Mental Approach to Pitching Since you were a young boy, you have been overwhelmed by coaches who teach only the mechanics of pitching. What they fail to realize, however, is that mechanics is only one aspect of pitching. Furthermore, they do not address common problems such as: 1. An increase in cases of “Paralysis by Analysis,” a condition by which pitchers begin to worry so much about their mechanics that they fail to focus on the task at hand- Getting A Hitter Out! 2. Developing a competitive nature within the members of their staff. To avoid this situation much must be said about the mental approach to pitching. To make things easier to understand, we will lump things into three basic areas; 1. Pitch Smart 2. Work Fast 3. Be tough I. Pitching Smart There is an old baseball belief that hitting is simply timing. If that is true, then defining pitching is made much easier. PITCHING IS SIMPLY RUINING A HITTERS TIMING. Once you find this to be true you will more fully understand the following belief. A good high school pitcher normally throws one pitch for strikes more than 60% of the time. As the hitters in college baseball become better, an effective collegiate pitcher must be able to command at least two pitches or speeds. Pitch Selection By Counts A. Getting Ahead ( 1-1, 0-1. 1-0, and 0-0) A Hitter’s batting average drops over a hundred points if a strike is thrown in these counts. B. Making Them Hit (3-0, 3-1, 3-2, 2-0, 2-1, 2-2) The best college hitters batting average is just over .400. This means that when facing the best, at their best, he will get himself out six times out of ten. “Tilt Pitching” Tilt pitching is a combination of two pitches. The first, a set-up pitch is thrown up and in on the hitter. The second is thrown down and away immediately following the set-up. In a pitcher’s advantage situation (0-1, 0-2, 1-2), tilt combination set up a hitter for a strike out or a weakly hit ball to the opposite side. “Over the Falls” A pitch thrown “over the falls” is an off speed pitch which breaks from the hitter’s knees and into the dirt. Usually, this pitch is thrown when ahead in the count (0-1, 1-1.) Ideally we want the batter to chase the pitch. Furthermore, it may serve as a successful set up pitch. Put simply, if you are too far ahead of the hitter, DO NOT THROW IT FOR A STRIKE. “Bitch Pitch” This phrase requests you to throw your best pitch in the best location. It will usually come in situations where you are ahead of the hitter, or in situations in which we have predetermined that if a guy is going to reach base via a hit he will have to do so hitting your best pitch. As we are so far ahead in the count, we want him to hit this pitch. Examples of “Bitch Pitches” A. Fastball on the outer half and down B. Over the Falls breaking pitch C. Change Up in the dirt D. FB Up, out of the zone II. Working Fast As a pitcher, you must understand that you have the ability to dictate the tempo of the game. This ability carries over to the other players. For instance, experienced infielders will tell you that it is much easier to work behind a pitcher who moves quickly and throws strikes. Furthermore, many hitters feel unsettled about a guy who works fast, and dares them to step into the box. Consequently, we promote working quickly. Keep in mind however, that he does not mean speeding up one’s mechanics, but instead deals solely with the time between pitches. III. Being Tough As a pitcher you must want to compete and you must believe that you are better than the hitter in the box. Furthermore, you must learn to deal with those things in which you have no control over. For example, 1. The Weather 2. The Opposition 3. Errors 4. The Playing Surface 5. Park Dimensions 6. Your W/L Record 7. Your Health to an extent 8. An Umpire 9. The Time that you have to get ready 10. Mound Conditions A tough pitcher will find a way to deal with these things, while a weak one will become engulfed by them. As a pitcher, you will find many around you that will have the competitive edge. Similarly, you will also find some who lack toughness. Perhaps the best way to develop toughness is to mirror the behavior of those whom you respect. IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW GOOD YOU ARE PHYSICALLY, IF YOU LACK MENTAL TOUGHNESS. Pitching Plan and Count Situations The pitching plan is a simple, well developed scheme to enable the pitcher to get ahead and stay ahead of hitters (reduced pitch counts), increase the trust and confidence of the pitcher/catcher combination, minimize the guest work out of pitching (pitches and locations), reduce the number of visits to the mound, and off the foundation of situational pitching on which the pitcher can relay. Catchers With this system, you are in control of what pitches are thrown and when. You must understand and be able to execute the plan in order for our pitchers to be successful. You also need to familiarize yourself with each of our pitches and know what their strengths and weaknesses are. Pitchers You need to learn to TRUST the system. Once you become proficient with your control, you will realize its effectiveness. You are going to be ahead of the hitters which will keep you pitch counts down, allowing you to stay in the game. The Plan 1. Hit the Catcher ‘s Glove 2. Throw the ball to the plate on a DOWNWARD PLANE 3. Throw two of you first three pitches for strikes. Remember the 1-1 count is the most important because a strike will put us ahead of hitters and throw our best pitches to our most consistent locations, rather than completely relying upon a hitter’s weaknesses. We want to CHALLENGE the batter to hit one of our first three pitches. 4. The more pitches a hitter sees the better he becomes: get rid of him fast! Situational Pitching 1. In counts we are never even with the hitter. Instead we are always ahead or behind (1-1, and 2-2 counts are considered behind.) Whenever we are behind throw a strike. 2. When ahead, you have the freedom to throw whatever pitch or set up you want 3. General Rules a. 2 inside- Throw next pitch outside 2 inside- Throw next pitch inside b. 2 hard- Throw an off speed pitch 2 soft- Throw a fastball Reading Hitters First of all, it must be understood that a pitcher must pitch to his strengths. This said it is also important to state that the hitter’s weaknesses are many times evident and may be used against him. You can witness his weaknesses by watching: 1. Batting Practice a. Does he have a short swing? (Does the knob of the bat go down) b. Does he use all fields? c. Does he roll his hands at contact? 2. Body Build a. Is he strong? b. Does he have a runner’s body? 3. Previous Games and At Bats a. Does he change his approach with two strikes? b. Does he hit the first pitch? c. Will he chase when behind in the court? d. Will he get himself out? 4. The way He Takes Pitches a. Does he keep his hands back on off speed pitches? b. Does he fly open? 5. His Feet and Placement in the Batter’s Box Once these things are noticed, we may classify most hitters into specific types. Slap Guy Usually hits either at the beginning or at the end of the line up. Normally a good runner who lacks upper body strength, he often lines up off of the plate looking to hit everything up the middle or to the opposite field. Usually he stays back well and has a short swing, making him an ideal hit and run guy. Also, he is usually a good bunter Big League Examples- Brett Butler, Walt Weiss, Tom Goodwin To Get Him Out Bust him in with hard stuff, and make him try to pull the ball. Once you do this successfully, you may notice that he will scrap staying back and try to jump out to avoid getting jammed. When this happens, he becomes vulnerable to off speed. Pull Guy Usually hits in the middle of the order. This is the big strong kid who wows everyone in batting practice with his home runs to the pull side. He normally lines up on top of the plate, daring you to beat him inside. As he looks to pull everything he normally has a difficult time staying back. He can neither bunt nor run, and it is not a good guy to hit and run with because he has a long swing. Big League Examples- Mark McGwire, Jeff Bagwell, and Jose Canseco To Get Him Out- Even though he is on top of the plate and appears that he can crush the outside pitch, in actuality this is the pitch that he struggles with the most. As a result, work away and with off speed. When ahead, you can challenge him up and in, but realize that if you make a mistake there and leave it over the plate, he can hurt you.