I’ve always struggled with pitching sequence. For some reason, I’ve only had one game where each pitch seemed to just fit after the previous one with strikeout after strikeout.
I’m looking for advice on what pitches (generally) shouldn’t follow other pitching…etc. I know it’s always good to be unpredictable, but I would still like to hear some opinions. Thanks.
Your age, weight, height and pitches would help to narrow it down.
I am 24, 150lbs, 5’8. I pitch about 75 in games, sometimes in the 80’s. I throw a 4/2 Seam FB, 2/8 Slider, 4 Seam curve 1/7?, Circle Change, 3-Finger change, Wichita Change, Splitter, etc. However, my main pitches are 4/2 Seam FB, 4 Seam Curve, and a Circle Change… My 4 Seam doesn’t usually have a bite, but my two seam depending on the day will cut back about 3-6 inches or drop a bit. My curve has a late break, and I use the circle change because it isn’t as noticable. I throw a great splitter, but since I’m not a big 2-Seamer it’s pretty noticable. Sorry if that was too descriptive. Hope that helps.
Pitch sequence is an "on the ground thing…All of it depends on what is working for you that day, who you are facing, what you are attempting to do. With your speed, I’d be pitching to contact, your 2 seamer sounds like a decent sinker, keep it out of the middle of the plate and down, A rule of thumb is to not be predictable…you’re not blowin it past many without first setting it up. You can set it up while warming up…I mean if all they see you do is breaking stuff, a 4 seamer to get a head will work. If you can throw the curve for a strike, your arsenal can be quite effective…heck even if it isn’t for a strike…just let it be seen in the right time. I always like to remind guys that if you throw the same pitch 3 times in a row you’ll probably get a stiff neck from watching it ride on out. Observe what the batter presents. Nowadays hot shots just love to crowd the plate, bring it in on em if you have the accuracy…just over the belt inside and most guys can’t adjust their hands in time, then let it go outside…the most important thing is not to let them get comfortable.
It’s always good to watch MLB to get some ideas also.
Ed Lopat would tell pitchers he was working with, “Never the same pitch, never the same place, never the same speed”—and he often would have to tell them this more than once. He told me that this was particularly true when you’re facing a batter for the third time in a game. Let’s say you got Joe Zilch out on a curve ball his first two times at bat; but now he’s coming to bat for the third time in a game and you can be sure he’ll be looking for that pitch. He explained that it’s important to discombooberate the hitter in every way possible, and that means move the ball around, high, low, inside, outside, and change speeds. Especially the last-named. Don’t ever let the batter sit on a particular pitch, and stay out of his wheelhouse.
When he was working with me (and what an incredible pitching coach he was!) he would, for example, talk to me about the third time a batter came to the plate. “Watch him,” he would say. “What is he doing up there at bat? Is he shifting his feet, or moving closer to the front of the plate or hitting with his foot in the bucket? Is he choking up on the bat, as if indicating he might bunt—or is he looking for a pitch he might try to drive to the opposite field?” What he was doing was getting me to think about these hitters and how best to pitch to them. One thing for sure—I didn’t have a fast ball to speak of, and so I had to go to my breaking stuff—and believe me, I had a lot of breaking stuff, and he would show me how best to use it.