ALL STAR BASEBALL ACADEMY TIP OF THE WEEK

Today’s All Star Baseball Academy Tip of the Week comes to us from Brian Walker, a business manager and instructor at ASBA Downingtown. Brian, a left-handed pitcher for the University of Miami and in the New York Mets organization, talked about the importance of being able to locate all of your pitches for balls along with strikes.

Brian noted that when a lot of kids throw their bullpens, they work on throwing all of their pitches over the plate. When a pitcher is ahead in the count 0-2 or 1-2, the hitter is going to swing at anything over the plate to avoid the strikeout. This is a good time to throw a “waste pitch,” or a pitch out of the strike zone to get the hitter to swing and miss. By working on throwing strikes in the bullpen, it becomes difficult to throw a pitch out of the strike zone that the hitter will want to swing out. An example of this is an 0-2 curveball in the dirt. If you don’t work on hitting a specific spot, like the back corner of the plate, then chances are that you’ll throw it several feet in front of the plate, which is unlikely for the batter to swing at.

In order to practice this, pitchers should work on throwing all of their pitches for balls. In a game, every pitch has a purpose. While it is called a waste pitch, the purpose of this pitch is to get the hitter to swing at a pitch that he can’t hit. As Brian points out, execution in practice equals execution in games. When a pitcher throws his bullpen in between starts/appearances, he should set aside a series of pitches that are thrown off the plate and high and low outside of the strike zone. The pitcher should let the catcher know in advance what he is working on so that the catcher is ready to block the ball.

First, the pitcher needs to identify his “out” pitch. If his out pitch is a curveball or slider, he needs to be able to throw it down the middle of the plate, but low and in the dirt. He should try to throw it so that it lands on the back corner of the plate. He can also throw it so that it starts on the outside corner and breaks away from the hitter and off the plate. If his out pitch is his changeup, he should work on throwing it 4-6 inches off the plate to both sides of the plate. He should also be able to throw it in the dirt. For a fastball, he should be able to throw it 4-6 inches off the plate and to both sides of the plate as well, and he should be able to elevate it chest-high to the batter over the plate.

Stay tuned for our next Tip of the Week. If you have any questions about pitching or want to schedule lessons, please contact your local ASBA facility.