Count Strikes…Not Strikeouts!
"Have you ever thrown the ball so hard that the umpire said JEEZ, that's so
hard I'm going to give you two strikes?" I asked the soon to be first round
draft pick. "Then you can't strike anyone out until you have two strikes. Is
it possible to get someone out on the first strike? No, not for you,
because you won't let anyone hit it! All you do is walk batters or strike them out!
Everyone hates you on the team because scouts are here and they don't get to
do anything! I'm going to make you the most popular pitcher on the team. The
next time you strike a batter out, I'm going to take you out of the game!!"
Sometimes you have to resort to drastic measures to make a point to some
players, particularly if they are a left handed pitcher that throws 94.
Players that are put on the mound must understand that they MUST throw
strikes and to be a Pitcher they must hit spots. My own son at age 12 was
hugely offended if a batter so much as hit a foul off him, but was
unaffected if he happened to walk 5 an inning.
Control can be learned between starts, in bullpen sessions. During these
pen sessions, a pitcher will throw a predetermined number of pitches. For a
12 year old this might be 35, for a high school pitcher 45 pitches. The
pitcher should be focused on making each delivery with perfect mechanics.
He should be throwing smoothly at only 75% velocity. He might throw 5
pitches at a spot down and away in the strike zone.
The next 5 to a spot up and in tight
in the strike zone. He should go through all his pitches, concentrating on
hitting particular spots repeatedly. Only on the last 5 pitches should he
throw with max velocity and these also should be delivered to a
predetermined spot in the strike zone. He must come to understand that the maximum
velocity he can throw the ball is that at which he can throw consistent
strikes and hit spots. It matters not how hard he can throw if he can not
throw strikes at that velocity.
A pitcher must understand his job is to induce the batter to hit a nice weak
2 hopper to the shortstop, preferably as early in the count as possible.
Just as a good hitter is trying to get the pitcher into counts where the
pitcher must challenge the batter with a pitch in the center of the plate,
the pitcher wants to induce the batter to swing and hit a pitch early in the
count that the batter has a low probability of driving for a hit. If the
pitcher gets ahead in the count early, he can continue to throw all his
repertory of pitches and not have to challenge the hitters and if he gets
two strikes then he can try to strike him out.
Pitchers that refuse to throw strikes are gutless or stupid or both.
Yours in baseball,
Coach Lambin raised & coached two talented T Ball players who have become the best baseball players they could be. His oldest played at Texas while his youngest currently is the shortstop for the powerful U of Louisiana Lafayette Rajun Cajuns.
Bruce has coached over 100 pro & college prospects and continually shows a keen eye for many overlooked aspects of the game. Read and you will learn!
Get your free instructional articles at www.baseballtips.com
Bruce Lambin
Back to: Baseball Tips