Pitching Philosophies

There are many pitching philosophies out there.  There are many different coaches that teach different things.  There are many pitchers that think a different way.  Like I said before I am not teaching only one philosophy of baseball on this website but I am suggesting what has worked for my friends and I and also encouraging the exchange of ideas.  With that being said, let me talk about what I believe works as a pitcher.  My personal philosophy consists of a few key ideas.  Other than that I believe in just going out there and throwing the baseball to the best of your ability day in and day out.  My philosophy:

1)  I believe that pitchers should try to throw a first pitch strike always.  Now you are asking "what if he's a first pitch swinger"?  Good!  That's better for us.  Let's just throw him something off speed, or if he's got a slow bat, throw him a fastball.  Now we are 0 and 1, ahead of the hitter, where we always want to stay.

2)  I believe that pitchers should try to throw 4 pitches or less to get any batter out.  We should attack the strike zone the first two pitches, you have one set up pitch, and then a put away pitch.  We shouldn't even get this far, we want the hitters to hit the baseball.  It makes our job easier.  Ground balls are a pitchers best friend.  Throw to contact.  You'll save pitches and be more effective.  A strike out is great but a double play is twice as good.

3)  The 1-1 count.  If you happen not to go 0 and 2 to a batter (which we are trying to do), then you may be 1 and 1.  If you are ever in a 1 and 1 count you must throw a strike.  I suggest throwing your best pitch for a strike.  I do not suggest trying to throw what the hitter can't hit for a strike.  By throwing your best pitch for a strike you have the best odds of a) throwing a strike and b) getting the hitter out if he does make contact.  The idea behind always throwing a strike in a 1-1 count is that if you do throw a strike you are now 1 and 2.  If you don't throw a strike you are 2 and 1.  These two counts are drastically different.  A pitcher has all the advantages in a 1-2 count.  A hitter has all the advantages in a 2-1 count.  Not to mention the batting averages that hitters have in these different counts.  I don't know the exact numbers but it is amazing the difference.  So keep the advantage and throw a strike in 1 and 1 counts.  Who knows you might get them out that pitch (there's a good chance if you're throwing your best pitch for a strike).

4)  Disrupt timing and balance.  All you are trying to do to a hitter is make them uncomfortable in the batter's box.  You want them to not be able to hit your pitches.  The way you do this is by disrupting their timing and balance.  What I mean by that is throwing in and out, up and down, hard and soft.  By throwing inside and outside pitches you are disrupting a batter's balance.  By throwing up and down you are changing their eye levels.  By throwing hard and soft pitches you are disrupting a batter's timing.  If you mix all three of these things up a batter will have a hard time hitting you.  Think about if you threw a fastball up and inside to a hitter and then followed that pitch with a down and away change up.  The difference in those pitches are so drastic, it is very hard to hit.  Not only because you are disrupting a batter's balance and eye level by throwing in and up to down and out, but because you changed speeds.  Because you went from in to out you made it seem like you changed speeds more than you actually did.  Check out my book to hear more on my philosophy and learn about my train theory dealing with changing speeds.