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 [...]

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 [...]

There are many people who believe the slider is the most deadly weapon in a pitcher’s arsenal. In fact, Ted Williams — the last Major League hitter to bat .400 and arguably the “Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived” — once told a young Sparky Lyle to throw the slider because, to quote Lyle: “Ted Williams [...]

Balance is the most important aspect of pitching. Without balance, there is no control. Without control, there are no strikes. Without strikes, there is no pitching. That said, a pitcher’s first goal — especially a beginning pitcher — should be to have balance from his first movement to his release.
Beginning the motion in balance is [...]

One of the greatest, most illogical blasphemies occurring at all levels of baseball is the notion of limiting the pitch count.
Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that a pitcher’s pitches in a game should be counted, and that the count can help a manager decide whether it’s time to pull a guy out. What [...]