A pitcher’s choice or his mistake may seem like a little cornball, but a pitcher has more important things to focus on than punching out. There is some reasoning behind this bold claim that goes against all the training a pitcher has received. Bear with me and I will do my best to provide the logic and reason for such a contradictory statement.
First, let’s define the concept of team. A baseball team is made up of nine defending players. Should the pitcher be the only player on the defensive team to win a game?
The answer is obvious. No, it’s not. Let’s stop trying to make the pitcher be or do something that is practically impossible by winning the game by striking out any batter who makes it to the plate.
Talk and talk about true baseball strategy with any professional-level coach, player, or team owner and most will agree that middle outfielders are the glue that makes most defensive baseball plays. They are the money players, straight, the middle, the catcher, the pitcher, the second baseman, the shortstop, the center fielder. Play well here as defensive stalwarts at these venues and your winning percentage will improve.
The pitcher begins the play, but must be allowed to rely on his defending fieldmates on the field to deliver the goods and make consistent plays for out.
There’s a chatter in the infield when he talks to his pitcher that says something like this: “Make him run away.” The interpretation of this is, “let’s go to the field, put it there”, make it hit the ball, we are here to make the outs. For God’s sake, don’t walk the batter allowing him a free pass.
A pitcher needs to fix firmly in his mind and mental structure the permanent thought that there will be tomorrow.
What will a pitcher gain by being the hero alone today while striking out one batter after another during this game? Longevity in your craft with excellent to excellent victories in your career? Pitch control, not this flash and strikeout neon lights, is where your mindset should be rather than the soon-to-be-exhausted pitching arm trying to make every hitter a strikeout victim.
A strikeout hero for our modern-era game is great, but to be brutally honest, unless he becomes the all-time strikeout king, he really won’t count for anything. Do you want to know what really counts in the long run?
Winnings and losses is all that will matter When the scouts are done with their scouting report? They do not record game by game the number of strikeouts. They report things like strong body, live fastball, controlled cornering throws, etc. etc. and the bottom line says Won xx Lost x with y ERA of x.xx while the number of strikeouts will be relegated to nothing more than a footnote in the report.
The win-loss column for a record-breaking pitcher is what buys the food.
Do you have any idea how that Win / Loss record and good ERA report was achieved? Well, give me a call and hit me right, but I’m telling you, the team is what provided that win-loss record.
One of the best pitchers to ever hit the rubber on the mound was Walter Johnson, he was absolutely phenomenal and His win-loss record defies logic because he pitched for the Washington Senators. one of the worst teams in winning percentage of any team in professional baseball. Walter Johnson won game after game, but his fellow defenders were, by all accounts, dismayed at best.
If you use the Walter Johnson case to defend the mentality of blacking them out as the best option for a pitcher, then maybe I should eat my old straw hat and fold up my tent.
The modern-era control pitchers that support my thesis are Whitey Ford of the Yankees, Tom Glavine of the Braves and the Mets and now again with the Braves and Gregg Maddux of the Braves and now with the Padres. Again, not being totally one-way with an argument like “Rapid” Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians and Nolan Ryan of Texas fame and the all-time strikeout ace opens some holes in my premise of the deal. strikeouts.
This issue of longevity for all young pitchers should be a primary consideration in addition to accepting the game as a play of teammates and teamwork.
Choosing a pitcher comes down to honing your pitching game to use precision or control to place the baseball on the plate in the most disadvantaged spot, taking the weakness out of hitters’ ability to get a good beating in. the ball. Accuracy or control of the throw is more important than the overwhelming fireball attempting the stikeout.
The most critical and most important thing for a pitcher is to have complete mastery of CONTROL where his pitch crosses that home plate. Remember that the strike zone is across that plate, which is exactly 17 inches wider across the chest at the armpit and up to the top of the knees, which is about 30 inches wide.
This 17 “by 30” box or window is where the pitcher needs to control each pitch and get the ball into that box or window getting as close to the outer corners or edges of that imaginary window as possible.
The pitchers’ mindset and thoughts should be a pure concentration of field control and location (Forget Strike Out Mindset). Strikes will come by bushels when strictly based on pitching control.
A boy or a girl, with the sparkle in their eyes, who wants to be a pitcher needs to train with the concentration of a monastery monk with a total fixation on the art of placing that ball towards the edge of that box / window. The trained habit of body movement, movement of the arms and body in synchronized action, should always be in perfect harmony with the arm’s reach and the leg kick.
If the fundamental rule for shooters is CONTROL, the next rule is never, never aim the shot. A pitcher is only a pitcher if he has the ability to throw that ball using the action of his trained body to routinely swing back, come forward, and let the apple find its way home.
In essence, learn to get into the rhythm with natural and consistent use of your legs, full body weight, and the full extension of the throwing arm that allows the action. This must be converted into a learned automatic muscle movement, that allows that constant and consistent movement. Pitching CONTROL we so desperately seek.
A little tip is to learn to move your wrist at the precise second the ball leaves your fingertips. What did you say to do? I said move your wrist. Since my experience in pitching is limited, it escapes me to be definitive in the nuances of pitching; however, I have been led to believe that the movement of the cocked wrist when released increases the speed of the ball.
Relentless day after day of repetitive throwing practice to gain fixation of body movement and focus on a powerful and precise throwing arm swing, while reach and extension with precise throwing of the ball will make it all happen. .
Now I have painted a verbal picture of what the purpose of the launcher should be. Practice to the point where each pitch consistently enters that imaginary window. There is no talk of throwing over 90 miles per hour or making the ball curve, slide or fall, or do any of the things we hear so much about.
The true art of pitching is in the ability to control where the pitch ends at home plate. A pitcher with mastery of control in his delivery of every pitch in his arsenal of talents is a guaranteed winning pitcher. Throwing what we call smoke and dippy curveballs is part of the arsenal the launcher uses from his cache of ammunition.
So many words to get us to this point that is the heart and soul of every good pitcher. CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL. Everything else is just the beautiful frosting or frosting on the cake.
Now come back with me to what we used as the title of this lesson Strike Outs — It could be a pitcher’s mistake. A pitcher out there on the pitcher’s mound tapping the plate, pitch after pitch, with control of every pitch at his disposal, doesn’t even need to think about striking out the batter. Controlled throwing puts the pitcher ahead of the batter. The batter in the batter’s box only has a fraction of a second of time to figure out where in the window the little white baseball will enter. The pitcher knows where he wants his pitch to be.
The place where the pitch is to be thrown is always in the weak area studied of the batter standing in the batter’s box. Coaches, catchers, and the pitcher have observed and studied the hitting habits and ability of most of the players they face in games. The end result is that the pitcher has handcuffed the batter by throwing strikes to the batter’s weakness.
The batter will often hit the ball going into play, but will not hit the ball or hit the blue darts. He will more consistently hit lazy pop-ups or easy grounders that the fielding defense handles with ease.
Now you see that the wisdom of a pitcher using his concentration and pitch control is worth more than thinking about strikeouts. The fundamental rule of any sport is a team effort that leads to victory.
