Time between pitches

General Pitching Topics
#1

Can’t help myself! I finally decided to try to use the times between pitches to see what I can see. The kids from the summer team are on the 1st page, the pitchers from 2013 are on the 2nd, and the pitchers from 2012 and 2013 are on the 3rd. I can’t go back further than that.

It may mean nothing, but I find it interesting that there is so much difference between pitchers in how much time they take between pitches. When my son was pitching, I posited that one reason he had so much success even though he wasn’t at all overpowering, was that he was generally a very fast pitcher in the sense that he took little time between pitches.

http://www.infosports.com/scorekeeper/images/pitchtimes1.pdf

After doing some fairly extensive reading on how the mind treats time and looking at the writings of some of the current “experts”, it seems like a pretty good bet that the less time between pitches, the greater the difference in velocity from one pitch to the next seems. I.e., consider an 80MPH pitch thrown after a 70MPH pitch. The more time between them, the less difference there APPEARS to be to the batter, and the opposite is true the less time between pitches.

Anyway, its always fun trying to see if reasonable answers can be dug up for why things happen.

#2

Ever see Mark Buehrle in action? Next time he pitches, watch him closely. He doesn’t waste any time; he gets the ball back from the catcher and before you can say boo he’s made the next pitch. A lot of pitchers from way back when—guys like Allie Reynolds, for example—used to do the same thing, almost quick-pitch because they worked so fast. And that throws the batter’s timing—and his thinking—way off track, which is what a pitcher wants.
And if there happens to be a runner on first, he’ll think twice before making any attempt to steal. Fact is, if a pitcher is slow to the plate, or has a high leg kick, or both, that constitutes a clear invitation to the runner to grab that next base (and maybe run off with it); but if the pitcher works fast that baserunner hasn’t a chance in a carload—he has to stay put. 8)