All Baseball Pitches

Yes, this is going to be about baseball pitching but I want to start off by telling you what happened when I took my twelve year old son for his first pro golf lesson. It is relevant, honest. He’d been playing for a while and was getting to be quite good, if a little on the wild side. I took him to the pro because I thought he’d be able to find a little consistency for him that I couldn’t. Basically, the guy made me feel like a jerk telling the kid something I should have known already. My son hit a few balls and then the pro told him to stop hitting the ball like it was made of glass and just whack it as hard as he could. ‘Never mind all this control,’ he said. ‘You just want to hit it hard and then worry about control later. The most important thing is the power.’

There’s the connection, see. When it comes to baseball pitching, the key is to learn to throw that ball just as hard as you can. It’s logical, when you think about it. After all, which is going to do more damage? A 90 mph throw that might be a little erratic? Or a predictable 60 mph one that might break a little?

Now, I know that baseball pitching is a highly mechanical science and to be really successful you need to know just how that ball performs the way it does and how to make the most of your body action. But, when you’re doing your all-important baseball training, the most important thing to keep in mind is that you want to develop a comfortable technique that will allow you to throw the ball as hard as you can, as often as you can so you can bring your good stuff to the game more often than not.

It is the same basic premise with both baseball hitting and pitching: what works for one person, doesn’t work for everyone. So, although there might be general guidelines to help develop your technique, you are not a robot; don’t be afraid to be different.

Having said all this, though, most baseball pitchers will find that, mechanically, the aspects to stress about delivering that ball efficiently and quickly are as follows:

Try to get consistency in your pitching action. Baseball training is about finding what works for you and then learning how to repeat it under pressure.

Hold the ball in your fingers, not the palm of your hand, and not too firmly.

Try and keep your hand and wrist action fairly loose and flexible.

Try to make sure you land your striding leg on the ball of your foot and as near to that center line as you can, time after time.

As you drive to your pitch, keep the back of your hand up – even as your pitching arm thrusts downwards.

Keep your eye on the target or hitter; it helps develop consistency with your head position and everything else.

Try to let your delivery and follow through be as natural as possible, and flow into each other.

Don’t bother about ‘posing’ for the photographer as you release the ball, just follow through naturally.

Work on timing your pitch so that your hips open up towards the target before your shoulders. This will help generate more power through your body and up to your arm.

Of course, this information all applies to pitchers throwing overhand style. Anyone who has seen many Japanese games will have seen plenty of sidearm pitching and there’s been a fair number in the Major League. Not only would you be less likely to endure the elbow and shoulder problems that haunt overhand pitchers, you would also find that you can get more side to side movement of your breaking pitches. It’s a technique certainly worth trying out for most people. One major concern might be that you spend so much time on two different styles that you don’t really master either of them.

Submarine pitches can not only result in your knuckles becoming red raw but will often lead to bad back problems. Many baseball hitters will tell you that the ball is sometimes more difficult to ‘pick’, though, when delivered in this way and good submarine pitchers seem to be able to get a phenomenal amount of break on their pitches.

Chris Moheno kindly invites you to visit this comprehensive baseball training website where you will find baseball scholarship tips and answers to your general questions about baseball training and strength training, as well as a free newsletter with baseball training tips and advice.