Coaching Pitchers And Developing A Pitching Strategy

It's game time. Here are some of my beliefs and other pitching strategies and philosophies that can help you make the most of your next appearance.

1. We want to make the batter swing the bat - The best hitters in the world only get a hit 3 out of 10 times at bat. That means they make an out 7 out of every 10 times they bat! So, as a pitcher, the odds are with you if you throw it over the plate and make the batter swing the bat. Now, throwing it over the plate doesn't mean belt high, straight as a string. I'm talking about changing speeds, throwing different pitches. We want the batter to swing the bat. The one thing I want to stress to the pitchers I work with during my pitching lessons and private instruction is that they don't have to win the game all by themselves. You have eight other guys out there playing defense whose job it is to help the pitcher.

2. We want to throw first pitch strikes - It puts the batter on the defensive.

3. You lose games by walking people - if the lead off batter in an inning walks he will score over 50 % of the time!

4. You don't try to make the hitter miss until he has two strikes - once you get two                 strikes on him you can try to get him to expand his strike zone and chase a bad pitch.

5. Pitch to your strengths - If you're a fastball pitcher, when the count is 3-2, I want you throwing your best fastball. If you're a breaking ball pitcher, I want you throwing your best breaking ball when the game is on the line. If you get beat, I want you to get beat with your best pitch.

6. Work early in the count (I'd like to see you average 3 1/2 pitches a batter). I don't want a lot of 3-2 counts. The fewer pitches you throw to each batter, it stands to reason, the more batters you can pitch to in a game.

7. Work to advantage counts (first pitch strikes) - The batter is on the defensive when the count is 0-2 or 1-2. He will often expand his strike zone and swing at pitches that are not strikes. He will, in effect, get himself out for you!

8. If you lose the advantage (fall behind 2-0 or 3-1), I like to call that challenge time - throw the ball right down the middle and let your defense bail you out. We don't want to walk people!