Will Batting Practice Ruin Your Pitchers?

Have you ever struggled with whether your own pitchers should throw batting practice or not, and if not, then why? If so then here's some information that will be valuable to you and to your hitters!

Lots of coaches I talk to feel very strongly that their pitchers should never pitch batting practice to their own hitters. They've heard it will ruin their pitchers and yet it really matters to our hitters whether such a thing is true or not. Hitting off of a batting T or from side toss is one thing, but nothing can prepare our hitters for hitting in a game like hitting off of live pitching

I happen to believe that letting your pitchers pitch batting practice to their own team is a good thing and that it won't destroy the pitcher's ability to dominate in a game. I believed it as a pitcher when I was asked to pitch to my own teammates so they could work on their hitting - something I greatly appreciated as a pitcher! And, it's something I continued to believe and practice as a coach as I would often have my pitchers throw to my hitters.

Not only do I believe that doing so greatly helps our hitters as they can never see enough live pitching, but I also think there are lots of benefits to this from a pitcher's standpoint as well.

Depending on the age and skill level of the pitchers learning to throw to live batters is a big benefit. Young pitchers will gain a lot of confidence learning to ignore the hitter and focus on the target and older more skilled pitchers can benefit from a relaxed session of fastballs from behind the safety of a protective screen.

There are usually two rules of thumb when determining whether your pitchers can handle throwing batting practice:

1. Your pitchers can throw enough strikes to make it worthwhile.
2. Your pitchers can handle it mentally and not completely freak out when they get hit.

Keep in mind there are two different kinds of workouts that pitchers can have from pitching to their own hitters:

1. Batting Practice for the batters - this kind of batting practice allows the hitters to work on their timing and swings against fastballs. The pitcher's goal is to let the hitters hit the ball by not trying to overpower them or throw different speeds or pitches. The pitcher will throw between 65-85% of their normal speed and will throw from behind a protective screen since they aren't able to control whether the batter hits the ball or not. This type of batting practice does not require a catcher and pitchers should learn to eventually throw it without using a catcher.
2. Batting Practice for the pitchers - this kind of batting practice is more game-like and helps the pitchers work on their game pitches and locations while helping the hitters work on their real game at-bats and pitch selection. This type of BP will involve a catcher and either a few different locations or pitches and usually starting with some type of count (2-1, 3-1, 1-2, etc.)

Another helpful type of batting practice doesn't even involve swinging but will really help improve your hitter's pitch selection. Have your batters simply stand in the batter's box during pitching practice. No swings but simply standing there learning to identify pitches, and working on pitch selection in their mind. This also really helps pitchers get used to hitters in the box.

Lots of people will say don't let your pitchers throw batting practice because they feel it hurts the pitcher's ability to get hitters out - I was a pitcher and we're smart enough to tell the difference between when we're pitching to our team to help them hit better and when we're throwing to get the other team out. Trust me, we can handle it!

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