Alright guys we're going to talk a little pitching today and I'm not taking all day
like your normal pitching clinic.
I'm going to do it under 5 minutes.
You ready?
Everything you need to know about pitching in under 5 minutes.
Here we go!
Start the clock!
Alright.
When it comes to pitching you want to have a pre-game routine.
What I used to like to do is listen to some good music.
Start off with some a little bit more mellow stuff to get your mind right start thinking
about the game and how you're going to approach the hitters and then start cranking that music
up to where you're getting some of that hard stuff and you're really feeling that energy
so that you're ready to go when you go out there on the field.
But the most important thing that you need to know when it comes pre-game routine is
know what your routine is and be consistent with it.
Have a time line of when you're going to go down to the field, when you're going to stretch,
when you're going to warm up, how much throwing you're going to do.
Ok.
Be consistent with it and know your routine.
Next, let's talk about the set up so when you're actually get out there in the game
alright.
We're going to talk about from the stretch when you set up you want to come staggered
with your set up.
The reason why you want to come staggered with your feet and not straight in a line
or open this way is because it makes it a lot easier for you to set your weight on your
back leg here and just lift this leg up and lead with your hips.
ok.
Which brings me to my next point.
We're going to break down the leg lift into 3 different parts.
First is going to be the set up here lifting that leg up is 1, breaking the hips is number
2, and then bringing the leg down and back is number 3.
Now,even though I broke that down into 3 parts, in reality it's going to be 1 fluid movement.
So it's going to be leg lift, breaking the hips, leg down, but it's happening all together.
So it's going to look a little something like this.
Alright.
Is going to be alignment when you land.
This is a big one ok.
If I'm starting here on my rubber and I go to land I want my foot to be straight on this
line heel to heel so when I land, BOOM, I want to be straight out in a straight line
with my foot going forward.
This allows my hips to open up to a good point.
If I'm too far closed off or my toe is too far closed I'm going to be trying to work
against myself throwing across my body.
If I'm too far open this way I'm going to be doing the opposite effect ok and losing
too much out this way alright.
Now that's important because hip to shoulder separation is where you're going to get a
lot of your velocity.
There was a study done that shows 80 percent of your pitching velocity comes from hip to
shoulder separation.
But before we get into that let's talk about the arm path and hand separation ok.
Your hands want to separate down low here and you want to break them at an angle 45
degrees or more.
So if I'm pitching straight to you and I break my hands, I want to be 45 degrees, not straight
to you, 45 degrees or more closed ok because this puts me in a good spot and the back arm
is going to be the same back this way not straight back we're going back this way ok.
Because if I do that, that puts me into a good spot when I get into my thoracic extension
or scap load.
Thoracic extension all that means is just big chest ok curvature in your upper spine.
Your scap load is when your elbows go back and you're pinching your scape together like
that.
If you're in a good angle with your arm path you're going to be able to unwind with that
scap load and then when you come up you're going to be in a good hip to shoulder separation.
That's why arm path in the beginning is very important ok.
If you break straight out you're not setting yourself up for good hip to shoulder separation.
Now what's the timing on breaking the hands?
You want to start moving forward first before you separate those hands ok.
You're not separating early and then going.
You're going down the mound and then separating alright.
Now hip to shoulder separation.
All that is is if my hips are going forward right here right my back foot is actually
going to be up at this point so if my hips are going forward how far separated can my
hips go to my shoulder back here.
Actually this arm is going to be like this because we've already got through our scap
load but how far back can this arm get and that separation just like in hitting is going
to be that tension in the mid section, that torque that we can unwind with and let all
that energy back out in front ok.
That's why that's important.
80 percent of your energy, your velocity, comes from hip to shoulder separation.
Next, let's talk about the release point.
The best release point is not way out here it's going to be right here in a straight
line if I drew a line straight down my arm it should go down my arm down my back down
my butt this is going to be in a little bit and then down through my heel.
The rubber is going to be back here.
Let's say that's the rubber.
ok.
That's going to be a good release point.
My glove is going to be right about here right now.
I'm not going to be pulling all the way in I'm going to block it off here and then my
front leg is going to be straight.
I'm going to block my rotational energy off with this and block my linear energy off with
this and once that hits all that energy hits this wall BOOM BOOM that ball that energy
is going to go right through that ball at my release point ok.
Now, after that my glove can finish rotating and I can show the my back to the other dugout
over here ok.
Let's talk a little bit about philosophy.
First pitch strike.
You want to get ahead.
If you pitch ahead you're going to be more successful.
You want to try to get batters out in three pitches or less.
In a 1-1 count you want to throw your best pitch of the day for a strike.
You want to throw a strike because if you throw a strike you're 1-2 if you throw a ball
you're 2-1 huge differences in the batting averages there.
You want to throw your best pitch of the day because everyday it's different and it's a
swinging count and you don't want to throw meatballs up there.
As a pitcher your job is to disrupt balance and timing the batter's.
How do you disrupt balance and timing?
You throw fast pitches and slow pitches.
You throw inside and you throw outside.
You throw up and you throw down.
That's how you disrupt balance and timing.
If you do that, you're going to be a successful pitcher.
Most important thing of that is pitch inside especially at the lower levels if you control
the inside part of the plate you're going to open up the whole rest of the plate and
make that batter feel uncomfortable so pitch inside.
Now, pitching accuracy, there's a few things you need when you're trying to be accurate
pitching.
First is consistency, you want to be consistent with what you're doing on the mound so that
you're consistent in the strike zone.
You want to have conviction when you're pitching.
That means you have total belief that you're going to hit the spot that you're trying to
hit.
You also want to visualize the pitch before it happens.
You want to see it happen before it does and then throw the same pitch.
It's a lot easier to execute that pitch when you see it happen before you actually throw
it and then you want to have body control and that just means controlling your body
down the mound which brings us back to consistency.
How do you work on body control, that's the strength and conditioning that you're doing
in the off season and during the week to keep your body strong and under control when you're
pitching.
Now, don't worry about the things you cannot change like errors.
You can't, you can't do anything about your shortstop making an error.
Pick him up.
He doesn't want to make an error alright.
Bad calls.
You can't worry about bad calls by the umpire.
You can't change that.
You just gotta do your job.
Keep on trucking.
26 hoppers through the 6 hole.
If you throw a perfect pitch and this guy rolls over and it's just perfectly placed
where the third baseman and shortstop can't get it, hey you did your job, keep it up,
stay positive, and go get that next guy.
Don't worry about the things you cannot control but do worry about the things you can control
focus on that things, those things, like attacking the zone, commanding your fastball, your mind
set, energy, dedication, commitment, competitiveness, will, drive, and heart.
Get the job done and don't have any excuses.
That's pitching in under 5 minutes for you.
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