Pitcher needs another pitch

If he is in Little League, he should not be throwing a curve ball at all. He should work on his fast ball.

Like Bean said in a post entitled "Write this on your hand"....Bean is so subtle....accuracy is more omportant than anything.

Write this on your forehaed so your budy can read it when you talk to him (couldn't resist), the basics of pitching successfully are:

Location
Movement
Velocity

In that order. And those are only the physical aspects.

If your friend can work the ball in and out, throw to the "black" (corners), and change speeds, he will do fine. He needs to learn to "pitch" and not just throw.

My favorite example of this is Greg Maddux. Average velocity, ok breaking stuff, killer control, good late movement. He is so good at throwing low and away umpires now give him up to six inches off the plate! The guy changes speed on almost every pitch. He rarely throws the same type of fastball twice in a row. He makes the pitches look enticing while leaving them in positions where the hitter can only beat the ball into the ground. He is a pitcher's pitcher and someone your friend should watch whenever he can.

All your friend has to do at this level is move his fingers slightly off center one way or the other and throw his fastball. It will move. He can also move his thumb one way or the other. Move the fingers and thumb to the right, the ball will go left, etc. If he keeps his fingers off the SEAMS the ball might even sink a little.

For young hitters and while he is learning the mental aspect of pitching, staying low and away most of the time will yield the best results. Bust the guy up and in with fastballs occasionally, especially when the pitcher is ahead in the count. Then throw the cutting fastball low and away. When they start leaning out over the plate, bust in on their hands with fastballs. When you get them back off the plate or standing up straight, go back to the outside corner.

It works even with Major Leaguers who make their living off of hitting. When a batter gets down 0 and 2, you can almost bet on a fastball up and in followed by something low and away for the strike out or weak grounder to second. Sometimes the pitcher reverses things and goes very low and away with the set up pitch only to come back with his best tailing fastball on the inside part of the plate to get the strike out or weak flare. That is pitching. It works even though everyone in the park knows it's coming.

Mistakes made low and away tend to be singles and the occasional double. Mistakes made on the inside part of the plate can lead to extra base hits. Low and away is safest, but you have to establish the inside part of the plate so the batter doesn't start leaning out over the plate too much.

If your friend has excellent control now, tell him to throw his last warm up pitch through where the batter will be standing in a minute or so. When he is ahead in the count with no one on base, he can also throw a ball half way up the backstop. Sounds silly, but you can't let batters get too comfortable in there. Mean streaks are a plus.

For other pitches, see my post in response to throwing sinkers.

Splitter