Pitching With Eyes Closed

Posted on February 20, 2008 - Filed Under Pitching | Leave a Comment

Being from the NY-Metro area, I’m a big Mets fan and regularly watch SNY (the Mets’ cable TV network). This evening one of their on-air personalities, Kevin Burkhardt, was reporting on the Mets’ spring training and one of his big news items was the fact that Pedro Martinez was pitching with his eyes closed.
First […]

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Pitching: Dragging the Back Foot

Posted on February 17, 2008 - Filed Under Pitching | 2 Comments

The other day I went to a batting center that included tunnels where pitching lessons were being taught. Over and over I heard the same phrase from the instructor: “drag your back foot!”.
To me that sounded a bit perplexing, and thought perhaps the coach was teaching the change-up. After ten minutes, I realized the […]

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Why You Should Watch Tom Glavine

Posted on September 19, 2007 - Filed Under Pitching | Leave a Comment

Pitchers of all ages should do what they can to watch Tom Glavine pitch at least a few times this year. Glavine has been, and remains, the consummate pitcher’s pitcher — a guy who relies on guile rather than overpowering stuff to succeed.
Glavine never threw very hard — even in his youth — and […]

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Learn to Breathe

Posted on July 19, 2007 - Filed Under General, Fitness, Hitting, Pitching | Leave a Comment

Learn to breathe? Who needs to “learn” how to breathe? Didn’t we figure that out about three seconds after emerging from the womb?
Well, yeah, but, not really.
You learned to breathe to survive, not necessarily for optimum efficiency. Possibly, some knucklehead gym teach along the way taught you puff out your chest and suck […]

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Pitching Bullpens: Plan and Focus

Posted on May 21, 2007 - Filed Under Pitching | Leave a Comment

Have you ever seen a pitcher who has plenty of talent — live arm, sound mechanics, good movement — but can’t seem to convert it to performance in a game?
Most often, the problem is with command. He may have good velocity, but gets too much of the plate or is too high in the […]

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Batting Practice: Get the Bunts Down

Posted on April 12, 2007 - Filed Under Pitching | Leave a Comment

Bunting is a widely unappreciated, largely unpracticed skill. And it shouldn’t be that way, because a well-placed bunt can be just as important in scoring a run. Furthermore, bunting is a skill that can be easily developed and mastered by anyone who is willing to work at it. You don’t need incredible strength, fast […]

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Pitching Backward

Posted on April 3, 2007 - Filed Under Pitching | 1 Comment

A few weeks ago, Stephen Ellis touched on the strategy of pitching backward at his great blog StevenEllis.com.
Pitching “backward” relies on the concept of “fastball counts” or “batter’s counts”– in other words, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1, 3-0. Any batter worth his salt is going to be looking for a fastball when he is ahead on […]

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Breaking in Your Baseball Glove

Posted on February 20, 2007 - Filed Under Equipment, General, Pitching | Leave a Comment

For much of North America — particularly in the colder climates — the baseball season is right around the corner. That means it’s time to pull your baseball glove out of the closet and get it ready for the upcoming season — or buy a new one and start breaking it in.
There are at […]

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Catching: How to Frame

Posted on December 26, 2006 - Filed Under Catching, Pitching | Leave a Comment

Nearly every young catcher I meet is either proud to show me how well he can frame a pitch, or he wants to know how to do it.
So here I will teach all about framing, for the masses who do not have the pleasure to learn from me. However, you may be unhappy with what […]

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Establish Your Fastballs

Posted on June 28, 2006 - Filed Under Pitching | Leave a Comment

Whenever I start working with a young pitcher - the first thing I ask is “what pitches do you throw?”. Invariably, — be he a 12-year-old Little Leaguer or a 22-year-old college hurler — the pitcher claims to throw at least three or four pitches in addition to “a fastball”.
Without going any further, let’s clear […]

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