Call a game- not a bullpen!

Sometimes coaches and catchers get in trouble by thinking they need to throw all their pitches in a game. Rather, they need to throw what effectively retires each hitter.

A pitcher enters a game with a repertoire of pitches. These pitches may or may entail his full complement of pitches. On some days he may have more stuff than on other days. But, regardless he has what would be considered his "in play" pitches. These are the pitches that he should feel comfortable throwing in game situations.

Once he takes the mound, he needs to understand what he can throw to get the hitter out. And, this does not necessarily mean that all of his pitches should come into play. Maybe the fastball is all he needs to throw to a certain batter to retire that batter. Yeah, he's got a curveball. Yeah, he's got a slider. But, that doesn't mean that he needs to throw those pitches.

The same is true with a breaking pitch. Let's say you throw two good curveballs for strike one and strike two. Maybe in a bullpen setting you would throw a "gap" fastball 0-2 and then finish him off with another curveball. I contend that at amateur levels of baseball, why not throw a third straight curveball and simply end it there. If he hasn't swung at a curveball yet, there is a chance that he won't swing at the third one.

I think sometimes players fall into the rut of throwing a bullpen on the mound rather than simply trying to retire the batter.