PLAYING MORE CATCH, BUT WITH ANOTHER REASON.....

I remember playing catch with my dad growing up.

 I also remember my first black eye from not turning my glove over with the ball around my face.

If you smiled, you probably know that feeling. If you don’t know the feeling, then this might not make sense to you. But you might or might not know about the feeling of pitching.

After the blog I did on” Pitching is as easy as catch.....when you learn how to do it correctly” I remember something my father told me about feeling the ball out of my hand. I remember thinking he was a little crazy, he did have an amazingly funny sense of humor.  Over the years, and lots of playing catch, it made a lot of sense.

I have been away from playing the game for almost ten years, I find myself talking a lot about feeling with the Pitchers and coaches that I work with. It’s not just about pitching, but it does apply in a big way.

It’s something I hope kids really understand how important it is to pay attention to what you feel when you throw.

I still remember the first year of pitching when I knew as soon as the sinker left my fingers, if it was a strike or not.  I knew how it felt when I had great movement.  The same is true when I was way off as well.

While at practice last month, I remember throwing balls in from the outfield, not on a line; with arch. My arm is nowhere near what it used to be. (Dad was right, arch is our friend.)  But I could still feel when it left my hand of it was right there, or oops.

So a couple questions popped up that I want to ask, and talk about.  Especially, if you’re a pitcher. 

1.       Can you feel the ball when you release it?

2.       Can you feel the ball out of your hand?

3.       Can you feel the ball roll off your fingers?

4.       Can you feel the seams roll off your fingertips?

This is a very hard thing for pitchers to do. Some will have the feeling of what they’re doing right down to the fingertips.

 Others can’t feel. But you should still have an idea of.

1.       Where your release point is.

2.       Where your body, head, and chest are at release.

3.       Do you control your body, or are you out of control?

4.       What are your keys, are you a feel guy or are you an area guy?

5.       Do you do the same thing every time, or does it change from pitch to pitch?

6.       Is your timing the same?

7.       Can you feel you weight get over your front knee?
8.    Are you tense, or relaxed when you throw?

   If you haven’t started thinking about this already, it’s time to start. Once again it starts with catch. Start to understand that the faster you learn what you have to do to get the ball where you want it, the faster you will be successful at any position.  

If you’re reading this, give it a try. The best time to get to know what you’re doing is now. Its winter time and you have 6 weeks before you start throwing again. It’s time to find what you need to improve on before you start throwing and going back to old habits.

Work from the ground up, start with the feet, and go all the way through your motion. You don't have to throw to make corrections, especially trying to feel with the body first. Sometimes throwing can get in the way when your over thinking the outcome. Start with the body first, learn that before you start with the ball. Just like throwing a fastball, before a change up.

 It’s not just about how many reps of anything you’re doing to get better in the off season, it’s about the quality and the intensity of your reps. Build your foundation, crawl before you walk, and improve something every time you work. Learn to be a student of the game, and what makes you successful.

Velocity V.S. Control/Location

I'm not saying that velocity isn't important. It is part of the equation in the long term goal of pitching.

The point I want to get across is as you get older, stronger, and pitch more. No matter what, your velocity will increase. You want proof. The first time a pitcher ever throws a pitch, clock him on a radar gun. Ten years later have the same kid throw a pitch off the mound and clock it. It doesn't even matter if he is still playing baseball or not his velocity will have improved simply by size, strength, and momentum.

When we think about pitching and velocity, we have a ton of variables that change from the time we play in Little League and the time we are seniors in high school. Size, height, weight, mechanics, distance to the mound, just to name a few.

Now let’s think about location, the strike zone, and the difference between just throwing strikes, and having command and control.

Think of a strike zone. How many changes are made between Little league and high school varsity baseball. Yes, the strike zone gets a little smaller, depending on the home plate umpire. But the first thing you ever learn is a fastball, and the strike zone. Why don't we master that first?

Location is talked about a lot, but there is a difference between just throwing the ball in the strike zone, v.s. command and control of the strike zone. Command or Control is throwing the baseball where you want it in the strike zone. The more control you have the better you are on locating the fastball.

This is the first step in becoming a pitcher. It should be the first thing that we learn and try to master. Learn what it takes and throw the ball to location.

The reason this is so important and often overlooked is unlike the strike zone, kids of all ages are not similar. Some mature faster than others. So the first thing kids try to compete with is speed. The ability to locate the fast ball early can save you a lot of head and heart ache.

In Pitching every pitch comes off of your fastball. The change up, slider, curve, split, cutter, every pitch that you will learn down the road have slight differences, but if you can locate your fastball it will become easier to learn and locate these pitches as well.

I hope I don't offend anyone, but these are my thoughts about pitching from a youth level, to the high school level.

This is a long path to pitching. I believe there are progressive steps to become a very good pitcher and have the ability to play college and beyond.  The most important part of pitching development is not how many trophies you got in Little League. Its can you make it to the next level. There are a lot of baseball players who don't make it to high school baseball.

The first two pitches I personally believe a pitcher should not only throw, but learn how to locate, are the four seam fastball and the two seam fastball. This is for a couple reasons. Find out if your four seam is straight, and does your two seam have movement. Yes they are both fastballs, but no they are not the same pitch in the long run. Depending on arm slot, the two pitches will have different movement, and can be used in two different ways.

After you learn how to locate both of these pitches, and by locate I mean have control to throw it where you want it almost every time, and in the lower part of the strike zone, on and off the corners. This is your foundation, your base; it’s what everything is built off of. It is very important in pitching.

This is where most arguments come in about pitching. What is the second pitch I should learn?

Lots of kids learn pitching backwards. Meaning velocity with the fastball and breaking ball first. The problem I have seen a lot with kids between the ages of eleven and seventeen is they all ask to be shown how to throw a breaking ball, which i believe is the third pitch you should learn, yet they can't locate a four seam or a two seam fastball, or their change up. The change up is the second pitch I think is the most important to learn.

Ask yourself these questions.

• What good is a breaking ball if you can't throw strikes?
• How does a breaking ball help if you can’t reach two strikes because they are hitting your mistakes?
• Are you cheating yourself of truly learning how to become successful?
• Are you taking the easy road that leads to a cliff?

Well, the first question I think can answer itself. If you can't throw strikes to begin with you don't deserve to be throwing a breaking ball.

If all your doing is throwing the ball in the zone hitters will hit your mistakes, and hard. The older you get the harder your mistakes get hit.

With young hitters, they can adjust to a fastball mistake down the middle and belt high. The quickest way for a young pitcher to see strike outs, and success is by throwing a breaking ball. The problem is they start to rely on it to get batters out more than their fastball. True every pitcher loves to strike people out, but it takes at least three pitches, sometimes more if some are fouled off. If you’re locating your fastball at the knees and on the corners and not belt high down the middle, odds are you will get a ground ball before you reach three pitches. Yes you can strike plenty of batters out with a fastball when you learn how to use it correctly. Location can help you throw fewer pitches. Some batters swing at the first pitch, we have all seen the two batter up and two batters down in two pitches, usually followed by the take sign.

As a pitching coach, and as a pitcher myself, I have seen and met a lot of pitchers who eventually don't make the cut for a team even though they say they throw five of more pitches.

The problem they ran into is they kept leaning other ways to cheat themselves from long term success by finding other pitches to try to get the quick way out front of other pitchers. They have five pitches and can’t locate a single one of them. They never took the time to master each pitch at a time for success.

If you talk to any coach from high school and beyond and they have any idea about pitching and winning, and they have two players of equal talent, but one throws two miles per hour faster, but isn't very accurate, and the other one has control of two or more pitches. The second pitcher is going to win every time.

When you’re taking progressive steps to becoming a pitcher, take the right ones. Crawl before you walk, walk before you jog, jog before you run, and run before you sprint.

In Pitching terms.

1. Crawl/ Play catch with four seam and two seam
2. Walk/ Pitch with the four seam and two seam
3. Jog/ Throw both fastballs for strikes in the zone
4. Run/ Locate both fastballs in areas of the strike zone. Middle, Outside, and Inside.
5. Sprint/ Locate both fastballs low in the strike zone, at the knees, on and off the corners of the plate.
6. Repeat all steps when it comes to learning the change up, then later on with the breaking pitch.

Learn to locate your fastball, and learn where to throw it to get ground balls. Make this priority number one.

Next learn your change up, and location. See what combinations get you ground balls and strike outs. Speed the hips up and slow them down. Learn how to use both sides of the plate to be successful.

When you get older and you’re going through high school, your body will make the most changes, and velocity will really start to show.  Getting bigger, stronger and having the proper mechanics will do absolute wonders for your velocity.

If you have already build the solid foundation by throwing your fastball and changeup, learning a true breaking ball, not the loopy one that is taught in Little League. I mean the hard one that breaks three feet from the plate and drops off the table.

You will have a huge head start over most pitchers, and the batters will have to look for three pitches that you can throw for strikes. Instead of the batters sitting back waiting for a mistake, you will be able to attack a batter and control the game.

Mastering The Most Effective Pitch In Baseball, The Rest Is Easy...Once You Learn Why

In my last post I talked a little about playing catch, and how it could help you to be a better pitcher.

Over the past year I have talked with a lot of coaches, parents, players, and I came up with a couple questions that I would like to discuss.

The first one is what I believe is the most important part of pitching.

Today the topic is not about mechanics. It's about learning the importance of location, and why it is the most important part of the foundation of pitching.

Pitching is not about just throwing the ball in the square and having a strike called. That would be like saying batting is just walking up to the plate and swinging at everything (dirt balls, past balls, balls behind you). You could say that is extreme, but in fact very similar to my point.
 
When you start to learn to pitch, I want you to think about just three types of pitches. Just three. Fastball down the middle at the knees, fastball outside corner at the knees, and fastball inside at the knees. That's it.

 

      

        



 The grip I want to talk about is the two seam fastball. Before we start we need to understand that two seam fastballs are like finger prints. Every pitcher will have their own unique two seam fastball. But where you want the pitch, will be identical, and helps for a repeated outcome.

Here is a fun little test.  During your next bullpen, I want you to have your catcher set up in those three positions. Throw fifteen pitches, five down the middle, five on the outside corner, and five on the inside corner.

 Here are the rules, from simple to advanced, and how to move to the next level for a solid foundation of the most important part of pitching.

• Level #1 - Throw the two seam fastball at the knees. Be honest with yourself, don't take the easy route of it was close enough. You owe it to yourself to get better every time you pick up a ball and throw it.
• Level #2 - Throw five two seam fastballs down the middle, five to the outside, and five to the inside. The pitch only counts if it is at the proper location and knee high. Ex. pitch down the middle crosses over the inside or outside corner. Pitch is three inches above or below the center of the catchers knees.
• Level #3 - Command is in the zone, control is where you want it in the zone!
• Level #4 - To advance to the next level, you have to have the ability to hit the zone four out of five times on all three pitches.
• Level #5 - Take away the middle and throw seven pitches on the outside corner and seven on the inside corner. Take your last pitch and throw it to the side you missed. If you didn't miss, throw to the side you are most confident in.
• Level #6 - Outside corners become the black part of the plate.  Pitches that count are three inches in both directions from the black. Three inches knee high in the white over the plate and three inches knee high off the plate outside black.)
• Level #7 - Alternate every other pitch, and in unique order, until you can locate the two seam fastball where ever you want, whenever you want, every time it is called in both practice and game situations.

The fastball is the foundation of every pitch a pitcher will throw. Master the ability to throw it to the highest level before you begin to think about throwing any other type of pitch.

 If you are having trouble locating, it could be for several reasons.

1. If your ball has movement, and you are missing to the right. Learn to aim to the left and let the ball work for you. Don't try to work the ball. Learn to trust and use its movement. 
2. The best time to learn feel, location, and timing is while playing catch. Start pinpointing areas of your partner to throw to and hit that location. Hint: The ball down will move more than the ball up. Ex. pitch at the knees v.s. pitch at the belt.
3. Yes it is O.K. to throw a two seam in long toss.  By doing so, you can actually see how much movement you have, and it can help you to get a feel of how to throw it to get the movement you want (where your body is and what you feel).
4. Use the same momentum and explosion as you do in long toss when you get back to 60 feet. Learn your movement and release point for location and action that fits you.

The sooner you can master the skill of locating your fastball, and not making mistakes, the easier pitching will become.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Challenge yourself to be the best you can be at locating your fastball before you think about adding another pitch.

A two seam fastball can resemble the pitches that most people want to throw before they master the fastball in reverse. A slider, a curve, or a slurve (hybrid of both, breaks down and across).  The only difference is which way they break. Right and left, into or away, from a right handed batter.

Velocity is not a factor in this in any way, shape, or form.  I don't care about velocity at all in this process.  Just the location of the pitch! Yes, in time you will get bigger, stronger, throw harder, and the rotation on the ball will increase and will create more movement.  This is not a physics discussion. Learn the foundation before anything else.  Just like velocity, maximum movement will come in time, don't rush it.

Ask yourself if good velocity and speed really matter if you can't throw quality strike. Better yet, if you throw 100 mph, but can't throw a strike, or hit the broad side of a barn with a fastball, does it really matter?

Yes, throwing hard might work at the younger levels, and you can make more mistakes early on. But as you get older, and the hitters become more disciplined, the guys who can't throw strikes become less effective than the guys that can consistently locate their pitches.

Velocity will come with age and strength. Don't rush the basics, or skip steps, to become a solid pitcher! Build and master this foundation, then take the basics and apply it to every pitch you throw. Start with the fastball, then the change up. It can be the next most effective pitch using the same foundation.

This is a whole other topic as far as disrupting timing, and getting hitters off balance.  As I said, just the tip of the iceberg.

Food for thought, this is also the beginning to throwing pitches to get a desired outcome from location. Ex. low and away on black, pitch to contact with a runner on first, wanting a ground ball for a double play, and which side of the field.  Learn to throw the pitches for the outcome that you want.

Remember, in order to control the outcome of the play, learn to locate your pitch to get the desired outcome. Every pitch has a reason. Learn why you are throwing to each location and what works best for you in order to be as successful as you can be. Challenge yourself to learn more, get better everyday, take those extra steps that others are not willing too, go that extra mile, make that extra effort, and be GREAT!!!!

 IN GREATNESS, CLOSE ENOUGH DOESN'T COUNT!!!!

Pitching is as easy as catch.....when you learn how to do it correctly

    This first video is something I have thought about and have talked to many people, coaches, players, and have noticed several things in the past couple years.
 
  I would like to know other peoples opinions as well. I'm not saying this is the magic answer to pitching. But asking if this makes sense.
 
   Not only to you, but to the Pitcher/player as well.

  Can playing catch correctly, help make you a better pitcher?

  Before you laugh, I want you to really think about some things.

  Can you spot the correct ways and incorrect ways to throw in this video?

  Take away plays in games, and pitching, what do baseball players do the most? They play catch.
They are patterning their fingerprint of PITCHING. 
That's their style, their habits, where the good and bad parts happen.

 I want you to think of a center fielder catching a fly ball, and gunning some one out at the plate, better yet the form and the way he uses his whole body. I often use this expression when teaching kids how to throw from their legs and core, not just the arm. How to use their body/momentum/weight.

Can you spot the incorrect patterns in this picture?

Do you see the corrections that can be made?

 



  I want you to now just think of three things.
1. The throwing motion from outfield to home.
2. Pitcher off a mound.
3. Playing catch / warming up.

1. Some things you might have noticed. The glove is usually positioned up, the weight stays back, and there is a teeter-totter effect in the way his weight shifts. Next time you're throwing, after you have warmed up enough to make a couple throws at 80% into a net, or playing long toss. Toss the ball up in the air and imagine a runner tagging up at 3rd. When you make the throw I want you to notice that your glove is up, your weight starts back, and then shifts during the course of the throw. All your energy from your feet through your body and hand.

2. Does your motion have some similar movements? How many similar movements? What changed and why? Do you have problems with control, or don't have as much velocity? Of course within reason. Do you know why? Do you know how to correct it?

3. As Players, especially PITCHERS. We play catch more than any other type of throwing.  Every time you pick up a baseball, you are teaching your body how to throw. Stop teaching yourself bad habits. This is when your pitching can either improve drastically, or get worse every day!
Things that effect pitchers when playing catch:

• Stress, had a rough outing becoming tense, or had a great outing and gets a little to loose/free. Both can have effect mentally and physically.
• Tired, warn out, exhausted. Starts cheating motion. Glove action starts to get sloppy, pulls off, or starts going lower. Weight shift early easy to do from closer distances.
• Hurries up to get ready, rushes through the motion, weight forward, arm lag, sloppy with weight, glove, arm, feet.
• Strength, the player cheats the motion because the body isn't strong enough to control it YET.
• Or. NEVER LEARNED  or have felt how to play catch correctly, meaning using their whole body, had a good arm that got them bye.



  The best time to make your corrections as a pitcher is in catch. Every time you throw a ball make sure its with a purpose. Every throw has a meaning, what are you trying to find out with your weight, how it feels off your fingertips, the movement, how to get the ball to the spot you want, being accurate again and again and again.
 
  If you can learn this in the off season its even easier due to the fact your not facing competition, your not throwing a ball and worried about the outcome, your training your body and learning how to feel the difference of using their body to throw and not their arm.

  Pitching is a process. There is no cure all, but there are some similar things that help pitchers become successful. Playing catch is just a very simple part of the mechanical process. That's just part of the formula to becoming a better pitcher.

Why is Winter conditioning important for pitchers???

In Oregon
42 6/a baseball teams
37 5/a baseball teams
42 4/a baseball teams
38 3/a baseball teams
38 2-1/a baseball teams


197 teams. Food for thought. What is your plan to raise your name on the list?
        Somewhere someone is working to take your job, make a name for themselves, testing how good they can really be. 
Are you doing the same?
If your not, then why?
Do you know where to start? How to begin?
Where you satisfied with last year? Could you have done better?
Are you leaving Velocity and Location on the table?
Do you have a philosophy, a goal, a game plan of attack?
Three parts to pitching.....
Mechanics, Power/strength, Intelligence.
The formula that can help...
M+P=V    V+I=W
Want to know more???
Email me @ kline.aim.pitching@gmail.com