Pitching Tip

Here's another baseball pitching tip... You must be able to speed the bat up and slow the bat down. No two pitches in a given at-bat should be the same speed. A pitcher should always be looking for ways to make the hitter lunge out in front of a pitch (by slowing the ball down) or swing late through the zone (by increasing the relative speed between pitches). This does not mean a pitcher should be less aggressive with his fastball; it merely means that he should not throw every fastball at 100% velocity (indeed, max-effort is a bad thing in the vast majority of cases). There is a sweet spot in any mature pitcher's delivery where he can throw easy strikes with good velocity. This is the base from which all other pitches (both offspeed and the "reaching back for something extra" fastball) are built. Lots of guys in the big leagues throw as hard as Pedro Martinez, but no one else in that class can change speeds like he does. That's why some 95 MPH fastballs get laced, while others blow right past the best hitters in the world. And watching the master of changing speeds (Greg Maddux) throw an 84 MPH fastball right past those best hitters is fun. Learn from the pros and change speeds! Steve Ellis - former Chicago Cub Pitcher