What's up, I'm coach Dan Blewett in today's video we're going to cover,
why does getting ahead in the count matter now as a pitcher,
you probably heard this over and over from coaches and it's true.
It's good advice.
So today we'll quickly go over why it matters to get ahead in the count
and what this unlocks for you as the at bat
progresses.
All right, so if you're new here, I'm Dan Blewett, I'm a former pro
pitcher, I'm the author of two, soon to be three pitching books.
I have online courses and a lot of other videos
in the description, so definitely check them out below.
If you want to learn more about the game.
All right, so why does getting ahead in the count matter?
All right.
So why does getting ahead in the count matter?
So I've overlaid a strike zone here and that never changes.
The strike zone doesn't actually change.
The umpire might expand a little bit, but you can never count on that as a pitcher.
But what does expand over time is the hitters swinging will strike zone.
So when a hitter is ahead in the count, so say he's the count is two or no,
a hitter is going to shrink his strike zone down and be more selective and hit
those pitches that he does choose harder when the hitters behind the count .
So you're ahead, say, 02 or a one, the hitter is going to start to expand
the strike zone because he doesn't want to fall farther behind in the count.
He doesn't want to see, oh, two counts or 12 count, and he obviously
doesn't want to strike out.
So the strike zone starts to expand when you get ahead early.
The other thing that helps you is
you can probably throw your fastball for a strike 70% of the time.
Your curveball, by contrast, you can probably only throw
for a strike 50% of the time or 40% of the time or worse.
You never know.
So the way you can boost up the probability
that you get a strike on an off speed pitch that has a lower
percentage is by throwing it when you're already ahead.
So if you throw a curveball, oh to the hitter is going to swing at it
a lot more often because he doesn't want to strike out,
he doesn't want to take it and risk being called out.
So now the percent chance that that curveball is a strike
where they're swinging your called is much higher.
The other advantage you get from being ahead in the count is that you
can then start to use less margin for error where you're aiming.
So that means if you get a head, your catcher can split the outer half.
He can split the outer third,
which if you miss in an even grouping, which means you kind of miss on all sides.
More of those pitches when you're set up on the outer
third are going to miss where it's a ball, but if you're ahead in the count,
those two inch off the plate, three inch off the plate fastball misses.
A hitter is more likely to swing at because he's nervous
that because it's kind of still close.
The umpire is going to call him out on strikes,
so it gives you a larger zone to work with that expanded zone
because the hitter's emotions not wanting to strike out,
not wanting to fall further behind the count.
His play and effectively make the strike zone larger.
And because he's making the strike zone larger,
you can move your catcher in your aim farther away from the middle of the plate,
which makes it even harder for him to get good pitches to hit.
Because if you're a.m.
now, the third, you're going to miss off the plate half the time.
And over the plate half the time, if you know, if it's an even distribution.
So when the catcher moves away,
this hitter is going to get a lot fewer good pitches to hit.
Just based on your average grouping of misses,
the other thing is that it helps you convert all of your misses,
and it also opens up new pitch locations to be effective for called strikes.
one of those is the high fastball.
You would never intentionally throw a high fastball if you knew the hitter wasn't
going to throw, it wasn't going to swing.
So high fastballs are a great example that you only really throw those
when you're ahead in the count and usually only
when you're at two strikes because it's never called strike
and it's only a strike when the hitter swings at it so early in the count.
And until you get to two strikes, your goal is almost
always to throw a pitch that could be a called strike.
Not always, but most of the time, because if they take it,
you still want to get ahead and the about as quickly as you can.
But once you get the two strikes,
you might bounce a curveball, bounce a slider, elevate a fastball pitches that
are never intended to be called strikes because you want to swing and miss,
and those are going to get hitters to swing and miss
because they're afraid of striking out.
So if you were to throw a curveball that bounce in the dirt,
the probability that that pitch is a called strike is effectively zero.
Same thing with a fastball up here, it's effectively a 0%
called strike pitch unless the hitter helps you by swinging.
So that's why you reserved those pitches later in the at bat.
When you have two strikes
or one strike where the hitter is more apt to swing at it.
So essentially those pitches you don't really get early in the count
when you're behind because the hitter has no incentive to swing at it.
And if they don't swing at it, it's always going to be a ball.
So essentially, it's kind of like a video game
where you unlock special pitches as you go when you get ahead in the count.
I want to talk about this because there was a conversation I had
with someone who was saying that it's not that important to be ahead in the count.
And it really is.
When you play the game
for a long time, you see the advance between hitters and pitchers.
It's it's known that batting averages decrease
as the pitcher gets a higher advantage in the count.
So a one batter
batting average is a lower 02, they're very low 12, they're very low.
So there is a definite batting average statistical measurable thing
that we found about getting a head count.
But also just when you get that first strike
on that first pitch, which is really critical,
you then open up a lot of possibilities , unlock those extra pitches,
which can help you get outs faster and get hit hitters out
without the risk of, you know, putting it in play.
So I hope this video is helpful.
Getting ahead in the count is really important.
You know, it unlocks a lot of options for you.
Location wise and pitch calling wise where you're going to be at a throw stuff
that is going to more often swing and miss that,
and they're going to help you by swinging at stuff that was a ball.
They're going to make it a strike by putting it in play
and taking a chance to swing on it when they're down the count.
So thanks again for watching.
Be sure to check out the description below for my books, courses,
other related videos to this one, and I'll see you in the next video.