Dominating the BOTTOM of the Zone

Hey There Friend!

A pitcher having great command of the strike zone is one of the most overlooked concepts in youth softball. So many pitchers, parents and coaches are focused on power and pitch development as a gauge for how successful their pitcher will become. I’m here to tell you that THE most important skill to work to master AFTER solid mechanics using full effort, is LOCATION.

A pitcher that can locate a fastball WHERE she wants to consistently, will create LOTS of outs for her team regardless of how hard she throws or how many other types of pitches she uses. That doesn’t mean that power and pitch development aren’t important, it just means that they are NOT more important than being able to LOCATE a fastball!

Hitting small spots within the strike zone consistently takes solid mechanics, full effort, and LOTS of practice. 

There are NO shortcuts to developing great command. Pitchers MUST invest the time to see the results!

Hitting spots allows pitchers:

• To exploit a hitter’s weakness
  
  • If a hitter can’t make solid contact on the inside half of the plate, all a pitcher must do is locate a pitch there 3 times before she misses. Many pitchers give up solid contact simply because they aren't good enough to that!
• To change the effective velocity of a pitch
  • A pitch that is up and in on a hitter will seem much faster than a pitch that is down and away. Being able to sequence your pitch locations to take advantage of "timing" is a HUGE part of creating outs!
• To pitch to their defense with confidence
  • If they need a ball hit to the left side of the infield, with a right-handed hitter at the plate, being confident throwing the ball on the inside half of the plate without missing is a big part of getting the result their team needs!
• To make pitch calling more efficient
  • Coaches that call pitches for pitchers that can't hit spots have a very difficult job. I'm not sure that I would even attempt calling pitches if my pitcher wasn't consistent at locating her pitches!
• To help their catcher be able to frame the ball
  • If a catcher can anticipate a ball being in a specific location, it makes it much easier for her to set up to catch and frame the zone well. Catchers that have pitchers that throw all over the zone have a much more difficult receiving them!
• To prove to the umpire that you deserve that strike call
  • Pitchers that are able to locate the ball in the same area consistently are often given more strike calls by umpires. This is because they have shown that they can paint the edges of the zone and earn the call!

The FIRST spot to work on mastering is the LOW zone.

Remember, a bat is long and skinny! There is much more room for hitters to MISS when a pitcher locates the ball up and down.

Pitchers that are able to throw the ball at the hitter's knees consistently get more week contacts than pitchers that leave the ball up in the hitter's legs...even if they are painting the corners in and out.

I've found that my pitchers do much better at understanding WHERE the ball is actually crossing the plate when we use something a simple as a rope or piece of elastic.

In the video above, the pitcher is throwing both a fastball and change-up BUT this could be done using only a fastball as well. Make sure your catchers pay attention to where they are giving a target. Team catchers need to be taught to look at the hitters knees and give the target in that area. Many parents that catch sit on a 5-gallon bucket which is fine...BUT they must pay attention to where they are holding their glove! I see a lot of "belt high" targets that are practiced hundreds of times during training. It's not a surprise to me that pitchers throw a lot of belt high pitches during games when this happens!

Try using a rope during your bullpens over the next few weeks. It makes quite a difference in understanding WHERE the ball is crossing the plate. A few inches in one direction or the other makes a HUGE difference in results!

Have a great weekend and I'll talk to you again next week!

All my BEST,

Myndie