Why can’t the pitchers decide themselves what to throw? Why do they need to be told?
The catcher needs to know what is coming. There would be 20+ Wild pitches a game if the catcher had to guess.
Pitchers routinely shake off pitches, but as an earlier poster said the pitcher and the catcher need to be on the same page.
They are the Horses and the catchers are the jockeys. And the brains. They can always call off the sign but the catcher has seen the batter way.more and also see patterns over the innings with pitching changes. Reel smart pitchers work it out with them.
“ Why can’t the pitchers decide themselves what to throw? Why do they need to be told?”
If the pitcher sent signals the batter and everyone in the ballpark would know what pitch was being thrown.
“Why can’t the pitchers decide themselves what to throw? Why do they need to be told?”
The catcher is getting his instruction from the manager in the dugout as to which pitch to use. The manager decides the pitches, not the catcher. The pitcher has the option to change the call, much like a quarterback in football.
The catcher needs to know what kind of pitch is coming....
Major league teams would need to carry 20 catchers on their rosters to make it through a season if the catcher didn’t know what pitch was coming at him.
My question too.
The pitcher does decide what to throw. What happens is that the catcher signals the pitch to the pitcher and the pitcher either agrees or shakes it off until the catcher signals the pitch that the pitcher wants to throw.