How Pitchers Can Easily Improve Control

I want to address the physical side of a pitcher's ability to improve control and throw strikes more consistently. And it starts with form. As a pitcher, you must strive to be as consistent as possible in throwing each pitch the same way. If you are consistent about this, it makes it much easier to make adjustments when you're wild because you can "zero in" on the target.

A pitching coach once explained it to me this way: It's like a sharpshooter. If he is consistently missing his mark high, he simply lowers his sights. If he's consistently missing right or left, he adjusts to the other side. But if the sharpshooter is not holding his rifle the same way -- in other words, he holds it at his shoulder one time, and at his waist another time -- he will not be able to zero in on the target. So his actions must be consistent to adjust his sights and line of target.

The same is true of a wild baseball pitcher. If your pitching motion is the same on each pitch, it's a lot easier to make small adjustments and find that strike zone again. Consistency of your pitching mechanics is the key to consistency in throwing strikes and improving control.

3 Youth Baseball Tips On Learning And Developing Proper Pitching Technique

By learning the proper pitching techniques, baseball pitchers can achieve their best velocity and accuracy while reducing the risk of injury to their arm and body. Here are three baseball pitching tips for learning and developing proper throwing technique:

1. Learning the proper throwing techniques early allows a pitcher's muscles and mind to develop the correct memory. Proper throwing can therefore become a good habit that will stay with players throughout their playing lives.

2. Proper throwing technique starts with conditioning activities well before the ball season begins.

3. Stretching and warming-up the entire body, as well as the shoulders and arms, is necessary before actually starting to throw. "Warm-up to throw; don't throw to warm-up", as stated by the American Sports Medicine Institute. Start throwing slowly, over a short distance. Gradually lengthen the distance and increase velocity. This warm-up period will vary with the individual, but will be typically 10-20 minutes.

Relief Pitching: How To Be An Effective Baseball Closer

Great article here on Let's Talk Pitching about what it takes to be a good relief pitcher and baseball closer.

Where To Position Yourself On The Pitcher's Rubber Against Different Hitters

Before positioning yourself on the pitcher's rubber, think about dividing it in half right down the middle. Right-handed pitchers should generally pitch from the right half of the pitcher's rubber. Left-hand pitchers from the left half of the rubber. This is done to allow the pitcher to deliver the baseball from behind the hitter when throwing to the same side hitter. In other words, a right-hand pitcher facing a right-hand hitter.

When a right-hand pitcher faces a left-hand batter, he may want to move a little more toward the center of the pitcher's rubber, but not directly in the center as this will cut down on angle.

A left-handed pitcher should try doing the same thing when throwing to a right-hand hitter.

What Every Baseball Pitcher Should Know About Putting Spin On The Ball

1. Successful pitching demands an understanding of correct spin on the ball.

2. When throwing on the side, spin the ball easily and get the ball to spin in the direction you want it to spin -- then apply more spin, more speed, more spin and more speed.

3. Every pitcher must have an understanding of the spin he must apply to have the ball do different things.

My Thoughts On Flat-Ground Pitching

For younger pitchers, flat ground work is becoming more and more popular. Flat-ground training offers the opportunity for higher numbers of repetitions at relatively greater safety. Research shows that pitching off a mound can put up to 5 times the body's weight of pressure on the pitcher's joints. Working on spotting the baseball from flat ground is smart and can particularly save some added stress on a youth pitcher with an inefficient delivery.

"Dialing down" the fastball is also important when working on locating the fastball in skill work sessions. I have made many mound visits where I will simply ask a pitcher to start throwing his fastball at 85-90%.

Having said this, though, a balanced amount of mound training is important for youth pitchers. Remember, we all pitch from mounds in games. Pitching from mounds in practice teaches pitchers how to handle the slope and develop a comfort zone for it. Mound work also encourages a more natural stride (because you have gravity working for you), a more natural release point and better overall timing.

The older and more advanced a pitcher is, the less flat-ground work is helpful or recommended.

The Art Of Pitching: Hiding The Baseball From Opponents

It's important to hide the baseball from the batter and opposing team when you're pitching, especially at the higher levels of the game. Good hitters can pick up even the most subtle variations in your stance and delivery. Work on developing consistency in your delivery, no matter what pitch you're throwing, so your opponents don't know what's coming before the pitch is actually delivered.

Here are some tips to help you hide the baseball from opponents...

If you stay "closed" in your delivery to the plate, the batter literally cannot see the ball until the last moment.

The way to achieve that is to keep your shoulder and hip "closed" -- hiding the ball in your pitching hand -- until the last possible moment. That's when hitters will say the don't see the ball very well.

When your shoulder "flies open," you tend to bring the ball by your leg more, making it easier for the hitter to pick up how you are holding the seams of the baseball sooner.

Of course, please realize that we are talking about hundredths of a second, here. But, in the major leagues, that can be enough. These guys can get an advantage from even that.

So, hiding your grip on the ball is important. Even hiding your glove is important -- when you first grip the ball, that can be very important if you have a runner on base.

But, even if there's no runner on, the way a pitcher takes a grip on the ball when getting ready to throw is important. For instance, get your glove ready like you are about to throw to the plate -- then grip for a fastball. Now try gripping for a curveball. An experienced hitters will pick up on which one is coming by what you hold -- unless you are careful to disguise it.

By the way -- This is especially true with pitchers who use smaller gloves. Believe it or not, smart hitters zoom right in on that. They look to see if "more palm" or "less palm" is showing in the glove -- because that might tell them what is coming. And that can give them a edge. Any little advantage the veterans can get, they will jump on it. (Maybe that's why they are veterans.)

Let me take that further. It isn't just the batter at the plate try to catch a glimpse of that, vets do it from the dugout. They aren't in there "chewing the fat," they're studying every move the opposing pitcher makes.

Seasoned veterans pass this information along to younger teammates -- which makes a team all the better. And, if a younger player thinks he can maintain his ability to just hit a pitch, he can then make use of that info. (By the way, some guys like knowing what type of pitch is coming, and some do not. The latter just like "reacting" to what comes.)

The Difference Between Fastball And Changeup Pitching Mechanics

When I was first learning to throw a change-up, I threw a three-finger change because my hands weren't big enough to grip a circle change-up. However, my biggest challenge with the three-finger change-up was my control.

Quite simply, I had a difficult time controlling the speed of the pitch, and as a result, often threw it far too hard for it to be effective most of the time.

Most of the college pitchers I coach have this same problem, too.

At that time, I was working with Coach Bill Thurston, a pitching consultant at the American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI) in Birmingham, Ala. ASMI is a biomechanical research and development institute founded by Dr. James Andrews, one of the elite baseball surgeons in the country. ASMI also touts Dr. Tom House, Dr. Glenn Fleisig, and a long list of other baseball instructors and doctors who are tops in the field of baseball and baseball pitching on its research staff.

When throwing a change-up, Thurston taught me to shorten my lead-leg stride slightly (I'm talking a few inches here, not feet) and collapse on my back-side (again, slightly).

By collapsing on your back side, I'm talking about the back-side leg-action associated with your follow-through...

Instead of a high-up-and-over back-side leg-kick in the follow-through phase of the pitching delivery, which should be characteristic of a fastball release, a pitcher will still follow-through with the backside leg, but it will not be as "pronounced" as when a fastball is thrown.

Thurston said these pitching mechanical adjustments should be negligible to the naked eye.

He noticed Major League Baseball pitchers making these two slight adjustments only after viewing them on high-resolution video, which was slowed to 1000 frames a second.

Remember: the key to an effective change-up is deception. If a hitter notices different mechanical changes in a pitcher's delivery, the hitter will be able to recognize it and make the necessary adjustments.

The delivery, therefore, needs to remain the same as the fastball.

I recommend that you video-tape your pitching motion from the right-side and left-side during practice if you decide to implement these slight mechanical variations when throwing a change-up.

Also of note: when I switched my change-up pitching grip from a three-finger change-up to a circle change-up (in college when my hands became bigger), I did not need to vary my pitching mechanics at all when throwing the new off-speed pitch because the speed-difference (from my fastball velocity) resulted from the grip of the pitch – and from the slight, natural pronation of my throwing hand upon release.
Because of that, and the sharp down-and-in movement to right-handed hitters (I'm a righty), I found the circle-change to be a much better change-up pitch for me.

As a closer in the Chicago Cubs organization, the circle change became my strike out pitch. (120 K's in 80 innings as a pro pitcher. 68 of those K's were with the circle change!)

The 3 Components Of Pitching A Baseball

There are three components to any pitch. They are:

1. Pitching Location (most important) Your fastball may not be 100 MPH, but if it's on the corner at the knee, it's hard for any batter to hit it.    

2. Pitching Movement (second most important) It doesn't matter how hard you throw it, if your pitch is as straight as a string, good hitter will hit it. It's the late movement on pitches that makes hitters miss    

3. Pitching Velocity (least important, but nice to have!) OK, I'll admit it's nice to be able to throw hard enough to throw the ball by hitters, but velocity is the least important of the three components to any pitch.

Teaching And Incorporating Proper Pitching Technique

The most important aspect in pitching is throwing strikes consistently. In order to help young pitchers throw strikes, it's important to teach them how to play catch correctly. In other words, it's important to teach and incorporate proper pitching technique.

We have all admired how effortlessly Greg Maddux makes pitching appear. When in a groove, Maddux is so effortless with his mechanics that he merely seems to be playing catch. By aiding young pitchers in becoming simplified and effortless in mechanics, they will not only throw strikes more consistently, but also will develop confidence in their ability.

When evaluating a pitcher's mechanics, watch them warm up in a rather informal setting. While observing, look to see whether the following five principles of good throwing technique are being used:

1. Eyes are constantly on the target.
2. The athlete should be in a good goal post position, meaning both glove side elbow and throwing elbow should be as high as his shoulder.
3. The ball should be pointed back to allow for the rotation of the hips.
4. Glove side shoulder and foot should be pointed directly at the target.
5. Weight transfer and follow-through from post foot to glove side foot.

Pitchers seem to run into the most difficulty when applying the simple throwing technique in a pitching situation. Alleviate some of their anxiety by asking them to throw batting practice in the same way they play catch. Pitchers can experiment playing catch with the catcher in this batting practice setting.

When put into a live pitching situation, many problems occur in adding the windup. It is important, at this point, to stress that the windup does nothing to affect the eventual success of a pitch; however, it can be a reason for the failure of that same pitch. Try to simplify the delivery of any pitcher who has difficulty throwing strikes.

-Excerpts of this article contributed by pitching coach Terry Mularski of Westmoreland County Community College (PA).