Should Youth Baseball Coaches "Call Pitches" From The Dugout?

At age 13 and under, I don't really see a problem with a coach calling the pitches from the dugout for a pitcher.

One thing to keep in mind is that the coach needs to be aware of what the pitcher is capable of throwing before the pitcher goes out to the mound.

Above age 14, the pitcher and catcher need to work together to determine the pitch calling signals. The pitcher should start to have an idea of what they can throw and when they can throw it. This is an important aspect of pitching since no one knows the pitcher's stuff better than the pitcher.

If the pitcher feels they have really good command of their changeup on a particular day, then he needs to have the freedom to make use of that knowledge. Maybe the curve just isn't going for strikes on a certain day. The pitcher can see/feel this and adjust his pitching to reflect it.

There are going to be some days where certain pitches are better than others and they need to be used more.

I had a coach in high school tell me that I needed to throw more curveballs during warmups. First of all, I never had a consistently good curveball. Second, since the coach was calling pitches, how was I supposed to know that I was going to need to throw more of them? This showed a lack of knowledge on the coaches' part because he a) didn’t understand my pitching repertoire and 2) didn’t know what pitches he was going to call to start with. Pitchers and catchers should learn to work together to get hitters out.

If the coach or catcher is calling a pitch that you don’t have a lot of confidence in at the time, talk to them on the side and let them know that particular pitch isn’t working well and you would prefer not to get beat with it.

Any coach should respect a player telling them a strength/weakness that can help the team win a game. If your fastball is really hoping, let the coach/catcher know and they will likely start calling it more. Some of my best pitched games were ones in which I was either calling the pitches instinctively or the catcher and I were in sync about what the pitches should be.

Bottom line, get on the same page with your coach or catcher and figure out a pitching strategy that will benefit you and the team.