How to develop a mental approach to pitching

Don't take long between pitches. Catch the ball after a pitch, step back onto the rubber and get ready for the sign. Pitchers who linger on and around the mound between pitches not only inhibit themselves from gaining a rhythm, but they force the fielders to lose focus and lose their rhythm. By establishing a ritual, a rhythm develops where you will feel like you are throwing without thinking.

Be relaxed, yet focused. Develop a good game plan. Make sure your pitching mechanics are as good as possible in practice. On game day, mentally let the technical side all go and just focus on the game. Don't make big mechanical adjustments in games. Remind yourself of one or two mechanical points, and work on them only. For instance, you can make sure you doesn't rush out. This won’t bog down your mind, and will allow you to get into a good mental rhythm that won't interfere with the muscle-memory of your mechanics.

Additional pitching tips:

• Throw your fastball at 90-95 percent, then throw it at 100 percent when you need a little extra.
• If you fall into a slump and can't throw a strike three pitches in a row, change your grip.
• Change-ups can be controlled better than curveballs, and thus should be utilized. A good time to throw changeups is after a hitter pulls a fastball foul, or fouls it straight back.
• A change-up in the strike zone will invariably result in a ground ball or a pulled foul ball. Long fouls on change-ups are actually good pitches. Don’t be fooled by the distance as the purpose is to get the hitter out on the front foot. Also, don't throw a changeup two times in a row to bad hitters who are late on your pitches, because it will look like a regular fastball to them.