What should I throw?

General Pitching Topics
#1

Hey Guys,

I’m a young teenager, and I know how to throw many of the basic pitches, (4SFB, 2SFB, Slider, Circle Change,) etc…

I need to know quite a few things…

1- How to get my speed up on my pitches
2- What pitches I should use (I need to keep my Slider for sure I think cause it’s really good.)
3- The Grips on the pitches (like I said before, I know so many ways to grip them, but I don’t know what ones are right or not.
4-I’ve been practicing this pitch quite alot, but I want to know if I should start throwing my knuckleball when I start baseball in the summer

Overhand Pitching of course… Thanks guys :slight_smile:

Oh, and who’s pitching mechanics should I have… I kinda like Tim Lincecum’s… What do you think?

#2

I throw a cutter, it is easily my most dominant pitch, considering I have no breaking ball. I throw a cutter that can get 4-5 inches of late movement, which is great because it either causes a swing and miss or an easy pop-up/groundout

#3

Ah…what to throw? This is a question that has had many young pitchers, and even some more experienced ones, scratching their heads. The best answer I can give you is this: determine what your best pitch is— the one you can really go to when you need the strikeout—and build your repertoire around that. I will also say that you should never try to copy anybody else’s mechanics; you should find your own and perfect them. And really get into this whole business of strategic pitching. This is how you’re going to get the batters out, again and again. As my wise and wonderful pitching coach of long ago once told me: “Figure out what the batter is looking for—and don’t give it to him.” It doesn’t matter whether you’re a fireballer or a snake-jazz pitcher, that rule holds true.
My coach told me: “Move the ball around—high, low, inside, outside—change speeds—and stay away from the middle of the plate.” And don’t start a batter off with a fast ball, because 99 times out of 100 he’s looking for it. Case in point: I was watching the Twins-Tigers game last night, and the Tigers had just acquired Delmon Young from the Twins—a deal which I will never quite understand, althought the Twins said they had no alternative. Young came up to bat for the first time as a Tiger. The Twins’ pitcher—Francisco Liriano—started him off with a fast ball. And Young just crushed that one, blasted it into the seats for a home run. On the first pitch, mind you. So this is something you have to avoid. If I were facing Young for the first time I would have thrown an offspeed pitch, something he would not have expected in a million years.

#4

StartingPitcher97, you have asked nearly every quesiton that pitchers ask about the game. I think you need to go a little slower, figure out what you want to work on now and develop a offseason plan how to move forward. All these questions can’t be answered at the same time so, “What is most important for you to imporve on right now?”