T-Ball Pitching: Underhand or Overhand?

[Mur5]

I personally like to take a knee and throw the ball overhand like a dart. In my mind this gets the ball on the right plane and through the strike zone. I've seen some coaches try the same method but they don’t put enough oomph on the ball and it ends up dropping on top of the plate like a nasty curve - Similar to the underhand method.

What do you guys think?

[tg643]

I personally like to take a knee and throw the ball overhand like a dart. In my mind this gets the ball on the right plane and through the strike zone. I've seen some coaches try the same method but they don’t put enough oomph on the ball and it ends up dropping on top of the plate like a nasty curve - Similar to the underhand method.

What do you guys think?

I was under the impression tee ball meant hitting off a tee. But considering what you're describing the straighter the pitch is thown from a knee the more it presents a proper swing angle.

[jbolt_2000]

Out tee ball league does three pitches by the coach and if no hit, then the player hits off a tee.

When I coached Tee Ball I pitched from one knee and threw overhand. All other coaches stood up and either threw overhand or underhand. I felt the same as you, from one knee you are able to get on the kid's level and be in the pitching plane better/longer.

[jbolt_2000]

duplicate...

[Mur5]

I was under the impression tee ball meant hitting off a tee. But considering what you're describing the straighter the pitch is thown from a knee the more it presents a proper swing angle.

Our league gives the kids five pitches, then the tee comes out.

[CircleChange11]

Out tee ball league does three pitches by the coach and if no hit, then the player hits off a tee.

When I coached Tee Ball I pitched from one knee and threw overhand. All other coaches stood up and either threw overhand or underhand. I felt the same as you, from one knee you are able to get on the kid's level and be in the pitching plane better/longer.

I did the same and got very good at being able to "hit the batter's bat". Unfortunately I had too much of the same skill as a college pitcher way back when. *grin*

I don't like the usage of a tee after the 3rd strike at the next level. We do the same. For 1/3 of the league it's essentialy 5 years of tee ball (4-8yo). It's also 5 years of coach pitch since coaches pitch in t-ball. I believe this year 7-8yo league is half-year machine, and 1/2 year kid pitch. When my son was 7-8 league, they did a "second season" that was all hardball pitch by kids in July, for kids that wanted to. It was awesome. Many of the kids put the ball in play on the 2nd or 3rd pitch. Action-packed games, and a great overall experience.

During my college years, I'd ump machine pitch in the summer and found it to be very good (provided that kids that strikeout are actually counter out and return to the bench). The vast majority of kids were hitting the ball on the 1st or 2nd pitch by the end of the year.

You don;t want kids' ability to learn to hit to be too dependent on the coaches ability to throw strikes. There's wide disparity in that, based on my experience.

[azmatsfan]

I always pitched the ball underhand with very little arc. Throwing from a knee is fine too, but I wasn't as acurate and found even that way I threw with too much arc. It drives me crazy coaches that are over 6 feet tall standing and tossing the ball overhand from 30 feet away. The kids have no chance. The ball is coming down at such a steep angle it's like trying to hit a Randy Johnson slider to them. And the kids that do hit them are the ones that have learned to swing with a steep upper-cut to get on plane with the pitch.

[StanTheMan]

Whatever it takes to present the pitch to the batter on as flat a trajectory as possible while it is in the strike zone. For me, it was underhand, with a little speed on it. Pitches that were missed NEVER bounced immediately behind the plate, but deeper, much deeper. At first, I was often asked if I was throwing too fast (Usually by the 6 foot+ overhand throwers whose pitch's seemed like a 12-6 Breaking Ball to the kids)... But our kids caught on quickly, and all hit the ball really well. Some
Innings, no tee was needed (5 pitches).

I completely agree than any adult throwing overhand to any player younger than 7ish, is an absolute idiot. Usually, their hitting advice begins with "back elbow up!" and "baseball ready" equals hands on knees.

I no longer vomit when I hear any of that, but it took a lot of work on my part.

[jbolt_2000]

When threw in Tee Ball I tried to throw strikes. Never tried to just throw to the bat, but saw many coaches try. In Farm (coach pitch) I see some coaches just arch the ball over that looked like they were throwing soft toss from 30-30 feet away. I will "pitch" strikes and teach the kids to stay off the balls. It takes time and we always have a slow start to hitting, but eventually the kids learn how to become hitters and not just "swing and pray" so to speak.

There was one team that three knuckle balls to their players. They got the most hits of all the teams last year, but I don't think many of them learned how to really "hit."

I can say last year, my team got maybe 3-5 hits a game and by the end of the season they were all hitting and some multiple hits a game. I'd rather do it right, and fail at first and succeed in the end, instead of having a false sense of success because the coach did all the work.

[Willisf]

We always pitched underhand to T Ball players

[Mur5]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I'm gonna try a little of both and see which technique gives me pitches on plane, through the zone more consistently. I'll report back.

[CircleChange11]

When threw in Tee Ball I tried to throw strikes. Never tried to just throw to the bat

For the vast majority of kids, isn't this the same thing?

I take it that by "throwing strikes" you don't really mean "Man, I was painting the corner low and away all day."

[johnlanza]

When I was still coaching in the 5/6 league, most of the coaches, including myself, pitched overhanded. Some were a lot closer to the batters than others. I stayed farther back than most. In the 7/8 coach-pitch league, there are still some coaches who pitch from very close range, and kind of pitch a soft lob to the batters. I feel it works better to give the batters some time to track the ball from the coach, so I stay farther back from the plate than most of the other coach-pitchers.

I think I got heckled the other night when I was filling in for our regular coach-pitcher. I think the parents of one of our players felt that I was terrible. Maybe I'm not the best, but their little Johnny hasn't made much contact at all through six games regardless of who was pitching.

[jbolt_2000]

For the vast majority of kids, isn't this the same thing?

I take it that by "throwing strikes" you don't really mean "Man, I was painting the corner low and away all day."

It just means that I tried to throw over the plate between their armpits and knee caps. anything outside or too high/low, I tried to teach them to not swing at. Over course its easier said than done, but that was my goal as a coach.

I've seen some coaches just tell their kids to stick the bat out and they would try to throw to the bat. Or ask the kids "where do you like it" and the kid would stick their bat out in some general direction that even they had no clue about, then the coach would try to toss it at that spot. Or even some coaches toss the ball and yell either, "Swing Now!" or "Don't Swing!" on every pitch.

[scorekeeper]

What I did, was set a vidcam up on a tripod where the average kid’s head would be, then had an average pitcher from kid pitch who threw basically over-the-top, throw about 10 pitches for the camera. Then I did whatever I had to do to get the same release point height that the pitcher got. That way the hitters didn’t learn to focus on someplace in the sky or only a couple feet off the ground for the ball.