“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? …
While being involved in public education for the past twenty years, I have come to accept the constant scrutiny in teaching techniques. There always seems to be pressure to come up with a better way to educate today’s youth; invariably, the public asks educators to get back to basics. I believe there is the same …
At the college level, the pitcher is the most often injured player, nearly twice as often injured as a position player, and the throwing mechanism (shoulder, elbow, forearm, and wrist) suffers the highest rate of injury of any of the various body parts. At a high level of play, it is important that a coach …
Four-seam fastball – Maximum velocity and should have best command. This is the most important pitch because everything else works off of it.Two-seam fastball (a.k.a. sinker) – This fastball does just that, it sinks. A very good pitch for inducing ground balls. Cut-fastball – Holding the ball slightly off center, it will run away from the arm side. …
FASTBALL A four-seam fastball is a variant of the straight fastball. The four-seam fastball is a pitch that is used often by the pitcher to get ahead in the count or when he needs to throw a strike. This type of fastball is intended to have minimal lateral movement.There are two general ways to throw …
How to Throw Basic Pitches: Fastballs, Curve and the Circle Change Read More »
Throwing a ball is one of the fastest known human actions, but with the use of high speed videotape, computer programs, and muscle testing devices, researchers, bio-mechanists and coaches are able to study and analyze the throwing motion in specific detail. For a coach, the use of video analysis, even done with a regular VCR, …
Blocking Is The Easy Part – It is common knowledge among youth baseball and softball coaches that the one play most responsible for scoring runs is not the blast over the fence or the shot in the gap; it’s the passed ball. As coaches we often find ourselves asking why is it so difficult for …
Common Causes of Pitching Arm Injuries Coach Bill Thurston, Amherst College (MA) The most common causes of pitching arm injuries to high school, college and professional pitchers are overload, overuse, lack of proper conditioning, and improper throwing mechanics. Overload is the result of throwing too many pitches during one outing. Maximum pitch counts for various …
