sticks it out. There are very few elementary age kids who throw hard enough to really hurt the batter. More often what happens is a kid with a rocket arm and no impulse control lets fly a ball that nails a teammate who wasn't looking. |
I agree that it's not a skill many kids are trying to cultivate but some do crowd the plate, especially catchers in my experience. They just aren't afraid to be hit by a pitch
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Interesting-- my DD who plays catcher gets hit all the time. I hadn't made the connection! |
NP. Again, that is not a hit. So no, if PP's son had gotten a hit, none of those things (caught, thrown out) would have happened. |