|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TJBP Philosophy on Pitching and Hitting
|
|
|
|
I feel that efficiency of movement is the one aspect of baseball instruction that is never really stressed upon. What I look for in players I work with, is the amount of wasted energy/force in a swing or throw. If we can get the athlete to channel his force production in a direction befitting the target or pitched ball, he/she will consequently hit the ball farther or throw with greater velocity, this all happening without even getting into the physiological development of the player through the aspects of strength and conditioning. A task that is easier said than done. Things to consider: height and weight of the player, tempo of movement, limb position at all times through the movement, initial physiological development of the player, mental capacity of the individual, and most importantly, the neural/motor control the player has over his/her body.
|
|
|
Here's a list of important approaches:
(click on any of the listed approaches to see more detail about it)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I do not believe in gimmicks. Gimmicks are just an easy way to make fast money. You will not see a lot of complicated drills or expensive pieces of equipment at my facility. I believe the best way to correct an incorrect baseball movement is to do so with the mind. For example, let’s say a player is striding open at the plate, or "stepping in the bucket." The first thing coaches will try to do is close the stance or do some drill where an object is placed beside the stride foot to alert immediate feedback of an open stride. First of all, we do not just stride open in a mindless drift to the pitched ball. Our "minds" took us there. Maybe not by a direct thought or command, maybe indirectly with the "thoughts" of "I think this pitcher will hit me with the ball", or "I think he is going to come inside with this pitch", or the king of all reasons for striding open "I want to pull the ball." We are born with the ability to pull the baseball. Get a non-baseball player in a cage and soft-toss a ball to them without queuing them at all. The result will be a hooked swing with a result of a ball that was pulled. We are stronger machines in the pull position, thus the mind wants us to get out in front and get the ball early. The only drawback is that successful pitchers know this, and will consistently locate the ball to the outside corner. Even a novice coach knows you can’t for the most part pull an outside pitch. In order to correct him/her of this open stride problem, get the player to think differently at the plate...otherwise known as the approach. We will not stride open if we are thinking the right thoughts at the right time. And there was no drill or equipment other than the human mind used in the correction. Maybe that would be my patented gimmick…selling thoughts!? Now the player did not fix the problem because he did a drill correctly, rather developed a thought process that will enable him to hit any pitch at any time to the correct side of the diamond all the while, sensory corrective mechanisms alerted the player of the adjustments to be made. Now, that was just an example for one common error in one facet of the game. But, all aspects can be mastered with the right thought processes.
I can get a player to master just about any task in baseball…literally. With enough perfect repetitions, the motor skill will be engrained. Now the question becomes, can the athlete carry out these skills when it counts, at any time, no matter the fatigue level or environmental conditions? Parents will come to me and say "I’m not sure if my son is a pitcher, I was hoping you’d be able to tell me after a couple of lessons". My response is that everybody is a pitcher. In the simplest definition of the word, a pitcher is someone who throws a ball at a target over and over. Then a shortstop who fields a ball now becomes a pitcher. And the movements to deliver a ball to first base are nearly identical as that of a pitcher only the shortstop is under a time limit because of the runner. Frankly, pitchers have an easier job because they get to move at their own pace and make sure that everything is set before delivery. But are the pitchers able to make a pitch with precision when tired, sore, in cold weather, with wet baseballs, hostile crowds, tough opposing lineups, weak fielders etc. My techniques will get the player to be so focused on executing exactly what has to happen and when to happen for each pitch, so that all the external factors do not make a difference. This is the greatest challenge for a coach. The same can be said for coaching hitters as well.
|
|
|
|
Some of the aforementioned approaches (and the deatils below) to teaching pitching and hitting are hard to grasp. I have gone through many teaching styles in the last 8 years and have cut away the fat to what I documented here. I know these methods to be the most effective for players to grasp, at any level to be able to perform the necessary skills on the baseball field.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PITCHING
|
|
Master the four seam fastball.
|
[back ^]
|
|
|
Master the four-seam fastball before moving on to any other pitch. Perfect spin, consistent velocity, and an above 90% location success percentage. Two- seamers, change ups, curves, sliders etc. are hard enough to master and I think all are variations of the four seam fastball.
|
|
|
|
|
Off-speed pitch progression.
|
[back ^]
|
|
|
A good progression for learned off-speed pitch progression is from the four seam fastball, to change-up, to cut-fastball, to slider to curve to specialty pitches. The order will help a pitcher develop off-speed pitches in a progressive fashion, with the next pitch building on the hand position of the previous one.
|
|
|
|
|
Proper warm-up for the pitching body as well as the pitching mind.
|
[back ^]
|
|
|
Start your pre-game, pre-practice warm-up with the change up, as long as the change up is a "fastball" changeup, meaning, it spins like a fastball, and the hand speed is that of a fastball. Doing this will help keep the most important of all off-speed pitches, the changeup, at the highest level of development, while getting the arm ready for competition. It keeps a player focused on a task during warm-up throwing. I find that most of the time young players have no real concept of how to properly get ready for a game or practice. There is never a consistency in grip, timing of hand separation, shoulder angles, and extension. The players are usually at around 90 feet in 8 throws. This is the main cause of youth arm injuries, not the curve ball.
|
|
|
|
|
Learn to locate to the extension side of the plate.
|
[back ^]
|
|
|
Pitchers need to learn how to consistently locate to the extension side of the plate, left side for right-handers and right side of the plate for lefties. This is the hardest location to throw to correctly but it is also the hardest pitch for a throwing-arm-side hitter to drive. Hitters are weaker machines when they have to let the ball get deep and go the other way. We were born to pull the ball, as mentioned earlier. Coaches will see whenever a right-handed pitcher fails in his delivery at any point, the ball runs, for the most part high and to the right. Simply put, right-handers, can throw to the inside corner without doing one thing correctly. When locating to the extension side of the plate becomes easy all other locations are now easily attained with less effort…efficiency.
|
|
|
|
|
Get on the mound as much as possible.
|
[back ^]
|
|
|
It is the place of work for pitchers so they should spend as much time there as possible. We need to get the kids to feel comfortable on the mound. No better way to do that than to log more mound time. We need a relaxed, focused mind set when on the mound. But the only time a kid is on the mound is in a game or when being evaluated by a coach. Maybe take a day when the first thing the pitcher does is get on the mound and goes through his normal practice warm up routine only on the slope of the mound. No better way to get comfortable with a location than to spend time there.
|
|
|
|
|
Control the effort level of the pitchers during the week.
|
[back ^]
|
|
|
I believe it is not the curve ball that hurts kids arms but the amount of throwing they do at an intensity of as hard as they can, as mentioned before. Kids are not strong enough in the flexors and extensors of the forearm muscles, ligaments, tendons etc. to throw curve balls correctly, so wait until strength gets better. All too often I see kids warm up as hard as they can throw to impress whoever. This is the main reason for youth arm problems. And more times than not, the pitchers are your shortstops or third basemen so the demand is too great for them seven days a week. There has to be a varying of throwing intensity monitored by the coach.
|
|
|
|
|
Learn the curve ball at 60 feet 6 inches.
|
[back ^]
|
|
|
Teach the curveball to the pitcher when the mound stops getting farther away. A 12 year old may learn a good curve at 54-56 feet but then a year later has to relearn it at 60 feet 6 inches. Once again, the pitcher is not strong enough, yet, to throw it correctly at this distance so they compensate. Stick with the off-speed progression of changeup, cutter, slider, and curve. If it takes a couple of years to learn once at sixty feet six inches then so be it.
|
|
|
|
|
Be perfect as much as possible.
|
[back ^]
|
|
|
Poise is hard to teach. It only comes when the pitcher is confident in all facets of his pitching repertoire. Stress perfect repetition and perfect thought processes, so poise can be attained as early as possible.
|
|
|
|
|
Teach the body to absorb force, create force, create force at a high velocity, and at velocity many times over.
|
[back ^]
|
|
|
Strength and conditioning is highly important. We cannot operate as machines in a consistent manner until we learn to absorb force, to better create force, into the ground with the feet and elicit efficient movements over and over. Limb angles are extremely important in force development. Training in the extreme position and teaching the body to absorb force maintaining position so as to be able to create force consistently with velocity is the most effective way to do so.
|
|
|
|
HITTING
|
|
Comfortable stance.
|
[back ^]
|
|
|
Keep the stance as comfortable as possible. A player should be able to hold the hitting stance for about 2-3 minutes without getting tired. If this cannot be done there is probably unnecessary positioning of the body. The part of the swing that will expend the most energy has to be the bat to ball, contact, and through the ball, not the stance, trigger, or stride.
|
|
|
|
|
Stay neutral or square.
|
[back ^]
|
|
|
Keep the stance for the most part square, with the toes lined up in a line to the pitcher, or a little closed or a little open. Being overly closed or open are specialty stances. The only reason players in the big leagues do it is because they have tried a number of different stances and have found theirs to be the most effective for them. Young players are not good/ strong enough to handle a closed/open stance. In addition, they are giving up a side of the plate with the respective stances. Keep them neutral so they are able to learn how to hit every pitch location and develop from there.
|
|
|
|
|
Look for the fastball away and adjust.
|
[back ^]
|
|
|
Anticipate the pitch as being a fastball to the outside corner, every time. This approach can be used at any level. It will keep the hitter on the balls of his feet with his thoughts out over the plate. The natural thought of the hitter is to pull the ball. We are stronger machines with the middle to inside pitches. We do not want to hit the ball away, being that we are in a weaker position. Pitchers will consistently locate to the outside corner. This is a fact. And if off-speed pitches are thrown, they are located to the outer half, for the most part. The argument then becomes, what about the inside fastball. My thought, what about it? The inside fastball is not thrown to paint the corner for a strike. It is used to knock a guy off the plate to set up for an outside pitch. You will see as coaches that if the approach is look fastball away and adjust, if balance is maintained, a hitter will have no problem getting to the inside pitch. The exception being a pitcher who throws 91-94 mph. With that kind of speed, it will be hard to catch up to an inside fastball, but even then, how many inside fastballs are going to be thrown? If a 93 mph fastball is left over the plate, it will still get hit hard and far. Even with 2 strikes the look fastball away and adjust method still works. There is no reason a hitter can’t hit a 2 strike home run. I think hitters become too defensive with 2 strikes.
|
|
|
|
|
Learn to lay off the curve without two strikes.
|
[back ^]
|
|
|
Do not give into curveballs in a non two-strike count. Not many hitters are good curveball hitters. If they are then they are not good fastball hitters. Pat Burrell, currently of the Philadelphia Phillies, was a very good off-speed pitch hitter in college. He was the number one player in the nation in 1998. My teammate, who threw a fastball at about 80 mph, slider at 71, and a change up / split at 74, struck Burrell out on fastballs. It looked like the balls were thrown right by him. Now, Pat Burrell can handle 80 mph fastballs but he was looking off speed because that is all he would see that year from opposing pitchers. Hitters do pitchers a favor when they swing at curveballs early in the count. The chances of a pitcher throwing 3 curveballs in a row for strikes are very slim. A hitter could theoretically go through an entire season and only hit fastballs. Have the mentality that you are going to swing at every pitch until you tell yourself not to swing. You will stay aggressive and have the discipline to not swing at a curveball until you have to protect with two strikes. Now a hanging curveball will be just like an inside fastball, the hitter will swing out of sheer instinct. I hear all the time a coach say to his hitters, "Watch out for this pitcher’s curveball. He has a good one." So now the hitters are all concerned about a pitch they can’t hit well anyway, which will take away from their aggressiveness on fastballs. Lay off curveballs until two strikes. Be good enough to put curveballs in play with two strikes. Strikeouts are going to happen from time to time. We do not strive to accomplish this but nonetheless, a reality for most. But how did we get to 2 strikes? Example, first pitch curveball swung on and fouled off. Strike one. Fastball away for a called strike two. Curveball in the dirt ball one. Curve ball weakly grounded out. Good at bat? Not at all. Why did the hitter swing at a low percentage of success first pitch? It changed the entire momentum of the at bat. A hitter will get pitches to hit every at bat. We just need to go up to the plate, every time, with the same approach…look fastball away and adjust. I teach my pitchers to locate the ball to the outside part of the plate, the side of the plate opposite the throwing arm, consistently. Hitters need to anticipate the fastball away, consistently.
|
|
|
|
|
3-Ball technique.
|
[back ^]
|
|
|
Teach the 3-ball rule for hitting through the ball. The idea is that for every ball that is thrown to, flipped, or hit off of a tee, the batter should see three baseballs in a horizontal line. Batters need to visualize this and when taking a swing, hit through the first two to the third ball. Most hitters will only hit the first one or two but rarely get through the third. And it is getting through the third ball where power is hidden. I know a lot of coaches teach hitting through the ball or extension, but this method gives the hitter something to visualize. It takes mental discipline to accomplish this which will develop the hitter even more completely.
|
|
|
|
|
Hit the top half of the ball.
|
[back ^]
|
|
|
Try to hit the top half of the ball when making contact. Most hitters will tell you they try to hit the middle of the ball. If we look at what side of the ball we swing and miss on for fastballs it is under the ball. Zoning in on the top half of the ball will elicit hard ground balls and if the bat drops at all, which it will naturally because of gravity, the contact point will be middle of the ball or slightly below the center. A lot of coaches teach to hit down on the ball and this is not how you want to swing. You want the bat on the plane of the ball for as long as possible. Hitting down on the ball is the same as swinging up at the ball only from the opposite angle. This style also will get young players to focus a little more on the most important piece of the game…the baseball.
|
|
|
|
|
Fire the hips instead of pivoting the back foot.
|
[back ^]
|
|
|
Stop telling young players to "squish the bug." This has to do with pivoting the back foot. The only reason our back foot should rotate is because of the hips firing through. A hitter can squish the bug and not do anything with his hips thus giving a false sense of accomplishment without really grasping where power comes from. A coach needs to tell a player that right at contact the hips need to pop through with intense force and aggressiveness.
|
|
|
|
|
Create force with the back foot into the ground.
|
[back ^]
|
|
|
Hitting is all about creating force off the back foot into the ground. We as coaches need to get hitters to learn to drive straight down into the ground with the back foot. Because the foot to ground contact is the first contact point of creating force, it needs to be stressed upon in the strength and conditioning of the hitter. Think about trying to hit a baseball while standing on ice. Practically impossible. We need the foot to ground contact to drive the baseball. Most young player’s back foot shifts all over the place at contact. I feel this is the main problem to overcome in the development of a hitter. Good hitters need to learn to fire every muscle in the body at contact so as to be able to absorb the force of the ball, create force back into the ball from the feet, legs, core, arms, hands, and bat, and create force at high velocity. Even the elite hitters of today don’t accomplish this. Those that learn to will take their game to the next level.
|
|
|
|
|
Avoid the two-handed finish.
|
[back ^]
|
|
|
I used to not worry about how a batter finished his/her swing. . Now I teach the one-handed finish across the board. It is a more efficient way to decelerate the bat thus convincing the mind that the bat can come through the zone at a higher velocity. Think about a pitcher stopping the hand immediately following release or try it yourselves. Very difficult, almost painful to accelerate the hand at max velocity and stop it abruptly. The same goes for a hitter. If there is more room/time to decelerate, bat speed can be increased.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
