Pitching Tips: Strategy

Your baseball pitching strategy should be simple: make the batter swing the bat.
The best hitters in the world only get a hit 3 out of 10 times at bat. That means they make an out 7 out of every 10 times they bat! So, as a pitcher, the odds are with you if you pitch the baseball over the plate and make the batter swing the bat.
Now, pitching it over the plate doesn't mean belt high, straight as a string. You can find out about changing speeds, different pitches, and all that other stuff on this website, but it's always a good pitching strategy to make the batter swing the bat.
The other thing I stress about developing a pitching strategy is that pitchers don't have to win the game all by themselves. There are 8 other guys out there playing defense whose job it is to help the pitcher.
Here's some additional baseball pitching strategies to help you become a more successful pitcher.
We want to throw first pitch strikes. Throwing first pitch strikes puts the batter on the defensive.You lose games by walking people. If the lead off batter in an inning walks he will score over 50 % of the time!
Don't try to make the hitter miss until he has two strikes. Once you get two strikes on him you can try to get him to expand his strike zone and chase a bad pitch.Pitch to your strengths! If you're a fastball pitcher, when the count is 3-2, I want you throwing your best fastball. If you're a breaking ball pitcher, I want you throwing your best breaking ball when the game is on the line. If you get beat, I want you to get beat with your best pitch.
Work early in the count (we'd like to average 3 1/2 pitches a batter). I don't want a lot of 3-2 counts. The fewer pitches you throw to each batter, it stands to reason, the more batters you can pitch to in a game.
Work to advantage counts (first pitch strikes). The batter is on the defensive when the count is 0-2 or 1-2. He will often expand his strike zone and swing at pitches that are not strikes. He will, in effect, get himself out for you!
If you lose the advantage (fall behind 2-0 or 3-1), we call that Challenge Time. Throw the ball right down the middle and let your defense bail you out. Remember, you don't want to walk people!

Pitching Tips: Follow Through

A good follow-through is critical for speed, control, and proper fielding position. As the pitcher releases the ball, the wrist snaps after coming over the top. The arm snaps across the body, and, ideally, the pivot, (ball side) foot swings around to a position that squares the pitcher up to the plate. The pitcher's eyes must be on the target in preparation to field any balls hit back to the mound.

Pitching Tips: Baseball Pitches

Being a baseball pitcher is one of the most difficult jobs in sports. It requires you to be athletic, competitive, collected, smart, mentally tough, and durable. It takes a special kind of player to possess all of these traits. Yet these traits combine to make a successful baseball pitcher.
Pitching is a unique part of the game of baseball. A hitter is able to take batting practice every day for as long as he wants, without a whole lot of strain on the body. A pitcher can only throw 100% once every four or five days. Already, the advantage goes to the hitter. Not being able to train every day means that a pitcher must take full advantage of his training opportunities.
In order for a pitcher to be successful, he must be mentally tough. All baseball players should have a short term memory. This means that they need to be able to forget a bad play and focus on the next one. But this is especially true for a pitcher. If you make a bad pitch and let up a big hit, you need to be able to train all of your focus on making a good next pitch. This is known as the mental side of pitching, and it is just as important as the physical aspect of the game.
Having good baseball pitching mechanics is also important for a pitcher. The mechanics of pitching have been so heavily analyzed using all sorts of high tech gadgets, pitching equipment and video analysis, that it can be very confusing for some people. In reality, there are only a few fundamentals of pitching that all pitchers should follow, but the small details should come naturally to you. Don't go crazy trying to pitch exactly like another pitcher, or according to what one person says. Pitching should feel natural and comfortable, and should not require seven different slow motion camera angles and hours of analyzing.
Not everyone is cut out to be a baseball pitcher. It is one of the most demanding positions in all of sports, and consequently is not right for everyone. However, if you are someone who likes to be in control, enjoys having the pressure of a game on your shoulders, then baseball pitching may appeal to you. It is one of those things in which you either love it or hate it.
A baseball pitcher must realize that it takes many hours of hard work and practice to become a good pitcher. It won't happen overnight, and it will take a lot of energy to develop one's baseball pitching skills. If a player wants to become a great pitcher, he should understand the commitment it takes to do this. He needs to take this commitment to heart, and put all of his effort into becoming the best pitcher he can be.

Pitching Drills: Slow Motion Drill

Standing on the rubber, or a simulated rubber, or simply line in the dirt or grass and without a ball, the pitcher begins the pitching progression as slow as he or she possibly can.
This baseball pitching drill allows the coach and the pitcher to look very closely at each progression of the motion and make corrections. The pitcher fakes a pitch and completes the progression with the follow through.

Pitching Drills: Launch Drill

Launch drill
With the feet separated more than shoulder-width apart, and in a good launch position (both elbows at shoulder height, ball facing away and throwing arm in an “L shape), the pitcher stride foot slightly, transfer weight from the pivot foot back to the stride foot, continue with the progression by driving the glove side elbow down and back past the hip, and throw the ball with a good follow through.
If needed, the coach can reinforce any position of the launch by simply holding or reinforcing the position. For instance, a pitcher may drag his elbow through the delivery, and the coach may correct it by holding the elbow at the correct height at the start of the launch.

Pitching Tips: Training Guidelines

Here are some basic terms and rules for baseball training for pitchers:
A "repetition" is one complete movement of an exercise.A "set" is a series of repetitions done in succession before resting (e.g., ten reps and rest equal one set).The amount of weight to use for each exercise varies with each person. The best rule of thumb to follow is this: The weight should be light enough for you to perform at least six successive repetitions without cheating, and it should be heavy enough so that you can't perform more than fifteen repetitions too easily.
Begin your pitching strength training with light weights and then, after a month or so, increase the weights while maintaining the same number of repetitions.Expect a slight soreness the day after each training workout. It is normal. Without it you aren't working hard enough.

Pitching Tips: Proper Arm Care

For youth pitchers ages 8, 9 10 and 11, many parents and coaches want to know what is the appropriate arm care method after competitive pitching, and does it matter whether the arm is aching or not?
What is best to properly care for youth arms and avoid arm injury?
Following these baseball pitching arm care guidelines and techniques can help point you in the right direction - one that allows youth pitchers to pitch healthy and be successful.
Make sure you spend enough time and effort warming up and stretching out before pitching.Learn the fundamentals of throwing early and remind yourself of them often.Know your limitations and be patient about working within them.
Know the difference between a sore pitching arm and a hurt pitching arm.Many different methods exist for recouping your muscles after they have been torn down from practice or from an outing on the mound in a game. The most effective treatments for repairing your torn down muscles including have your arm massaged, treating it with alternating heat and ice, going for a light jog, performing lightweight shoulder exercises, using tubing exercises, throwers 10 exercises, and even vibration. Just make sure you are doing one of those treatments to repair your throwing arm after a day at the park.
Pitching arm injuries can come from a variety of causes, from throwing too much to throwing the wrong way, to throwing too little in preparation for the season. Let your arm tell you when it needs rest or adjustment. That big game for which you are supposed to pitch six innings won't seem so big in a few years when you can't use your pitching arm without pain.
If your arm needs need rest, let your baseball coach or pitching coach know right away.These are a few simple but effective guidelines for pitching arm care that can help you to reach your full potential with a strong, healthy pitching arm.