Dan Blewett: What's up baseball players, I'm Coach Dan Blewett.
In today's video, we're going to talk about the middle of the
plate and how it moves depending on the hitter stance. So if
they're crying a plate, if they're kind of far away from
the plate, the center of the plate, the relative center is
going to move. And that's going to really impact your pitch
sequencing, your pitching strategy, all that different
stuff, that pitch calling that your you and your coach and your
catch are going to work on. So stick with me, today's video is
gonna be fun, we'll talk about the relative middle of the
plate.
Alright, so if you're new here, I'm Coach Dan Blewett. I'm a
former pro pitcher, I love talking about pitching strategy,
mindset, all that good stuff. So if you're new to the channel,
definitely stick around, subscribe, hit the notification
bell, check out my books, and all this other stuff in the
description, because I've got a lot of resources to help you as
a ballplayer. Alright, so let's get going. Number one, you can
see here, the batter's box here on this field is a pretty
multi-use field, the batter's box is yellow. So just keep that
in mind. Number one, I've set up, this is on the inner corner,
this is on the outer corner, this is in the middle of the
plate. So when I have a typical stance in the batter's box,
which is I've got a little bit of room, maybe like four, six
inches, something like that, from toe to the line. This is
the standard setup, and I'm using a fungo bat here, but
still, you know this is going to put my barrel in the middle of a
plate, you know when you throw it down there, and that's what
you typically line up for. Most hitters have found that sort of
not too close, not too far stance, that allows them to
drive the pitches that they should drive which are in the
middle the plate, right, especially the inner half,
middle inner half are typically every hitters happy zone. So
outer third pitches, inner third pitches, they take a lot more
timing. So if I'm going to hit this pitch, which is on the
inner third, it's not really on the inner corner, really just
the inner third, I've got to get my barrel all the way out here
to hit this solid, right there. If I'm making contact here, I'm
gonna hit a lower close to my trademark, and I'm not gonna hit
that ball very hard. The opposite is true with a outer
third pitch, I've got a weight on that thing. And I've got to
hit a deeper on the plate to drive it and get barrel. That's
critical to understand. So number one with the middle of
the plate, you're always saying middle of the plate in your mind
based on a typical hitter stance, which is again, he's not
crowding it, he's not too far away. And you know what that
looks like? I don't have to go into too much. But basically, if
I move, and I'm one of those hitters that crowds the plate,
is the middle still the middle to me? No, it's not. Now, as I
take my stance, my barrel lives that same for six inches farther
out, comparative compared to a hitter that has a normal stance.
So let's move the relative middle of the plate, those same
four inches or so. And what you'll get is this. Now, to this
hitter, the middle of the plate is essentially the outer third,
more like the outer between like the outer half and the outer
third. That's critical to understand because guess what,
lots of pitchers and lots of coaches love pitching Away,
away, away, away away away. Well, if you're throwing a nice
pitch on the outer third, guess what, that's not a very good
pitch anymore, because the relative middle of the plate for
me is a hitter Who's crying a plate has changed. And that's
exactly why hitters do this. They do this to bully you
because they know you're too scared to pitch me inside
because you're afraid to hit me and you don't have the mental
toughness to throw it underneath my armpit. In the strike zone.
That's what happens that's I mean I know for a fact because I
felt that way in the past to as a pitcher and then I got over it
start hitting some guys and my whole life change. So here's the
thing if you're afraid of a guy of hitting a guy or a pitching
inside for called strikes to a guy that crowds the plate, he's
gonna he's gonna own you because the outer part of the plate
which was your weapon before he now has made it the middle of
the plate for him. And look, I can easily whop pull that pitch
into the full slide gap, not a problem. And again, you see this
all over at higher level. So guess what? He can't hit all
this other stuff that he's giving away. So if you're really
thinking about this, you could have two mindsets mindset one is
man I hate when hitters crowd the plate is BS. Like they're
they're trying to take the plate from me. I feel uncomfortable or
you can say this guy is really screwed himself. I now own him
because he has zero chance of getting around on even an inner
third fastball because he's got to get his barrel all the way
out here to hit this pitch on the inner third that's a called
strike and guess what if I make contact with my barrel hero here
that balls foul 100% of tennis balls foul The only ball that he
can keep fair are balls that he gets jammed on or if he's some
sort of magician about like getting his hands inside the
ball like Derek Jeter so in almost all situations hard stuff
in is gonna ruin the hitter crowds the plate and we know
that right like we know that so Here's the thing, your strategy
is going to change. If you see someone called the play now the
opposite is going to be true. If you are really far from the
play, and you don't see this very much hitters don't tend to
do this because they have an awareness. And that's probably
even a little generous.
They have an awareness that they can't cover the outside part of
the plate. So you're not going to see that many hitters
actually start out out here. Because they know like that's
really far away, and I like really can't reach out there
except for diving in. And then that also exposes me to other
problems. So the relative middle changes here, too, if a hitter
moves back, and even if it's just a couple inches, a couple
inches is gonna make a difference, right, where it's
gonna, again, open up that outer part of the plate. And that they
really can't cover very well, it's already hard with a normal
stance, to wait, see the ball deep, barrel it up on the outer
third or outer corner of the plate, that's a hard pitch to
hit. And now they've given more of that to you. It's even
harder, the easy pitch for you to execute out or half right
there. Again, that's like splitting the outer half. That's
like on the corner to them. And so they're in trouble. So
they're counting on you throwing inside, which doesn't make a lot
of sense because most young pitchers don't like throwing
inside, nor do most coaches want to call that. So again, you
don't see this that that much. But again, the big takeaway from
this video is more for hitters the crowd the play, and this
happens a lot on those pesky little guys who they know that
they don't have a lot of juice, they're not going to take you do
that's not their approach. But what the hitters the crowd the
play do is they come here, they take away the inner part of the
plate, which they don't want, and they couldn't really cover
very well anyway, because you're small, you know, you're not
going to go big fly or my left fielders head. So what they're
going to do is they're going to crowd the plate, make you put on
the outside corner, outside part of the play, and then go bang
and punch it through the right side and single single single
you to death. And that's problematic, because if that's
what that one or two hitter or eight or nine hitter wants to
do, now they're on base with the big hitters coming up. And
they've done their job, right. So if you're smart, knowing that
the relative middle has changed, and you need to size up for
every hitter, where's the relative middle to this hitter,
and has changed where I start my sort of center from So again, if
it's middle for pitches, even or behind halves, for even counts
thirds for when you're a little bit ahead or corners when you're
way ahead, then that's sort of how you're going to progress.
And so if the middle changes, that's going to change where
some of those are where some of them become a ball. All right.
So hopefully this video helps pitching strategy pitch calling
pitch sequencing. These are all really important things. And as
a pitcher, you're trying to use all the information that you
have available to you, which includes their batting stance,
how far they are from the plate, you're trying to use all that
stuff, to give you good ideas of what pitch should come next and
what pitches that a hitter is not going to be able to turn
around and hit hard against you. Okay, thanks for watching.
Again, check out the description below. You'll find my books, my
other videos, other resources, my online courses. So if you're
interested in being a great pitcher, definitely check it
out. Check it out. Subscribe, and I'll see you next time.