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Reading Batters

Aug

There are a few things batters do that often tell us how to get them out. They show their approach and their holes. As pitchers and catchers, when we pay attention and know what to look for, it makes pitch selection a little easier.

1. Position in the box and stride direction. Close to the plate. Far from the plate. Back in the box. Up in the box.

Close to the plate but stride to open. The thought may be if they are close to the plate, it may be easier to get them out with inside pitches but if they stride open, they actually might hit the inside pitches better. That open stride opens up the outer half to get them out even though they started close to the plate. Attack away and go from there.

Stance far from the plate. The initial thought may be we can get them out on the outer half but if they “dive” with their stride towards the plate, their approach is to get to that outer pitch actually making it harder for them to hit the inside pitch. Attack inside and go from there.

Back the box may show they are giving themself more time and space to read the pitch but this can also give your off speed pitches more space to move. Try off speed down in the zone and go from there.

Up in the box may show they are trying to take away space for those off speed pitches to work. Go with the fast one and go from there.

2. Read their foul balls.

If their late on your fastball, their telling you to stick with the hard one. If they are early on your fastball, pulling it foul, it’s a great time to throw a change up or other off speed next.

3. Aggressive on the first pitch.

Don’t shy away from this. Use it to your advantage. As pitchers we need to learn to embrace their aggressiveness. Attack the bottom of the zone. Try a first pitch off speed down in the zone. If they get a hit, move on and let’s try to get two outs with the next pitch. Use their aggressiveness to our advantage. One pitch outs are great!!

4. Watch for teams that have an approach of taking the first pitch or taking until they get a strike. No need to get fancy or picky, attack middle down. Put them in the hole with the first pitch. Batting averages go down dramatically with first pitch strikes.

5. Runners in scoring position.

Batters have a habit of getting overly aggressive when there are runners in scoring position (2nd and/or 3rd). Be ready for them to swing at the first pitch. Throw your most confident ground ball pitch. Again, don’t be afraid of contact, use it to your advantage.

With all this said, not all of these are applicable to all levels and all players/pitchers. But understanding the game as coaches can help with our ability to teach it and as players, it can help us be smarter better competitors.

Play the game within the game. Talk about the game. Talk about what we are seeing. Coaches, teach the game and empower your players to play the game according to what they are seeing in their opponents.

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Founder of Baseball Dudes. Blessed with three beautiful children and an amazing wife. Baseball is my life, after my family, and I love sharing what I have learned from it. Thanks for taking the time to view what we offer here at Baseball Dudes.

Categories : All Articles, Chris Gissell, Coaching, Hitting, Pitching

I Don’t Care!!

Jun

“I don’t care.”

I guarantee some won’t understand this and some will say “You’re wrong!” But here you go. This was part of my growth as an athlete.

I was the same as dang near every youth athlete. I would hold onto mistakes. I would get upset with what I thought were umpires mistakes. I would blame my coaches. I would play scorekeeper in my head when my teammates made errors. When the game was over I would think way more about all of the mistakes everyone else made except my own.

These moments of weakness would turn one walk into two. Turn a bad inning into a bad game. Turn a bad game into a month long slump. And make seasons seem more like a roller coaster than steady progress.

Looking back on it, I had to go through these moments. They were completely necessary to get to where I would eventually get. I had to get knocked down enough times but get back up more. But when I finally snapped out of it and stopped being a weak competitor and teammate, everything changed.

I finally got to that point of “it doesn’t matter!” “I don’t care!” “So what!”

I walked a batter, so what, let’s get the next guy to hit a ground ball. Teammate made an error, so what, let’s get the next guy. The umpire missed a pitch call, oh well, let’s execute the next pitch.

For me, I became a better competitor when I stopped caring. I know that sounds weird and wrong but that’s the best way I can describe it, in the moment I had to not care how we got there to be all in on the next pitch. That was my job.

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Categories : All Articles, Baseball Life, Blog Samples, Chris Gissell, Coaching, Parents, Pitching

WALKS Are The Enemy!

Jun

Pitchers:

Walks are our enemy!! Sure there may be times later in a game where we might pitch around the batter to set up a DP or force situation but in general they aren’t good. At the end of the day if I’m throwing multiple “ball 4’s” I’m putting myself and my team in unnecessary and unwanted situations. One of our main goals as a pitcher should be to limit them as much as possible. Try focusing on these to help:

• Focus better on mechanics and location during catch play. Throw all your pitch types during catch. If you’re all over the place in catch there’s a great chance you’re all over the place on the mound.

• BREATHE!! Stay relaxed out there. Don’t let the game speed up on you. The situation is what it is. Remain forward focused and be present in the moment. “What’s the goal with this pitch right here, right now?”

• Throw regular weekly bullpens to focus on feel, repeating your delivery and repeating your pitches.

• Avoid “3 ball” counts by being better in 2 ball counts. Have an attitude of ending the at bat right now. Force action. Eliminate walks by eliminating 3 ball counts.

• Every day is different out there. On the days you’re not as sharp as you would like to be, use the bigger part of the plate. Be careful of trying to pitch to the corners when you don’t have that ability that inning or game.

• If your FB command is off, use your other pitches. That’s one reason why we have multiple pitches. Throwing a couple/few in a row can act as a distraction from the negative feelings around our FB in that moment and also act as a reset for our FB release.

• Stop giving the hitters too much credit. Hitting is hard!! Yes, sometimes they will win but on average they won’t more often. Challenge them!

Pitchers, we need to stay away from those walks. Keep learning and figuring out the little things to help you walk less, throw less pitches and stay in the game longer.

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

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5 Adjustments that Changed the Course of my Career:

Jan

1. Pitching inside. In my 7th season, I had a pitching coach (Bob McClure) who spent a lot of time with us (his pitching staff) talking about how to use the inside part of the plate. How it affected hitters. How it opened up the outer half. How it made your other stuff better. Only a few were able to grasp the concept and execute it but for those of us that did, it was a game changer. I’m convinced it’s what gave me another 7 years, a shot at the big leagues and a contract overseas.

2. Accountability. I stopped making excuses. Stopped blaming my teammates. Stopped giving attention to the umpires “missed” calls and started paying closer attention to where I really threw the pitch, how often their “misses” actually helped me and my team and opened my eyes to how their “misses” do even out in the end. I became honest with myself about my personal performance every single time.

3. Cut down on walks. In my career I threw just under 1,600 innings and walked 540 batters. Of those, about 400 came in the first 6 years. The remaining were spread out over the last 8. Maybe a coincidence but those last 8 were by far better than the first 6. I contribute it to a few things. I went from the stretch position only (got rid of the windup), stopped trying to get swing and misses and started forcing contact if they wanted to get on base and as mentioned above, I took control of the inside part of the plate.

4. Started working quick. Less than 10 seconds between pitches. Warm up pitches done in less than 60 seconds. The goal was to complete a 9 inning game in under 2 hours. We were able to do it once. Missed it by a few minutes a handful of times. Most hitters didn’t like the quick tempo but my teammates did, my coaches did and the umpires really did! It helped me get into a rhythm, kept my teammates ready and kept the umpires in a good mood!

5. Gave it a rest. Staying healthy and strong was a must. The long seasons of professional ball can take a toll on anyones body. Over the second half of my career, whenever I was in the starting rotation I wouldn’t pick up a ball the day before or the day after my start. The other two days included a session of long toss and a bullpen each day. If I was a reliever, I would find a day to not pick up a ball. Usually after a 2-3 inning stint the night before. Though some thought I was a little crazy for doing this, it was something I tried and found to keep me healthy and strong from the beginning to the end.

We are all different and it’s up to us to find out what helps us become our best. The above are a few things that helped me reach the top. They wouldn’t work for all and some may see them as “wrong” but that’s okay. Hope some of you do find them helpful.

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Categories : All Articles, Chris Gissell, Coaching, Parents, Pitching

Arm Care

Oct

The term “Arm Care” is thrown around as if it’s a simple thing. Do some band exercises and you should be good!! Truth is it’s a very loaded term and deserves a much much deeper explanation and plan. If you’re serious about the game, pitching, your teams arms, then it’s time to get serious about all of it.

ARM CARE is…

• Understanding and developing proper throwing/pitching mechanics.
• Pre season throwing plan.
• Pre season/early season pitch count progression.
• Total body strength.
• Nutrition
• Weekly between game throwing routines.
• Listening to your arm.
• Knowing your body.
• Not pitching with a lower body injury.
• Post throwing arm maintenance/recovery routine.
• Knowing what an arm is conditioned for, aka, how many pitches is an arm ready to throw that day.
• Knowing what signs of fatigue look like and how to diagnose what a sore arm is.
• Not rushing back into competitive throwing after an arm injury.
• Weekly bullpens to get better with command and stuff to be able to compete better which means throwing more strikes which means most likely throwing less pitches per inning.
• Being mentally tougher which again means being a better competitor which means being able to get more outs with less pitches.

Band work is good but there is WAY more to it. We have a whole page here on our site dedicated to this topic. Check out our “Save Our Arms” page.

**Side note, those bands sitting at the bottom of your bag aren’t helping.

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Categories : All Articles, Chris Gissell, Coaching, Parents, Pitching

Tee Ball

Sep

One of my favorite drills/games to have the players play. It’s always funny to hear the groans and comments from the first timers. Interesting to hear kids say “tee’s are for little kids!” Haha! But when we explain how the game will go, boy do their eyes light up!!

I know some out there have their own versions of this but here’s how we’ve done it:
• Depending on the number of players, break them up into 2, 3 or even 4 teams.
• Each inning or team rotate, players need to go to a different position.
• Each play starts with the pitcher. Pitcher makes sure everyone is ready, goes through delivery throwing an imaginary pitch (ball is on a tee at home plate) and the hitter tracks it and swings to hit the ball. **Very important to not let the hitter hit until this happens. Have seen kids hit the ball when defense wasn’t ready. Safety first!
• Play it live from there.
• Play straight up or force situations.
• We’ve played no steals unless it’s a hit and run with the hitter trying to hit the ball to the right side.
• Hitters work on proper tee placement based on where they want to hit it (have a coach at home plate asking them what the goal is).
• Baserunners always working on good primary and secondary leads, aggressive turns, thinking two out of the box on ball to outfield, going 1st to 3rd or 2nd to home.
• Pitchers working PFP and backing up.
• For older players, have the pitchers work in pick off moves (obviously without a baseball) which will give the runners practice on reading the pitcher.
• Etc. Etc.

Kids love it! It’s fast paced and you can cover a lot in an hour. Have fun out there!

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Categories : All Articles, Chris Gissell, Coaching, Fielding, Hitting, Pitching

Mechanics vs Approach

Sep

Strong competitors are solid with both but what’s the balance? Is one more important than the other? When do you work on mechanics? When do we talk and teach approach?

In my opinion and experience both should be a constant focus but we see it time and time again, athletes who are great with their body movements but struggle with competition. Even though they may be hearing and learning about the head game, in the heat of the moment emotions push approach out the window leading to trying to compete via anger, embarrassment, fear and over aggression.

For many involved in the game, athletes and adults, when the desired results aren’t showing, we immediately go to mechanics when in reality more often than not the fix is between the ears.

As athletes we need to be able to compete relaxed. That’s when most of us will be at our best physically and be able to organize ourselves mentally. The difficult part are the distractions for the immature athletes. Who’s watching, what are they thinking, teammates voices, opponents voices, parents voices and coaches voices.

For those not there yet, these uncontrollable’s take them off their game and put them in a place of anxiety and insecurity leading to a loss of approach and proper visualization.

While we prepare ourselves, our players and our children to be great physically we need to understand the importance of mindset and approach just as much as we have taught ourselves about mechanical side of the game. There needs to be a constant focus on it. We need to be aware of how our attitudes as adults affects this part of their game, good or bad.

Players, keep training to get the most out of your body but to play this game long term, you better learn to be one of the mentally toughest, mentally prepared, smartest and grittiest players on the field at all times.

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Categories : All Articles, Chris Gissell, Coaching, Hitting, Parents, Pitching

Play Free!

Aug

We need to be so confident in our abilities that when we do make a mistake, have a tough day, fall into a little slump, we trust that it’s temporary. We know without a doubt we will work through it and come out better because of that adversity.

Playing free is not caring who is watching because you know you’re giving your best but that doesn’t always mean you’re going to be the best. Your level of focus, purpose and intent will allow you to keep getting better.

Playing free means you don’t panic or lose yourself when things become uncomfortable and don’t go your way. You stay the course and keep moving forward with the situation at hand.

Playing free is playing with a level of confidence that no one can beat you but in reality you know in the back of your mind that doesn’t always happen. But that confidence allows you to get back up with the same level of belief.

Playing free is knowing yourself, your body, your mechanics so well that when somethings off, you feel it instantly and know how to fix it. You’re careful to not over think and be too analytical though.

Playing free is what we want our players to play like. We want them to trust themselves, be aggressive and play like no one can beat them. For this to happen they need to know we believe in them and that we want them to play like they are unbeatable!!

Play FREE young ballers!!

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Categories : All Articles, Baseball Life, Baserunning, Catching, Chris Gissell, Coaching, Fielding, Hitting, Parents, Pitching

Dugout Culture

Jun

• Position players, study the opposing pitchers. Look for patterns in pitch selection. Tells in their delivery. How they handle hold times and pick off moves with runners on. See if they pay attention to the runner on third.

• Pitchers, study the opposing hitters. Are they on time with the load phase of their swing. What do they chase with two strikes. Do they swing first pitch. Does their approach change with runner on vs no runner on. Are they a base stealer.

• Position players, pick up your teammates. Know where everyones hat and glove is and when they are the last out of the inning someone be ready to take their stuff to them (unless they are the catcher).

• Coaches, they are watching. Your body language, your energy, your support. Establish a culture of responsibility and accountability. Be the example of what you preach.

• Pitchers, if there is a long inning (with your team batting) make sure to keep your body moving. With two outs do some band work, arm circles or maybe even go to the bullpen to play a little catch. Keep that arm loose.

• Catchers, unless you were at bat, on base or on deck, make sure you are ready to go when that third out is made. Team, if your catcher needs to get their gear on, make sure some is ready to go out and warm up the pitcher.

• All Players, talk baseball. There is plenty of time away from the field to goof off. Create an atmosphere of supporting one another. Watching the game together. Cheer your teammates on but be careful letting your “cheers” be the only thing you’re thinking about. The dugout is a place to prepare for your next opportunity.

• Everyone, bust your butt to your position. NO WALKING out to your position!!

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Categories : All Articles, Baseball Life, Chris Gissell, Coaching, Dudes Blog, Fielding, Hitting, Pitching

My Experience Playing in Japan

Apr

The game blessed me with the opportunity to play in Japan for the 2006 and 2007 seasons. I played for the Seibu Lions out of Tokorozawa which is in the Saitama Prefecture. I like to say it is like a suburb of Tokyo. We were a few trains away from famous Shinjuku. We spent a few off days wondering the streets of that extremely busy area.

While we were there our two oldest were a toddler and baby (now almost 20 and 17). Our first season there we had no form of personal transportation so rain, shine, hot or cold we walked. Our closest train station was about a 15 minute walk away! Our second season we picked up some bikes with child seats on the back, what a difference that made!!

The food was absolutely amazing and would love to go back someday just for that. The people were incredible and maybe the most eye opening thing to me was how the fans carried themselves. In those two seasons we never once heard a “Boo” and the amount of love and respect we felt from them on the daily was so humbling. No matter how we did they showed their gratitude for our effort.

As for the game itself, it was different for sure. As pitchers there was a constant level of pressure from holding runners, if you didn’t control the running game they would run on you all day, they were willing, ready and prepared to sac bunt or bunt for a hit from the first inning and they were great contact hitters so hard to strike out. Funny, the easiest to K up were the Gaijin (foreign) players who were most always power hitters.

We traveled the country mostly by train, often bullet trains. Many fields had all dirt infields and they would have a “halftime” break after the 5th inning where they would fix the whole field and cheerleaders would be the entertainment. The fans also had a cheer section in the outfield and had individual chants for every single player. They would come out to the park during batting practice and practice them.

Daisuke Matsuzaka was one of my teammates who would later sign with the Red Sox. At the time he was at the top of the world in Japan. A basbeall idol for so many. His fame grew when he pitched two complete games in their National HS Tournament which is one of their most famous (draws 40-50K fans each game from what I have been told) events and if I recall correctly he threw a no hitter in one. It was fun to watch him compete in MLB.

We will forever be grateful for our time and experience over there and for the hospitality the fans, citizens and the Seibu Lions showed us. Japan, we think about you often and hope to make it back someday.

Domo Arigato Japan!!

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Categories : All Articles, Baseball Life, Chris Gissell, Pitching

Mental Stability

Apr

Besides physical tools, what goes on between our ears is absolutely vital for not just performing well but performing well consistently.

For the mentally weak and those who just can’t get a grip on their emotions when things don’t go their way, this game will chew them up and spit them out. Seen it happen and can only imagine how many talented athletes, and non-athletes, never reached, and will never reach, their full potential because they couldn’t get past “fair” or being so prideful they couldn’t handle being beat by their competition that day or they couldn’t grasp the importance of “stoic” when their teammates made mistakes.

It’s an emotional game, we are human. Excitement and frustration are most definitely part of being a competitor but using that as a reason or excuse to “lose it” is not “competing.” Throwing pitches with anger is not competing. Swinging harder than normal because we don’t like the last call is not competing. Hanging onto whatever happened the last pitch and being so distraught that we make a mistake on the next pitch/ball in play is not competing.

In the real world “Mental In-stability” leads to many mistakes and in some cases those mistakes can be life changing. Not just for us personally but often those around us. In our game this is often referred to as being “soft” or “easy to beat.” You call it what you want but if this is you, you are indeed easy to beat. You may have some special talent but ultimately you are not a strong competitor…YET!

Personal growth is an ongoing process. Some can, and do, fix things like this earlier in life while others take time and unfortunately some never figure it out. Having the ability to remain calm in tense situations puts us in a place to think clearly. To be able to critically think, observe the situation and make better thought out decisions. Breathe, relax your shoulders, give yourself a second.

We work so hard on improving and perfecting our physical tools but let’s make sure we are giving our mind the attention it needs and deserves too.

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Categories : All Articles, Baseball Life, Catching, Chris Gissell, Coaching, Dudes Blog, Fielding, Hitting, Parents, Pitching

5 Ways to Make Your Stuff Better…

Mar

As pitchers we are always trying to be better. We work to throw harder. We try to get our change up to drop more. We would love for our breaking pitchers to be sharper. This is a constant desire for those that spend years doing it, that’s part of what striving for excellence looks like. Now, there are most certainly things we can do to make our stuff “play” better than what it actually is. “Play” meaning how our stuff appears to the batters. Here are 5 ways to help make this happen…

1. Command the inside part of the plate!! Most hitters DO NOT like the ball inside, especially the higher the velocity. They want to get extended. It’s much easier for most of them to find the sweet spot with the ball further away from them. Throw fastballs inside for strikes AND for balls. Yes our main job is to throw strikes but sometimes purposely throwing a fastball inside off the plate can make them uncomfortable, maybe get them on their heels a little more and open up the outer half a little more. When they are aware we will come inside at any point it will give us more options as a pitcher.

2. Mix in a quick pitch. We are seeing it more and more at the highest level. Guys messing with leg lifts, using slide step pitches with no one on base and varying with delivery tempo. This is for one reason, to throw off the batters timing. Believe it or not, slide step change ups can be very affective pitches. The hitter has to rush their load and then try to hold back for the slower pitch. Very hard for most to do. As always, make sure pitchers we incorporate things like this into our weekly bullpens if we intend to do it in a game.

3. Work fast!! Be the first one out of the dugout. Get your warm up pitches done in 60-90 seconds. Put pressure on that first batter of the inning. Take no more than 8-12 seconds between pitches. Most hitters don’t want to feel rushed. They want to take their time. That’s okay as it is what works for them but we don’t necessarily want them to be “comfortable!” And remember this, when they call time out (because that is what they are taught to do when they feel rushed or do to slow us down) don’t get upset about it. It’s a good thing. It means we have them thinking about other things besides what they want to do with the next pitch.

4. Develop the ability to throw all your pitches in any count to any location. THIS is pitching. When the hitter knows you’re going to throw a first pitch FB 95% of the time, it starts to become less effective. When you only throw your breaking ball in two strike counts or when you’re ahead in the count, they will be more prepared for what to look for. Be able to execute your FB inside, outside, up and down. Be able to throw your CH to both righties and lefties whether you are ahead or behind in the count. Have the ability to throw your breaking pitches for get me over strikes, to put away (swing and miss) locations and back door/front door spots for strikes. We MUST become unpredictable to survive long term. Start developing this skill early!!

5. Get better at throwing more strikes!! The more we are ahead in the count the more effective our stuff is. When they are behind in the count the more they “protect” and chase pitches they wouldn’t as much when they are ahead in the count. Keep the pressure on THEM. When we are behind in the count, we are putting pressure on us. Practice pitching more, focus on hitting spots in catch, get more consistent with your delivery, visualize execution and positive outcomes and keep getting better at controlling those emotions to put yourself in a better mindset to think and compete with a clear mind.

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

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12 Things I would tell myself as a young player:

Mar

1. The work you put in away from your team is where real growth happens. Take your personal development into our own hands. Stop waiting for others to help you.

2. The game will be hard on your body. Take care of it.

3. Accountability will be one of your biggest weaknesses. Get better at it ASAP!

4. Everyday you play catch you are a pitcher. Even if you’re not slated to pitch that day, while you play catch, be a pitcher. Work on your throwing mechanics, throw your off speed pitches and hit spots on your partner.

5. THROW YOUR CHANGE UP!! Start learning it from day one. Experiment with different grips. Keep it out of your palm. Play catch with it EVERYDAY you throw the ball. It will be a very important pitch you need later. Develop it and your confidence in it early on so you don’t need to later.

6. GET STRONGER!!

7. Be a student of the game. When you watch the game on TV, watch it more like a student than a fan. Watch how they move their bodies. How they move around the field. Read up on mental toughness. Seek out those with more experience and ask questions.

8. You’re a pitcher. Just because you threw a pitch, your job is not over. The only time you should find yourself still standing on the mound after a hit ball is if there is no one on base and a GB is hit to your 3B or SS. Any other time you are either moving towards 1B to cover if needed or backing up a base somewhere. Stop spectating!

9. Your headspace will separate you from your competitors. Please start learning this at a younger age! Mental toughness, baseball IQ, competitiveness and emotional control need to be a constant focus.

10. You will have some great coaches in your life and some who have no business being in that position. But you can learn something from all of them, even if that means learning how you DON’T want to be as a coach someday.

11. Playing with and through discomfort is part of it. You shouldn’t have to feel 💯 to give 💯. You better develop some toughness in that area if you want to last.

12. Enjoy the Game!! Someday you will play in your final game. Be grateful for what the game gave you. Respect the game. Remember as much as you can. Enjoy your teammates and when you’re ready, give back as much as you can.

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Categories : All Articles, Chris Gissell, Coaching, Parents, Pitching

Change Up Development

Aug

The variations of grips for this pitch seem to be endless. There are common ones for sure but with different thoughts on finger pressure, finger locations and release, there are many options. I suggest experimenting with all ideas until you find what works for you.

The most common we will hear is the “Circle Change Up” meaning the pointer finger and thumb touch in a manner to create a circle. You will see many high level pitchers use a variation of this grip. The issue with this grip comes with teaching it to the young ones. The problem is with their hand size and with the ball in their hand when they adjust the grip to touch their pointer and thumb it pulls the ball closer into their palm and now they are essentially trying to throw a palm ball which is a tough pitch to throw with proper arm speed and when they do it tends to go straight down into the ground so in order to throw it for a strike they slow down their arm speed.

**I’m sure there are some out there that have seen success with this grip. Remember, this is in general, for all, not just you or your child.

Let’s try to debunk the myth that says to throw a change up you need to touch those fingers together. It’s most definitely not a rule and not necessary to throw a change up. Try this…

– Start with your FB grip.
– Leave your thumb where it is and move your pointer to the inside of the baseball while shifting your middle finger to the position where the pointer was and now move your ring finger up to where the middle finger was.
– Now you have your middle finger and ring finger on top with your pointer and pinky on the sides.
– Make small adjustments to find a comfortable feel. This may mean moving the ball around in your hand so the seams touch your fingers different.

Now for the most important and missed part. PLAY CATCH WITH IT EVERY DAY!! Change up development and feel is done during catch. Every young player who is a pitcher should be throwing it a least 10-15 times at the end of their catch play (same thing with breaking balls when they start throwing them). Also make sure your weekly bullpen routine involves multiple reps with it too. Try this…

– Keep your grip loose.
– Keep the ball out of your palm and on your fingers just like a fastball.
– Feel it roll off your middle and ring fingers.
– Take away the snap in your wrist we feel when throwing a fastball. Think loose or limp wrist.
– Think you are throwing an egg with fastball arm speed but don’t want the egg to break in your hand.
– If done properly it will feel slow out of the hand while the rest of our body feels like we are throwing a fastball.

I read a comment somewhere recently on this topic saying this is a hard pitch to throw and takes a long time to master. Sounds a lot like pitching in general to me! With a plan, trial and error and patience it can be done. I’ve found the above tips to be the most helpful and easiest to learn even with the youngest pitchers. It’s not as hard as we make it to be. Coaches, I would HIGHLY suggest you get out there and play catch with it yourself. Learn the feel yourself. Anything is easier to talk about and teach if we have done, and are doing, ourselves.

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Categories : All Articles, Chris Gissell, Coaching, Pitching

Conditioning…Distance Running

Sep

Day 1 = 20-30 minute run
Day 2 = 10-12 poles
Day 3 = 8-10 half pole sprints
Day 4 = 8-10 30 yard sprints
Day 5 = Game

That’s an example of what my generation of starting pitchers would do for conditioning (just the running part) between starts. Boy have times changed! For the last half of my career, I would include sprint work with the distance work on days 1 & 2 simply because I felt I would benefit from it.

Towards the end of my career, we started to see some changes in the approach to distance running and the benefits, or lack of benefits as many argue, pertaining to baseball players and more specifically, pitchers.

When you think about it, if a pitcher were to throw 100 pitches and their delivery took 1-2 seconds to complete from start to release, you’re looking at between 2-3 minutes of combined physical exertion for that athlete. Doesn’t seem like a lot I know, but take my word for it, 100 pitches thrown with max effort and max focus over the course of a 2-3 hour game can be extremely exhausting, especially during a day game in the mid west in August!

With that in mind, this is the reason for a shift in thinking and getting away from distance training and spending more time on quick/short burst training. A starters conditioning routine these days may look something like this…

Day 1 = 10-12 sprint poles
Day 2 = 10-12 60 yard sprints
Day 3 = Agility Work
Day 4 = 8-10 30 yard sprints
Day 5 = Game

As a player, I loved the sprint work and grew to enjoy, and look forward to, those distance days. Maybe the distance work contradicts the explosive fast twitch way of playing the game BUT there is one major thing that was very hard for us former players to get the trainers and strength and conditioning coaches to realize…The mental piece. The time to reflect on our performance. The mental toughness you develop when needing to push through that last 5-10 minutes when you would love to stop. The mental & physical stamina you are developing, very similar to competing and when your tank is starting to run out but your team needs you for another 1-2 innings.

It’s definitely a tough argument were both sides feel very strongly about their beliefs. You have the player side who performed, relied on and saw distance running as a piece to their success and then the other side which never performed for a living but has all the science based research and information to back their side of the argument.

In the end, I think they both should be, and can be, incorporated into weekly conditioning routines. They all have their PHYSICAL & MENTAL benefits. It’s arrogant to ignore either side of the argument. Players who end up playing the game for a long time will end up developing their own routine that they enjoy and works for them.

Conditioning is a part of the game. It’s a part of being a well rounded athlete. Develop, set a routine and make it a habit! Enjoy!!

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Categories : All Articles, Baseball Life, Chris Gissell, Coaching, Dudes Blog, Pitching

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