Pitching coach's job

There was an interesting article in the L.A. Times the other day about the role of a pitching coach. Since this has been a topic of interest around here, I thought I'd share some of the more revealing excerpts:

• "Managers and coaches often get too much credit and too much blame," said Randy Wolf, who last season led the National League in starts and posted his best earned-run average in seven seasons under Honeycutt. "I'll never blame a pitching coach because I'm almost positive a pitching coach has never thrown a pitch for me."

• Some pitching coaches say their job title is misleading because, with countless hours of video work, tedious bullpen sessions and long game-planning meetings, THEY SPEND VERY LITTLE TIME COACHING PITCHING. "It's very, very difficult to change a pitcher's mechanics when they're 18, let alone 28," Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said.

• But a pitching coach most of the time is a counselor, confidant, babysitter, best friend or mentor. Sometimes, all of the above. "Yeah, you've got to do some counseling," (Angels' pitching coach) Butcher said. "You get to know these guys on a professional level. You get to know these guys on a personal level. And you try to work all those things in together and take them out on the field."

• Watching video, Honeycutt looks for hitters' "chase zones" — areas where hitters will reach for a pitch that often results in a swing and a miss. And he studies how hitters react on certain pitch counts.

I found point 2 especially interesting. I realize we're talking MLB here and not college ball, but I assume most of these points have relevance at the college level.