Pitch Progression AND the Power of YET

Hi There Friend!

It’s fun to explore new pitches but it’s important to understand what your PRIORITIES should be as you move through your pitching journey.

Here’s my thoughts about when it’s time to learn something new AND the order I teach the different types of pitches.

• My priority with every pitcher I train is to help her build solid mechanics. The stronger your foundation, the easier it is to build on top of it AND the lower the chances of injuries in the future.
• You must find full effort within those strong mechanics.
  • Consistency with effort helps develop consistency with release point.
• I want pitchers to have solid command of the strike zone.
  • Work to be able to throw strikes AT LEAST 60% of the time with the fastball consistently BEFORE adding another pitch.
  • I DO encourage pitchers to work on both the 2 and 4-seam fastball! We will be taking about the 2-seam fastball more in the weeks to come!
    • Some pitchers will get a little natural movement with the 2-seam fastball which is a great way to give your fastball a different look to hitters while working to throw strikes well!

The FIRST pitch I want pitchers to develop, after they have command of the zone with a fastball, is a change-up or off-speed pitch. Hitting is all about being on time to contact and changing speeds is one of our biggest weapons to keep hitters guessing.

While developing your change-up, you should also be working on LOCATING your fastball to each zone – high, low, inside and outside.

I want my pitchers to be able to hit spots AND throw their change-up in the zone consistently BEFORE they start to invest a lot of time on other pitches.

All that being said, I think it’s great for pitchers at ANY age and skill level to work on spins.

Understanding HOW to turn the ball to get the ball to spin a certain direction with force takes time to figure out.

Working on spins also improves finger strength and coordination which will help with EVERY type of pitch thrown.

Learning correct spin, backward/up on a rise ball, sideways (towards glove side) on a curve ball and forward/down on a drop ball is the FIRST part of learning that pitch.

Typically, I teach the drop ball first, followed by rise or curve based a lot on which one the pitcher really WANTS to develop and is committed to investing time on frequently.

I want my students to work on developing ONE pitch at a time and focus on becoming exceptional at something, not average at many things.

More is NOT BETTER when it comes to how many types of pitches you throw!

If you can locate your fastball well, change speeds in the zone with confidence anytime in the count AND have one movement pitch, you are set up well to be a solid pitcher at any level!

Exceptional pitches take LOTS of reps over a LONG time to develop!

Don’t give up if you are struggling to learn something, keep investing and trying to improve a LITTLE bit each day. It’s super important to understand that just because you can’t do something YET, doesn’t mean you can’t do it. It simply means you must keep working!

Pitching is a journey, not a destination! It’s not about needing to know everything all at once or having to be good at everything by a set date.

It’s paying attention to the little details so that you can master each step along the way through setting small daily goals and attacking them.

It’s understanding that there will be ups and downs!

That just because you worked hard doesn’t guarantee success, but that the chances of success go up dramatically when you invest consistently at improving your skills.

You CAN do hard stuff!

Choose to do things that CHALLENGE you to step a little outside of your comfort zone if you really want to reach your potential!

You are built to learn through struggles and from mistakes! All things are difficult before they are easy!

Be proud of how far you’ve come, have faith in how far you can go and NEVER forget to have FUN and to enjoy the cool journey you are on!

All My BEST,

Myndie