Pitching by the Numbers

The ultimate goal for any pitcher is to have the ability to throw all of his pitches over the plate at any time in the count. It is attained by some, never reached by many. With command comes confidence and velocity. After all the more sure you are of throwing the ball where you want the more you can add a "little extra" on your motion.

I sometimes like to break down all of the pitches into percentages of force or effort. Keeping these numbers in mind may go a long way to controlling your pitches. It goes like this (and remember, these numbers are for you to think about, not for scientific discussion. If you think about the relationship between the percentages, you will get the idea):

Fastball: Throw it at 95% to 98% effort. Notice it's not 100% effort, that would take so much out of you over the course of a game. The one exception I would cite would be if you are a closer who is counted on to give it your best fastball in a pressure situation. In this case you know you are in for one batter or one inning, tops. So you are asked to give it your all. To use a track and field analogy, think of yourself as a miler rather than a sprinter. Keep a good rhythm and have enough for a good kick at the end of the race.

If you are a starter, you need to keep a comfortable pace and rhythm to your pitching so you can have enough energy to last a complete game. Keeping the effort level at slightly under 100% will enable you to have something left at the end of the game. Conditioning is a critical piece of this strategy. It takes a strong, well conditoned body to maintain the 95% over a whole game.

Change up: Throw it at 80% to 85% effort: The key to the change is to "relax" the body while maintaining the same arm speed. This is where you want to keep your delivery exactly like your fastball, just taking the edge off your power. A batter can't tell the difference between 95% and 85%, but you can. I listened to David Cone, former big league great, talking about the change up last week. His comments centered around the need to have your arm speed on the change up be faster than your fastball. Batters look at the motion, they are not trying to determine how much effort you are putting into your body. Keep everything looking the same, just with a little less power, and you will see a great change up which you can get over the plate consistently.

Curve Ball (not before age 14): Throw it at 85% to 90% effort: There really isn't much difference, contrary to many discussions, between your fastball and your curve. If you think about it you don't change much else except for the position of your hand through the delivery (a topic for another lesson).
The curve is more a "touch" pitch with a little bit of "power", you need arm speed to get the tight rotation and sharp break. This takes hours and hours of repetition in order to perfect this. You don't need to practice at full distance in order to get the "touch" on the pitch. Think of a basketball player working on his or her jumper. Hundreds of shots are necessary to get better and many of these players begin their reps by shooting from 2 feet away and moving gradually out, maintaining the form with each shot.

Slider (not before age 14): Throw it at 90% to 95%: Some pitchers have a better feel for the slider than the curve, I know I did. The slider is more of a "power" pitch with a little bit of "touch". Some coaches call it a power curve because you should be keeping your fingers and behind the ball more than bringing the fingers over to the front of the baseball as you would on the curve. Keeping the body slightly more relaxed than on the fastball will keep you in the mindset of putting some break on the pitch and not throw it so hard that it doesn't break but actually "backs up" over the plate. There is nothing easier to hit than a back up slider. So keep your focus on a good release and not on the speed of the pitch.


Splitter (not before age 14): Throw it at 95%: Splitters can be a great pitch for a power fastball type pitcher. You need arm strength in order to throw a nasty one. I am hesitant to promote it to any young pitcher because they havent' fully developed physically and there can be a lot of undue strain on the elbow as you put that ball deeper than normal into the splitter grip. It should be thrown like your fastball with your fingers placed wider than your fastball and ususally not gripping any seams, which gives it less spin and caused the ball to quickly drop as it approaches the plate. The harder you throw the quicker it will dive and the more difficult it will be to hit. Stay with the straight change up for as long as you can before you go for the splitter.

Keep the numbers in mind as you practice and see if it helps your ability to master them all. Once you do, your stock will rise dramatically. Good Luck.