A Costly Baseball Pitching "Brain Fart"

First things first...

We're talking first base coverage here because I was having a conversation last night with one of the college baseball pitchers that I coached who is pitching in a collegiate summer league in Ohio.

He was bummed that because of a late inning "flub" the day before, he lost a ball game for his team.

His frustration stemmed from the fact that despite practicing right side coverage on balls hit to the right side 1,000s of times in fall ball and spring practices -- he forgot to do it in one instance -- and his team lost because of it.

"I had a brain fart," he said.

As a former pro, I know more than anybody that that happens sometimes when you're on the bump. It's happened to me, too.

So let's talk about what we can learn from this pitcher's simple mistake.

Pitchers should always cover the right side of the infield on balls hit to the right side. It should be second nature. On a ball hit to the right side, pitchers should hustle over toward first base -- every time. Ball hit in the air? Get over there! Ball Hit on the ground? Get over there! Assume you're the one covering first base -- even if your first baseman is on it. Then, slow your hustle after you're sure your first baseman has control of the bag.

If he doesn't (say, the firstbaseman is pulled into the gap on a ball between first base and second base) then you've got to cover the bag, which means you've got to be there before the runner coming up the line!

Now here's where a lot of pitchers go wrong: they don't instinctively cover the right side on balls hit to the right side. I see this happen sometimes on balls that are hit directly to the second baseman because they think "oh yeah, he's got it, no problem." So the pitcher will watch the play instead of get into position by covering the right side.

99% of the time, you're probably right. But for the 1% you're not, it's too hard to re-adjust and sprint to the bag if you're not already moving in that direction an any ball hit to the right side.

Therefore, on all balls to the right, get to the right side!

Yours in baseball,

Steven Ellis
The Complete Pitcher™
www.thecompletepitcher.com
www.thecompletepitcher.blogs.com