Self Defense for Pitchers and Batters

Pitchers get hit by line drives and screaming one-hoppers. Batters also get hit by wild inside pitches. This is always a major concern at every level of play. The key to big improvements in these types of injuries does not lie in extending the pitching distances. It lies in improving the reaction time of the players. Major improvements in reaction times come with experience. Experience in identifying and reacting to a self-defense situation can ONLY be accomplished by placing the student in the very same self-defense situation.

Five-year-old martial arts students can be trained to have very quick self-defense reactions to an attack, coming from a person, from as little as two feet away. They react quickly to the attack because they have had experience defending themselves in that exact same situation. They gained that experience by being placed in the exact same self-defense situation many times, by their instructor, at their practice sessions.

A batter and pitcher can also be trained to have very quick reactions to an attack, coming from a softball, from 35 to 46 feet away. However, batters and pitchers are seldom put in that EXACT same situation in their practice sessions. They do not have the experience dealing with a self-defense situation, therefore, they do not react well, they react too late or they do not react at all.

The pitcher is directly in line with the center of the playing field and is the closest fielder to the batter. Therefore, she has the least amount of reaction time to a ball hit back at her. When the ball is hit, at that instant, the pitcher is also the ONLY infielder that is NOT in a down, set and ready defensive posture/stance. The other infielders are already in their defensive stance, down, set and ready. The pitcher has just finished throwing the pitch and, at the moment the ball is hit, probably still has a little forward momentum/ travel going on, is still a little off balance and is standing up. I think it is safe to say the pitcher has everything going against her as far as self-defense is concerned.

These are all contributing factors to pitchers being hit. Despite these things going against them, there is one simple fact that cannot be denied. If they reacted in time, they would not have gotten hit or at least might have deflected the ball a little and not gotten hit so hard. The key word here is REACT. You train your infielders to react to a line drive or a fast one-hopper. They don't have to decide what to do, they just react and defend themselves because they have been through that exact same situation hundreds of times at practice. Drilling your pitcher while she is in a down, set and ready position, like a third baseman, is good and will surely help a little. However, this is NOT a realistic game situation for a pitcher that will have to defend herself at the very end of her pitch.

If you think moving the pitching distance back five feet will make a tremendous amount of difference for a pitcher/batter that does not react well now, it probably won't. The ones who get hit the hardest and hurt the worst are not the ones who did not have time to react, that is not the case. They are the players that failed to react AT ALL, in the amount of time they had! If a coach thinks training his/her pitchers to defend themselves, like they were a third baseman, is doing everything they can to help prevent injuries, they are sadly mistaken.

The overwhelming majority of the responsibility to keep pitchers and batters safe falls onto the shoulders of the parents, coaches and instructors of softball players. This same responsibility is exactly where it has always been, before any pitching distance rule changes were made. We must change what the players do from a decision to a reaction. TEACH THEM TO REACT AT PRACTICE AND THEY WILL REACT IN THE GAME!

Self-Defense Drills Pitchers
1. Have your pitcher pitch the ball to her catcher. Stand just outside the batter's box and fire a whiffle ball back at her with a tennis racquet, just as fast as a hit ball would be and at the same exact time it would be hit by the batter. Make it a random thing, just like the game (chest, waist, knees, one-hoppers, etc.). Swing the racquet sidearm so the ball comes back from the same level as a hit ball would come.

2. Stand about 10 feet in front and just to the side of the pitcher and throw a whiffle ball back at her sidearm to duplicate the same thing. Again, make this random and throw to all areas of the body.

3. Set up a pitching machine just to the outside of the batter's box, one that can fire whiffle balls. Do the exact same thing. Leave the lock downs loose for the left/right and up/down adjustments so you can fire them at her chest, waist, knees, one-hoppers, etc.

4. This drill will not exactly duplicate the game situation but it is great for developing hand-to-eye coordination for pitchers that must defend themselves while they are in motion. Have your pitcher perform a back-and-forth jogging type of motion on a small single-person trampoline. Make sure she has at least side-to-side motion. Fire the whiffle ball at her as she is jogging and in motion. Make her defend herself while she is moving, just like she will have to do in a real game situation. (This is also a great drill for ALL the infielders to help develop quick eyes and hands for defense AND self-defense.)