Advice for JC pitcher

General Pitching Topics
#1

I’m currently 20 years old and am gonna be trying out for my junior college team this fall. I go to Bellevue Community College in Washington. I played baseball as much as possible when i was younger, made all the all star teams when in little league and played in the Sandy Koufax league when in 7th grade. I then became a little worn out on baseball and quit that summer, only two play two more seasons, my freshman year and senior year of high school. I’m was pretty much a pitcher only the last two seasons due to how far i was behind fielding wise, and that coaches believed i had to much raw talent pitching to waste my time fielding. I can throw in the upper 80’s, might be touching 90 or so now since working out so much, but i was clocked at 89 in high school. I throw a 4 seam, and a good moving 2 seam fastball, along with a circle change, and a 12 to (7-8 ) curve, also a good moving slider, lets just say i aim for the batters belt and can get it to hit at knee level on the outside corner. I’m putting in alot of time working out everyday and pitching atleast twice a week and am just looking for any advice or general knowledge that would be useful.

Thanks guys,
Brock Pugh

#2

[quote=“nightwalker1331”]I’m currently 20 years old and am gonna be trying out for my junior college team this fall. I go to Bellevue Community College in Washington. I’m putting in alot of time working out everyday and pitching atleast twice a week and am just looking for any advice or general knowledge that would be useful.

Thanks guys,
Brock Pugh[/quote]

I live in the area, Brock. I’ve heard that B’vue CC has a pretty good baseball program, with three kids drafted this year in the 2008 draft. They are consistently at the top of the standings and win more than their share of NWAACC titles.

While you may not be as polished as some of the guys who’ve been playing consistently since high school, if you have talent you’ll get a look. It might be a good idea to work with a pitching coach if you’re not already (maybe approach the school’s pitching coach and tell him of your intentions, then ask if he knows of a good pitching coach that you can work with. If you really hit the jackpot, he may invite you to workout for him, maybe throw a pen). Sharing your intentions with the coach may or may not help, but the key is not to be afraid to. “No Fear”. If he isn’t available or for some reason you have to find your own, I’ve heard good things about several in the area. Shoot me an instant message and I’ll send some names if you’re interested.

I wish you the best of luck, Brock. Let us know how you do.

Hose

#3

Hello, nightwalker.
First of all, your coaches were way off base when they said you had “too much raw talent”, etc., etc. Fielding the position is as essential a part of pitching as throwing the ball and daring the batter to hit it if he can, and one thing I would suggest here is getting a few guys together and work on this aspect. I remember when my pitching coach did this—he got what I thought were a few kids to be infielders and another one to hit grounders and such, and we spent a whole afternoon on fielding. (Later I found out that the guys he got for this practice session were not kids; they were a few of the Yankees’ second-line players and he thought I would enjoy getting some fielding practice with them.)
Second, you might think about repertoire—about stuff. You have some good pitches there; you might want to work on making one of them a devastating strikeout pitch and using the others to set it up. And you certainly want to sharpen up your control—that’s another thing too many pitchers overlook; I remember when the old Brooklyn Dodgers had a pitcher named Rex Barney about whom it was said he could throw a ball through a brick wall—but which building? He couldn’t find the plate to save himself, he was that wild.
My pitching coach used to say: “Move the ball around—high, low, inside, outside—and change speeds.” Believe me, he knew whereof he spoke. That’s the key to keeping the hitters off balance. You know, you can turn any pitch into a good changeup—that’ll give you twice as many pitches as you already have. And stay with it.
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