The most important player on the field to any ball club is the player who starts every play. There is not a coach alive who wouldn't take the top pitcher over the top hitter if given the choice. 60 feet 6 inches away stands a young man who has the ability to dictate the outcome of the game. Although I am dramatizing the art of pitching it does not change the fact that he is the dealer in this card game.
Just Deal! That is a phrase I have uttered over and over to our pitching staff. It is phrase that simply means: clear your head, know your location, and let it go. Just deal baby! I think we can all agree that we want our pitchers to deal. We want them confident and in charge. We want them to believe in their stuff. We want them ready to start dealing on the first pitch.
I was always concerned as a coach with my starting pitcher in the 1st and 5th innings. I was also always concerned with our pitcher the inning after we scored. Especially if we had a long inning scoring multiple runs. The concept we are going to discuss however will only deal with the first inning and the pregame pen.
If he is not ready to go at the start then the first inning has a chance to be disastrous. How many times have you seen a pitcher struggle through the first inning before settling down and throwing a great game. It is always a good sign of mental toughness when you can get off to a bad start and continue to stay focused while battling back. It is a skill we talk about at great length to our pitchers. My goal however, is not to have to use that skill because we want to get off to a good start.
The best defense to making sure the game goes as planned is to be prepared mentally and physically before you throw that first pitch. I want to focus more on the physical part of building confidence in this post today. This is a skill that can be practiced and repeated if both the coach and player buy in.
I have written in previous articles that the two biggest things I believe in as a coach are trust and building processes. They go hand in hand. When you build processes I believe that players will trust themselves and their ability more. That's exactly what we do with our pre-game pen. We build and follow a process to prepare ourselves. It is very similar to the process we throw our pens in practice. This allows our pitchers to become very comfortable in their job.
I have seen opposing pitchers routinely go to the pen when we play without any rhyme or reason to what they are trying to accomplish. Some throw for maybe 5 minutes and then go sit for 20 minutes until they hit the mound. I have seen others throw a pen and never work once out of the stretch. We played a State Championship game one year and the opposing teams pitcher played catch with his catcher for about 10 minutes and his catcher never once squatted down for him to throw a pitch.
This kid was a stud pitcher too! In fact he did a great job of holding us down. We managed a couple of early runs before he was ready and another late when he started to tire. Those runs won us a State Championship. Would the outcome have been different had the player prepared a different way? There is no way to know the answer to that question but I believe the pre-game pen is crucial to a pitchers success.
You need to adjust your pre-game pen for each pitcher based on their personal ability. Here is a base sample of the process we used with our pitchers. We use a 6 step approach to physically prepare our pitchers. For this example we will use a 4 o'clock starting time for the game.
Step #1
We will have our pitcher stretch and play catch with the team. Depending on whether we are home or away will determine what time the pitcher is throwing. Usually the time frame is between 3:25 - 3:35. Our pitcher and catcher will play catch until the pitcher feels loose. We want him to get loose but we don't want him throwing his out arm in warm-ups. He will have plenty of opportunity in the pen to build himself up to game speed.
Once he is loose both he and the catcher will head to the dugout. Pitcher and catcher will both dress in full uniform for the pen. Our players warm up in t-shirts then put their jersey on right before the game. We want our pitcher to throw his pregame pen in his jersey. I know this seems like such a small detail but throwing in a t-shirt and throwing in a jersey have a slight difference in feel. Always remember, it is the little details that decide big games.
Step #2
The next step is we have our pitcher head to the outfield and run a pole or two depending on the pitcher to loosen up the body and get the heart, muscles, and blood flowing. We want the pitcher to have this done by 3:40. While this is happening we want our catcher to finish gearing up and have two game balls and a plate if necessary.
Step #3
The pitcher, catcher, and a coach will head over to the pen. The pitcher will stretch and warm-up the muscles in his arms using tubing attached to a fence. This should take place from 3:40-3:45. At 3:45 we want to begin throwing our pen so all this work needs to be completed by then. A special note: if possible send a coach to the pen with the pitcher and catcher. Players focus and work better when a coach is present.
Step #4
We begin our throwing with flatground. In flatground the catcher sits behind the plate like he always does and the pitcher will go through his flatground routine at 40 feet. Flatground is not thrown from the mound it is thrown from flatground. Our flat ground routine is based off of the follow sequences. Again depending on the pitcher may vary this slightly but this is the base routine.
We start in the wind-Up and we are throwing at 50% velocity. I want our pitchers to begin to develop feel and rhythm as they get loose here. Also, we have hitters in the box whenever possible for the pitcher to throw to and get a sense of game feel. AA stands for armside away. Rather then use inside/outside we use armside meaning the pitchers armside and armside away. This way it doesn't matter which hand pitcher is throwing or what side the batter is standing on.
Again, flatground is simply for finding our rhythm, tempo, timing, location, and feel for grips and spin. We always start armside away because it's the longest stretch on the pitchers arm.
Wind-Up
3 x 4 Seam FB AA
3 x 4 Seam FB A
2 x CH AA
2 x CH A
Stretch
3 x 2 Seam FB AA
3 x 2 Seam FB A
2 x CB For A Strike
2 x CB Down In the Zone (Imagine the catcher turned his glove over and set it on the ground)
Step # 5
Step 5 is nothing more then throwing a short pen. Our pitcher moves back onto the mound and our catcher will move up just in front of home plate. From here we will throw 5 fastballs at 75% velocity for a strike. All I want for our pitcher here is to get comfortable from the mound (provided you have one but we will follow this routine regardless). We will throw 5 fastballs to the catchers glove. We are just looking to throw strikes and build a little feel and confidence. Throwing short pen is a great confidence booster because it is easy!
Step #6
Our catcher moves back behind the plate and we begin throwing a regular length pen. We want our pitcher to start out throwing at about 90% velocity and this will build to the final pitch. Our last three pitches in the the pen will be an air it out finish. The routine is as follows.
Wind-Up
3 x 4 Seam FB AA
3 x 4 Seam FB A
3 x CH AA
3 x CH A
Stretch (We should be up 100% velocity at this point)
3 x 2 Seam FB AA
3 x 2 Seam FB A
3 x CB For A Strike
3 x CB Down In The Zone
We will finish with 3 air it out fastballs. We want the pitcher to throw hard and be less concerned with location other then to throw a strike. This may not make a lot of sense considering we preach location but we want our pitcher to end with a mindset that when I have to I am coming right at you with confidence! From here our pitcher will go to the dugout towel off and hit the field.
It should be noted here that I have in the past experimented with pitchers finishing there bull pens throwing sequences. Meaning changing pitch selection and location on consecutive pitches. An example would be going FB A to CH AA to CB for a strike to FB AA. Truth is I have never seen it make more difference then using a building block process. I believe in building the pitchers confidence through our process by giving him a routine that he will be successful throwing. This ensures he will take the mound with optimal confidence.
In Conclusion
I believe very strongly in our pre-game process for pitchers. These are the same drills they throw in practice everyday. It allows them to get very efficient at hitting locations at a high percentage. When game day comes they are simply repeating a process they work on everyday. This is a huge confidence builder and in the end confidence is the key!
The second thing I like about this routine is that the pitcher is not sitting around thinking too much. He is active and in charge of preparing to pitch. This helps keep his
nerves in check (as much as possible) and allows his natural ability to shine through. It allows him to start the first inning in a proper mental and physical state.
The third and final phase goes back to confidence again. The pitcher on the mound knows he has prepared for the game. He takes pride in his preparation and will begin to build an underlying confidence because he knows deep down he has put in the time to be successful. When players are on the field they know deep down how much they have prepared for this moment. They can lie with their words but deep down in the heart they know how much they truly deserve success. Once again this little detail could be the biggest difference in the game. Best of luck!
Just Deal! That is a phrase I have uttered over and over to our pitching staff. It is phrase that simply means: clear your head, know your location, and let it go. Just deal baby! I think we can all agree that we want our pitchers to deal. We want them confident and in charge. We want them to believe in their stuff. We want them ready to start dealing on the first pitch.
I was always concerned as a coach with my starting pitcher in the 1st and 5th innings. I was also always concerned with our pitcher the inning after we scored. Especially if we had a long inning scoring multiple runs. The concept we are going to discuss however will only deal with the first inning and the pregame pen.
If he is not ready to go at the start then the first inning has a chance to be disastrous. How many times have you seen a pitcher struggle through the first inning before settling down and throwing a great game. It is always a good sign of mental toughness when you can get off to a bad start and continue to stay focused while battling back. It is a skill we talk about at great length to our pitchers. My goal however, is not to have to use that skill because we want to get off to a good start.
The best defense to making sure the game goes as planned is to be prepared mentally and physically before you throw that first pitch. I want to focus more on the physical part of building confidence in this post today. This is a skill that can be practiced and repeated if both the coach and player buy in.
I have written in previous articles that the two biggest things I believe in as a coach are trust and building processes. They go hand in hand. When you build processes I believe that players will trust themselves and their ability more. That's exactly what we do with our pre-game pen. We build and follow a process to prepare ourselves. It is very similar to the process we throw our pens in practice. This allows our pitchers to become very comfortable in their job.
I have seen opposing pitchers routinely go to the pen when we play without any rhyme or reason to what they are trying to accomplish. Some throw for maybe 5 minutes and then go sit for 20 minutes until they hit the mound. I have seen others throw a pen and never work once out of the stretch. We played a State Championship game one year and the opposing teams pitcher played catch with his catcher for about 10 minutes and his catcher never once squatted down for him to throw a pitch.
This kid was a stud pitcher too! In fact he did a great job of holding us down. We managed a couple of early runs before he was ready and another late when he started to tire. Those runs won us a State Championship. Would the outcome have been different had the player prepared a different way? There is no way to know the answer to that question but I believe the pre-game pen is crucial to a pitchers success.
You need to adjust your pre-game pen for each pitcher based on their personal ability. Here is a base sample of the process we used with our pitchers. We use a 6 step approach to physically prepare our pitchers. For this example we will use a 4 o'clock starting time for the game.
Step #1
We will have our pitcher stretch and play catch with the team. Depending on whether we are home or away will determine what time the pitcher is throwing. Usually the time frame is between 3:25 - 3:35. Our pitcher and catcher will play catch until the pitcher feels loose. We want him to get loose but we don't want him throwing his out arm in warm-ups. He will have plenty of opportunity in the pen to build himself up to game speed.
Once he is loose both he and the catcher will head to the dugout. Pitcher and catcher will both dress in full uniform for the pen. Our players warm up in t-shirts then put their jersey on right before the game. We want our pitcher to throw his pregame pen in his jersey. I know this seems like such a small detail but throwing in a t-shirt and throwing in a jersey have a slight difference in feel. Always remember, it is the little details that decide big games.
Step #2
The next step is we have our pitcher head to the outfield and run a pole or two depending on the pitcher to loosen up the body and get the heart, muscles, and blood flowing. We want the pitcher to have this done by 3:40. While this is happening we want our catcher to finish gearing up and have two game balls and a plate if necessary.
Step #3
The pitcher, catcher, and a coach will head over to the pen. The pitcher will stretch and warm-up the muscles in his arms using tubing attached to a fence. This should take place from 3:40-3:45. At 3:45 we want to begin throwing our pen so all this work needs to be completed by then. A special note: if possible send a coach to the pen with the pitcher and catcher. Players focus and work better when a coach is present.
Step #4
We begin our throwing with flatground. In flatground the catcher sits behind the plate like he always does and the pitcher will go through his flatground routine at 40 feet. Flatground is not thrown from the mound it is thrown from flatground. Our flat ground routine is based off of the follow sequences. Again depending on the pitcher may vary this slightly but this is the base routine.
We start in the wind-Up and we are throwing at 50% velocity. I want our pitchers to begin to develop feel and rhythm as they get loose here. Also, we have hitters in the box whenever possible for the pitcher to throw to and get a sense of game feel. AA stands for armside away. Rather then use inside/outside we use armside meaning the pitchers armside and armside away. This way it doesn't matter which hand pitcher is throwing or what side the batter is standing on.
Again, flatground is simply for finding our rhythm, tempo, timing, location, and feel for grips and spin. We always start armside away because it's the longest stretch on the pitchers arm.
Wind-Up
3 x 4 Seam FB AA
3 x 4 Seam FB A
2 x CH AA
2 x CH A
Stretch
3 x 2 Seam FB AA
3 x 2 Seam FB A
2 x CB For A Strike
2 x CB Down In the Zone (Imagine the catcher turned his glove over and set it on the ground)
Step # 5
Step 5 is nothing more then throwing a short pen. Our pitcher moves back onto the mound and our catcher will move up just in front of home plate. From here we will throw 5 fastballs at 75% velocity for a strike. All I want for our pitcher here is to get comfortable from the mound (provided you have one but we will follow this routine regardless). We will throw 5 fastballs to the catchers glove. We are just looking to throw strikes and build a little feel and confidence. Throwing short pen is a great confidence booster because it is easy!
Step #6
Our catcher moves back behind the plate and we begin throwing a regular length pen. We want our pitcher to start out throwing at about 90% velocity and this will build to the final pitch. Our last three pitches in the the pen will be an air it out finish. The routine is as follows.
Wind-Up
3 x 4 Seam FB AA
3 x 4 Seam FB A
3 x CH AA
3 x CH A
Stretch (We should be up 100% velocity at this point)
3 x 2 Seam FB AA
3 x 2 Seam FB A
3 x CB For A Strike
3 x CB Down In The Zone
We will finish with 3 air it out fastballs. We want the pitcher to throw hard and be less concerned with location other then to throw a strike. This may not make a lot of sense considering we preach location but we want our pitcher to end with a mindset that when I have to I am coming right at you with confidence! From here our pitcher will go to the dugout towel off and hit the field.
It should be noted here that I have in the past experimented with pitchers finishing there bull pens throwing sequences. Meaning changing pitch selection and location on consecutive pitches. An example would be going FB A to CH AA to CB for a strike to FB AA. Truth is I have never seen it make more difference then using a building block process. I believe in building the pitchers confidence through our process by giving him a routine that he will be successful throwing. This ensures he will take the mound with optimal confidence.
In Conclusion
I believe very strongly in our pre-game process for pitchers. These are the same drills they throw in practice everyday. It allows them to get very efficient at hitting locations at a high percentage. When game day comes they are simply repeating a process they work on everyday. This is a huge confidence builder and in the end confidence is the key!
The second thing I like about this routine is that the pitcher is not sitting around thinking too much. He is active and in charge of preparing to pitch. This helps keep his
nerves in check (as much as possible) and allows his natural ability to shine through. It allows him to start the first inning in a proper mental and physical state.
The third and final phase goes back to confidence again. The pitcher on the mound knows he has prepared for the game. He takes pride in his preparation and will begin to build an underlying confidence because he knows deep down he has put in the time to be successful. When players are on the field they know deep down how much they have prepared for this moment. They can lie with their words but deep down in the heart they know how much they truly deserve success. Once again this little detail could be the biggest difference in the game. Best of luck!
I agree with everything except for the arm band portion. It tears your muscle fibers which is unnecessary for pre-game warmup.
ReplyDeleteYogi Berra once said that baseball is 90 percent mental; the other half is physical ;)
ReplyDeletehttps://scoutee.wordpress.com/2015/03/30/8-simple-tricks-to-improve-pitchers-mental-strength/