Pitching Fundamentals: Fielding Skills For Baseball Pitchers

Here are some common fielding situations that you may find yourself in as a baseball pitcher. Knowing what to do ahead of time can really make a difference.

Covering 1B - Run to line and run up line with glove up, receive throw and step on bag with right foot

Fielding  Come backer - Know who has bag, turn and throw to bag, on plays to first field ball and step and make a good sharp throw- no lobs or soft throws

Covering Home - If pitch is in the dirt charge home right away, do not wait to see if runner is going look at 3rd while charging, field throw and swipe the tag

Backing up bases - Runner on 1B back up third on base hit, no runners on back up 2B on base hit to outfield

Pitching Basics: The Importance Of Pitching Control

Hitting wins games. Defense wins championships! Defense starts with pitching, and the most important part of pitching is to throw the ball where you want to throw it. A pitcher can only control when he pitches and where he throws the ball. So don't worry about the rest.

The number one goal of pitching is to hit your target. So pitching is really nothing more than target practice. Velocity is secondary. Movement is secondary. The sharpness of your pitch is secondary.

Pitching is the ability to throw strikes to both sides of the plate. The ability to change speeds with a breaking ball or a change-up is also important, since it creates a timing problem for hitters.

Then comes the importance of creating ball movement, either horizontally or vertically, particularly with a fastball, change-up, or breaking ball.