In diamond sports, it is uncommon for pitchers to hit at the higher levels. But softball doesn’t have the same limitations as baseball, so why don’t more pitchers play both ways?

In baseball, starting pitchers can only play about every five days, and relievers’ play is based on how many pitches they threw during their outing. Pitching in baseball is extremely physically demanding.

In softball, the same pitcher can throw every day if their stuff is good enough. While softball pitching may be more physically taxing endurance wise, the motion is more natural than throwing overhand in softball, so adding hitting to the mix might not be as dangerous.

More common than you think

LSU softball is known for amazing pitchers that could handle a stick as well. Most recently, Kelly Lynch, who joined the Tigers for the 2024 season, hit for herself when she stepped into the circle. Shelbi Sunseri, a two-way player from 2018 to 2022, was in the lineup every day, even when she didn’t pitch.

Freshman breakout star Jayden Heavener is also capable of hitting for LSU, but hasn’t been needed yet so far this season.

But pitchers that hit aren’t an LSU-only thing. Several standout Division I pitchers have hit for themselves.

UCLA star Rachel Garcia was also a two-way player. She was known as one of the nations best pitchers, and she had hitting stats to match her prowess in the circle. Garcia was a back-to-back Collegiate Woman Athlete of the year winner in 2019 and 2021.

Clemson pitcher Valeri Cagel from 2019 to 2024 also played on both sides of the ball. She was a fixture on the lineup all four years, and has several accolades to go with it.

One of the original pitchers that hit was Amanda Scarbrough, who has recently become well known in the softball announcing world. Scarbrough played for Texas A&M from 2005 to 2008, and was inducted into the Texas A&M Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014. She was a two-time All-American during her time as an Aggie.

Injury Prevention

The lack of rest a pitcher faces when they are in the lineup everyday can lead to injury.

While hitting and pitching are two different things, they utilize the same movements of muscles. Hitting comes predominantly from ground force, as does the power for pitching. A freeze frame of an elite pitcher and a hitter at the strongest point of force will show the same activation of muscles from the ground up.

The use of the same muscles could lead to overuse and potentially injuries if a pitcher is in the lineup defensively and offensively without proper training, and even then injuries still happen.

Efficiency

Other than leading to injury, a pitcher’s stuff could lose its efficiency with the amount of work they’re putting in on and off the field.

A pitcher’s outings in the circle could become shorter, and their pitches could have less movement or spin. It’s easier to give pitchers a rest and guarantee their best stuff for when the defense needs them, even in a sport where the same pitcher can throw every day.

Being able to hold your mental and physical health on both sides of the ball will be hard for a pitcher, especially when facing a pitcher that only does one of the two. The mental game might slip for the athlete and cause more harm than good in the long run.

Tradition

Despite the uncommon nature of pitchers that hit and needing to preserve their energy to prevent injury and maintain efficiency, the tradition and logic behind pitching allows them not to hit.

Typically, pitchers do not hit because they need to be so good on the mound or in the circle that hitting gets thrown to the wayside, especially in the era of a designated player or hitter. There is no exception to this at the highest levels of either diamond sport. The logic is still there.

Some pitchers are so much better at pitching than hitting that it is no brainer. Everyone wants to do what they are good at, and being able to pick one side of the ball to be better at is an advantage of being a pitcher.

Pitching is the only position on the field that a player can be so bad offensively they still become a fixture in the lineup or a well known name on the roster.

It might not ever change, but pitching and hitting is definitely safer than baseball. It will be more possible to see an upward trend of pitchers that hit in softball in the future, but the need for lockdown pitchers outweighs a pitcher that can do both.