"I’m not getting any
faster and she is faster than me."
These two phases are widely spoken and way too often
believed by young pitchers today.
Teaching
pitching is fifty percent fundamentals and fifty percent psych
training on pitchers who believe speed is the only ticket to
success. No one will argue that speed is a valuable asset for
a young pitcher, and it is most certainly impressive to watch
pitch after pitch smoke past a batter. Speed alone, without
any additional pitch selection, can be just as much a
liability as it is an asset.
There are a
couple guarantees when it comes to pitching, but one in
particular stands out: You will get older, and getting older
means moving on to more competitive leagues. If you relied on
that good old fastball, then do worry; you have
been blowing it by the batters for years, it will see me
through another year, or will it?
Batters have
the same obvious guarantee; they also move on to more advanced
competition. Just like pitchers, batters have coaches, and
they are teaching them how to hit the fastball. The
over-powering fastball that put a pitcher in the limelight for
years now has new competition…better trained hitters.
For every pitcher that works hard on the champion fastball,
there are several batters honing their over the fence skills.
The famous champion fastball of the past soon finds the
champion bat of the future.
The best
friend a pitcher can have is named variable speed. Today’s
batters have improved their bat speed, and throwing them
constant speed pitches plays directly into their game plan.
Variable speed, coupled with a champion fastball, is a
starting recipe for maintaining a lead on the improved hitting
skills of toady’s batters. Mixing in variable speed forces
the batter to make additional judgments during the trigger and
execution of the swing. This extra step in the
decision-making process can delay the swing response time of
the batter.
What is
variable speed? Your ability to pitch in your speed range,
not just your top speed. A variable speed pitch can be an
off-speed, curve, drop, or any pitch that takes the right
amount of speed off to get the ball to break, or get the
batter off balance. Understanding variable speed pitching
will improve you movement ball. Good pitchers know the
relationship between speed and spin.
Impairing the
judgment of the batter, no matter how slightly is a crucial
talent for a pitcher to possess. Half swings, check swings,
or even a slower bat speed are rewards for a pitcher that
successfully utilizes variable speed pitching in her game
plan.
Control
pitchers have leaned to control their pitch selection, not
just the strike zone. Learning to execute variable speed with
a good compliment of fastballs takes time to master. The
demanding timing discipline between the various pitching
speeds will require additional practice and dedication.
Choosing the
most effective pitch speed for reach batter takes a little bit
of experience. Determine the variable speed pitch to throw
and always ensure your defense is positioned to defend in the
event she hits it. The overall idea of variable speed is to
impair the batter’s judgment. Use variable speed to set-up
that champion fastball, or even take the bat out of the hands
of famous “mighty crusher” on the other team.
There will
always be batters that can react to the changes in pitch
speed, but staying ahead of the game on most requires
mastering variable speed. Learning the drop, rise and change
will help complicate matters more for opposing batters.
Good movement ball pitchers have
learned that controlling speed and spin on a ball produces
better movement.
Knowing how to control that speed will bring big
benefits to all your movement pitches. It is
always better to hear “Strike Three!” instead of “Hey Lady can
you get that ball from the parking lot.”
