Jaden Scott

Great question. As a rule of thumb in game calling, we should always assume that the last thing a hitter did, is the next thing he wil do. Meaning, if he’s late on a FB, he will “probably” be late again. Alot of this depends on location however. You throw a heater up at the letters and he’s late doesn’t mean he will be late on next fastball at the mid thigh. So what we do is we repeat the pitch and try to make it a little better. A little more down or a little more up. You get my point. At the higher levels, this can be trickier. If Edwin Encarnacion would swing and miss at a pitch, then sit on it the remainder of the at bat. If he got it he wouldn’t miss it. I had to be more thoughtful and strategic with him. I remember one time we threw him 4 or 5 change ups in a row lol. He was pissed. Sitting on heater the whole time. Good times As far as scouting reports go or addressing a hitters tendencies I would always go by count and look at his batting averages on pitches and their different locations. For example, 0-0 what pitch and location does he have his most hits on? If it was galling I wouldn’t throw him that pitch. I would then break him down by fastball counts vs offspeed counts on every single pitch he had. FBs, CBs, SL, CHG. Once charted, this information painted the picture for me with his approach, what he was looking for and in what location. I would then try and match that up with the pitchers capabilities and strengths, which was the trickiest part. If in doubt, always go with the pitchers best pitch. There is nothing wrong with a located FB down and away on the corner. Very difficult pitch to square up and hit for power. You don’t want to live there but that is probably the safest place to be for a FB location. If executed there. Another rule of thumb is that it’s better to have 100% conviction on the wrong pitch then 50% conviction on the right one. Pitcher has to believe in what he has. I used to call guys like this FU guys. Because they came right at you and didn’t give a F___. Best example of a guy I had like this was Mad Max. Dude is awesome to catch. He hunts hitters. You must compete with conviction.