What pitches should i throw

That way you can develop consistency and a good feel for the pitch. This is a deception pitch designed to get the hitter out front, taking the sting out of his bat. It can be tough for young pitchers to throw it with confidence this way since purposely throwing the ball slower is counter-intuitive.

But as hitters adjust and start to catch up to your fastball, having a quality change-up can make a world of difference. Also, a lot of times the action on a splitter or forkball is very similar to a change-up sinking and fading. Throwing two pitches that move the same at similar speeds serves little purpose, and again, the more pitches you throw the tougher it is to master any of them.

This is your breaking ball. The benefit of the breaking ball is it changes planes making it tough for the hitter to square it up and make solid contact. Generally the curve is going to be your slower breaking ball, so having that in your arsenal gives you a more varied speed differential to keep hitters off balance.

There can even be some overlap. Throw it like you would a fastball: Same mechanics. Same arm speed. Same everything. One way to develop "fastball mechanics" but changeup speed is to practice throwing your changeup as you long toss throwing beyond 90 feet. Alternate fastballs and changeups at or-more feet for about 20 throws a couple of times a week. Note: Advanced pitchers can experiment with "turning the ball over" to create even more movement on the pitch. To do this, pronate your throwing hand turn it over as if you were giving your catcher a "thumbs down" hand signal as you throw the pitch.

The circle changeup and the four-seam fastball are what got me to professional baseball. They're both great pitches. To throw a circle changeup make - quite literally - a circle or an "OK" gesture with your throwing hand using your thumb and index fingers. You then center the baseball between your three other fingers as shown in the middle picture above right. The baseball should be tucked comfortably against the circle.

Throw this pitch with the same arm speed and body mechanics as a fastball, only slightly turn the ball over by throwing the circle to the target.

This is called pronating your hand. Think about this as giving someone standing directly in front of you a "thumbs down" sign with your throwing hand. This reduces speed and gives you that nice, fading movement to your throwing-arm side of the plate. A great way to develop the "fastball mechanics" but changeup speed is to practice throwing your changeup as you long toss throwing beyond 90 feet. The palmball sometimes called a palm ball or four-finger changeup is one of two or three variations of the changeup.

It's an off-speed pitch. A palmball is is gripped by essentially choking the baseball deep in your hand and wrapping all of your fingers around the baseball. It's essentially a four-fingered change-up where the baseball is centered in your hand between your middle and ring fingers. The index and ring fingers are placed on either side of the baseball for balance, and the thumb is placed directly below the baseball. At its release point, try to turn the ball over a little to get more movement.

The deeper the grip, the more friction that is created on the ball, which takes off velocity. However, as with all off-speed pitches, the arm speed and mechanics of your pitching delivery have to be the same as your fastball. The beginners curveball is a great pitch for younger pitchers. In essence, this pitch does the exact opposite as a fastball. Where as a fastball spins from the bottom to top which is known as "backspin" , a curveball spins from top to bottom.

And instead of leverage coming from behind the top of the baseball as a four-seam fastball , leverage on a curve comes from the front of the baseball. I teach a beginners curveball grip to younger pitchers who are learning a curveball for the first time because I feel that it's the easiest way to correctly learn proper spin.

But I also think this is a great grip for more advanced pitchers to use in a practice setting if you're having trouble with your breaking ball. Here's how it works: Grip a baseball leaving the index finger off — like you were pointing at something. Your index finger will be used to aim the baseball at your target.

Next, place your middle finger along the bottom seam of the baseball and place your thumb on the back seam as shown in the middle picture above. When this pitch is thrown, your thumb should rotate upward, and your middle finger should snap downward while your index finger points in the direction of your target. This, of course, is the reason this pitch is great for beginners: the ball goes where your index finger points. The beginners curveball helps to align your hand and ball to the target.

Note: Because hitters at the college and professional levels may be able to pick up on the "raised" finger during this pitch's delivery, a beginners curve shouldn't be used past high school ball.

The straight curveball or "overhand curveball" is one of the most common breaking ball grips. It's a variation of my beginners curveball and my knuckle curveball.

A straight curve requires mastery of my beginners curveball, because many of the same principles that apply to both grips. This doesn't mean that you have to throw a beginners curve most pitchers actually start right out with this pitching grip. But the beginners curveball is a good place to start. Then, of course, this pitching grip is the next step. That's because there is essentially no significant difference between a straight curveball and a beginners curveball, except for the finger placement of your index finger.

It should be placed on the baseball as opposed to pointed at a target. If we throw a fastball up in the zone and the hitter chases it, what did the hitter just teach us to do on the next pitch? He taught us that he is undisciplined and we can throw another fastball up even higher or throw a curve ball down in the zone.

We throw curve balls down to slow up his bat and get his eyes going down, and then go up with a fastball to speed up his bat and make his eyes go up. Pitching smart is all about constantly making the hitter change his bat speed and eye level If he can't catch up to it, or he can't hit it when it is thrown in a particular location—then we can go back with it in that location.

Because if we give him that same pitch forcing him to speed up his bat, and then we throw it more than twice in a row, we are giving him an edge. So we go fastball in and now we open up a lot of options.

We can go with a change-up or a curve ball. Or we can go with a fastball outside. Then we can go with another curve ball to slow down his bat and get him leaning to get the outside pitch. Then we go back inside. And that's why hitters hate hitting against him because his command is unbelievable, his movement is outstanding, he pitches in and he changes speeds. Clayton Kershaw is one of the best pitchers in the game because he pitches smart and has a well-defined strategy for every hitter he faces.

In , the Cy Young winner had a staggering Remember, the key to becoming a smart pitcher is to constantly ask yourself that original question:. Now let's go through some reminders and some pitching strategy that you can tuck away for game days. The name of the game is to have a plan and keep it simple. Remember, even the best laid plans can go awry in a game.

Keep looking for what the hitter is teaching about what to throw next. Keep making adjustments. Pitching with runners on base Scott W. This is when it's important to have a little meeting with yourself and make sure you fully understand the situation If you throw a breaking ball, this is a great time to use it because if it's down and if they hit it you have a ground ball.

And when they have it, nobody is going to beat them. But even then, your best pitchers will still stay in the game, battle back and still give their team a chance to win. It simply means the more we can visualize ourselves succeeding as pitchers, the more success we will have. Put these 39 goals on your mirror and make sure you memorize them.