Defense Makes Errors, You Get Pulled?

If life was fair nothing could exist. That is a profound statement which may take you a minute to absorb. Okay, let’s talk fairness and softball. Often a parent will complain to us that the defense made a lot of errors and coach unfairly pulled their daughter off the mound. How does a pitcher deal with this?

First, understand that there are two sides to this question.
As someone who has coached at every level, there are times when we pull a pitcher in order to change tempo and try to make hitters less comfortable. The second pitcher may not be nearly as fast, but sometimes we want to offer something different to a team with hot bats, and this may actually make it easier on the defense. In some cases, we changed pitchers just to slow the momentum of the other team. A long timeout while a pitcher comes from the bullpen and gets her warmup pitches gives everyone time to breathe and regain composure. There are times when we do not want to leave a pitcher out there if she is not being supported by the defense because she will “overpitch”, trying so hard to strike out everyone that her form suffers. Other times it may cause her confidence to take a beating.
There are very good reasons for pulling a pitcher when the defense is making errors, but a good coach should be a good communicator, letting that pitcher know exactly why the decision was made. She should not be left with the impression that she failed miserably if the defense did not support her. There are even times when I have noticed that an opposing team seems to love my pitcher’s amazing riseball, so I pull the pitcher and ask her to run to the bullpen and get a different pitch ready that we don’t usually call. It may not be her best, but it could be a better match for this team. At higher levels, the opponent may have spent a lot of time preparing for her best pitch and, if they are hitting it, we need to change something.
As parents we are often too protective. I have seen several games where the defense made a lot of “forced errors”. This is what we call it when the batter is hitting the center of the ball hard. Yes, the shortstop could have made a great play, but when batters are hitting hard shots at the defense, even All-Americans would have a hard time dealing with a lot of those. Parents complain that the defense let down the pitcher, but the pitcher may have made the defensive job far too difficult. If a kid has an ERA of 1.0, but an average of 4 unearned runs a game, it makes me question her real effectiveness.
Another reason for pulling a pitcher is that we may need strikeouts. If the defense is sluggish, and you have a strikeout pitcher on the bench, give the defense a break and give them time to regain some momentum. Let the strikeout pitcher cool things down a bit.
Before you think we always take the side of the coach, there are some other factors. If pitch calling is poor, some of the things we just mentioned can be the fault of the person calling the pitches. Too often we hear stories of coaches who are adamant that the only pitch that works is the one his daughter threw in high school, or a female coach constantly called a pitch that worked for her. It does not matter if this is your worst pitch, you are going to get a steady diet of it. What do you do then? Have a discussion with the person calling the pitches, but do it away from practice and in a very nice way. Learn their perspective, improve your listening skills, and work on your power of persuasion. How can you work with this person in a more productive way? Sometimes you have to “shake off” the pitch, but understand there may be consequences. Be sure you are ready for that battle because it can get ugly at times, especially if there are egos involved.
Sometimes we just need a better defense. Either the talent level is poor or the coaches do a terrible job of preparing them. You still have to do everything you can to win. Make it a challenge to grow your own game to the point where you can carry a team on your back when needed.
You will sometimes be pulled from a game due to forces you cannot control. Control the things you can control. Always prepare for games with the thought that you want to strike out everyone you can, and make sure the opposition hits only weak shots that a poor defense can handle.
Even if we make an error, your attitude is that you will strike out the next one so no serious damage was done. Your defense is looking to you for leadership. If they see your shoulders slump due to an error, it sucks the wind out of the rest of the players and it will only get worse. If you whine, roll your eyes, complain in the dugout, or act like a brat when your team makes an error, you are causing many of the problems. Very simply, if the defense plays better for one pitcher than another, it tells you they are more relaxed, confident, and comfortable when that pitcher is on the mound. She is bringing some quality to the mound that they need and other pitchers need to learn from it instead of complaining about it.
Be able to change looks when a team is hitting hard and forcing errors. Start leaning on a new pitch, change speeds, or change your routine in some way to throw off their timing. These are things great pitchers do.
Communicate with your pitch caller. Let this person know, after warmups, what pitches are working well and which ones you really want to utilize this day. If they are stuck in their ways, seriously consider whether they are right, because they may be. If you are absolutely convinced that they are wrong, and they will not listen to you, it may be time to move to a new team. If it’s high school ball you may have to walk away from it and focus on travel ball. It’s a terrible choice, but there have been a few times when our pitchers had to make that decision.
Finally, talk to the coach about the reason you were pulled. Wait until the game is over and everyone is gone. Go to the person with the attitude that you want to learn from the experience and to see what you can do better in the future. Do not challenge the coach or the situation can become stressful. Listen and learn her thought process. It may have been a great decision for reasons you never considered. Perhaps a championship game is coming and the coach did not want to wear you down in a meaningless game today. Maybe he wanted to see how another pitcher handles stressful situations. Only by knowing the reason will you be able to process it.
When the defense lets you down, it may be the fault of the defense or the coach, and the possibility exists that you are contributing significantly to the failure. What can you learn to make it happen less often? You cannot control every situation. However, you can control the way you handle it search for ways each experience can make you better.