What's up?
Coach Dan Blewett.
In today's video, let's talk about whether or not pitchers
should change their tempo throughout the game.
All right.
So this has been kind of a new trend in Major League Baseball recently.
So you've probably seen this
from Marcus Stroman or Johnny Cueto back when he was still pitching.
Is he still pitching? I don't know. Johnny Cueto has done it.
Marcus Stroman has done it. A couple other pitchers have done it.
So it's gotten some attention.
But it's not super prevalent yet.
And what I'm talking about is, is this the same my normal delivery is here.
And then every once in a while I do this, you know,
so maybe I stop at the top when I normally never stop.
Maybe I go up and I pump a little bit.
Those are all different ways to change your tempo
and obviously to disrupt the hitter.
So the question is, is this something that amateur pitchers should do?
Younger pitchers should do try to screw with the hitters
when they can using pauses or just changes to their tempo in general.
Is that an effective thing to do?
Now, the first thing to mention is that the number one thing
that matters as a pitcher is executing your pitch.
That means wherever you decide that you want to throw it, you want to bounce
that curveball slider on the outside half, you know, fastball up.
And in the number one, things that matter
that you can control as a pitcher is executing your pitch,
focusing obviously all the practice and prep you put in
to making quality pitches when they matter.
And that's ultimately what separates great pitchers from lesser pitchers.
So the question then is if our number one goal is executing
every pitch as well as we possibly can.
Is this something that's going to disrupt that?
And really, the answer is yes, especially for amateur pitchers.
So understand that the rules are always different
for major leaguers who are world class and what they're doing.
Right.
So, Marcus Stroman, if he feels like he can confidently do this,
then he can do it.
But if you look at the numbers of players who do this in the major
leagues, even in the major leagues, it's extremely rare.
Yes, you've seen a couple of examples, but it's still extremely rare
because, again, all those guys in the big leagues know
that the number one thing they have to do to keep their job,
to stay in the big leagues, which is everyone's goal,
is execute, make good pitches when they count.
And so if your normal tempo is this and you've thrown 65 pitches
so far like that, and now you're in a tight spot,
you know, it's second and third, two outs, one and two count and a good hitters up.
Is that
is that the right spot to say going to.
I've thrown 65 pitches the normal way for me.
And now in pitch number 66, in a really tight spot, I'm going to pause.
I'm going to change my tempo and try to throw the hitter off.
The big question is, is who is that throwing off more?
Is it the hitter?
Is it me?
Because if I do that and I don't hit my spot
and I throw it down the middle or I throw with too much plate, I don't execute.
Then everyone is going to ask you this question,
which is, did you just screw yourself up and prevent yourself
from making that pitch by screwing with your delivery?
Yes. You're messing with the hitters timing.
That's not debatable, right?
If you do something completely different,
their timing is going to be a little thrown off.
So, yes, there's merit to the idea.
But the question is,
does it trump the idea that even if they have
timing with my regular delivery, a hitting a baseball is not that easy.
So obviously, like they know Max Scherzer.
They know what he's throwing.
They know his tempo is going to be the same.
It doesn't make Max Scherzer easy to hit.
He's still one of the best pitchers in the major leagues because he executes right.
Same with any other big name pitcher.
So now if you say, okay, I'm going to try to screw with hitters.
The big question is, does it reduce my ability to make pitches consistently?
And for amateur pitchers, that answer is going to be absolutely yes.
You're going to end up screwing up your release point
and essentially making it more difficult to be this very consistent
sort of pitching machine where every pitch you release is in a consistent window.
So it really boils down to not trying to be too tricky,
which is what when a lot of pitchers get in trouble,
they try to throw
a curveball in a weird spot because they want to really trick the hitter
and make them look bad or they want to do a tempo change
and try to trick the hitter and make them look bad.
Ultimately, hitting a baseball is really hard and what everyone finds
the longer they play is you don't need to try to trick hitters.
All you need to do is execute.
And especially for young pitchers who have such a tough time
throwing strikes in general
and hitting their spots and executing when the pressure is on,
adding a tempo change to your own delivery is likely going to read reap
much less of a benefit for you than for the hitter.
The hitter is probably going to benefit because now your mechanics have changed,
your timing is off, and now you're trying to deliver this pitch
with high precision and you're just going to be less likely to do it.
So I don't recommend that amateur pitchers do this at the big league level.
They can do what they want, but even then you don't see it very often.
So this video is helpful.
Obviously, it's
tough as a parent or a young pitcher to figure out what you should adopt
and what training techniques maybe you should discard
or maybe not appropriate for younger pitchers.
This is one that I don't think is really going
to be helpful to young pitchers who are already putting
so much of their brainpower and their training time into just throwing strikes
and just trying to execute decent pitches as often as they can.
Really, that goal never changes.
Even in the major leagues.
Pitchers are out there just trying to get ahead of hitters
and make high quality pitches and you don't want to do anything
to your own mechanics to disrupt your ability
to be as sharp as you possibly can on any given pitch you throw.
All right. So I hope you found this video a helpful.
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Check out my pitching books, my online courses, share this video with a friend
and I'll see you in the next one.