First and foremost HAPPY MOTHERS DAY
Look who is in first place in the NL East.
My team lost a game yesterday where my two hardest throwing pitchers walked 15 (yes fifteen) batters. So back to pitching school we go. I’v tried doing wide stance drills, sifting their weight from back to front, keeping the front leg up (standing tall) for a three count then releasing the ball, and I’ve pleaded for them to keep their head up and focus on the target (set up by catcher) if anyone has any other drills or ideas I am open to any and all sugestions (tell me in the comments or by e mail at SINYMETS@aol.com  because if I go through another game of 15 walks by my pitchers they will take me out of the dugout in a straight jacket.
My blood test is back from the day I posted about dealing the two Carlos’ and it came back possitive for stupidity.
Steve, with Oliver Perez not in Buffalo working out the kinks, and not contributing from the bullpen either, he seems to have a lot of time on his hands. How about ask him to come down and do a little pitching clinic for your neighborhood team? And get News 4 to come down and do a heartwarming piece about the spurned major league pitcher giving back to the community as best he can.
First place, win streak, Phillies and Phish phlailing, everything working for us. We get our manager back and never skipped a beat. Reyes hitting over .500 the last three games. K-Rod got some rest. Four of our starters have 3 or more wins. And now it is Santana-time again.
Steve,
I’m not sure this will work for you, but when I was a kid I found that the more I pitch against a wall the easier it got to control my pitching. And they have to pitch – wind-up – not just throw. I know it’s a Spaldeen or whatever (I always preferred the heavier SuperPinky), but I really think that the repetition alone is helpful.
I used to make a box on a wall with masking tape. When you’ve mastered a big box, make it smaller (in height – always make it 17 inches wide). Keep making it smaller until you have it the height of the average kid from the waist to his shins.
Maybe it will work, maybe not, but I’m a big believer in simply doing the same thing over and over. They have to get comfortable throwing to the same small space time and again. I remember talking a few friends of mine into this with a few friends of mine and they all said it helped them. Having said all that – we’re talking about 35 or so years ago.
smooth out the dirt around the mound and have each kid go through their wind up once. Show them where they land and how the toe on their lead leg points.
Smooth out the dirt again have them do it right then have them focus on planting that foot in the same place each time checking where they land. Once they get going well with that (10-15) pitches. Put a coin or a rock a little bit behind that spot and tell them to try to pick it up. this will help them follow through. after that its all repitition. As soon as they are doing the same thing over and over then they can adjust less to throw strikes every time.
Love the blog. Been reading a long time. Keep it up
Also: Maybe your “hardest throwers” aren’t the answer. Sometimes that soft-tossing control artist, combined with good defense, is your best bet. We tend to give hitters too much credit, and perhaps your hardest throwers need to see that.
– Jamie Moyer
Thank you guys so much for your input and great suggestions on my pitching woes. I really appreciate it.
David the last thing I need is OP to show up a one of my practices
Eagle, that’s how we played stick ball as kids with a paint and outline of a strikezone on the school yard wallthen chalk in the whole the whole box. If the Spaldeen came back with chalk on it it was a K.
James my soft tossers are my most effective pitchers but both had family parties to go to Saturday or else they’d have been in as I would have done my best Sparky Anderson impression.
Tony, I am definetly using that drill today thank you
Steve, just kidding about Ollie Perez giving a clinic on improving control,even for 13 year olds. I thought it would be obvious…
I see that he is down in St Lonesome now, hopefully he can get it together there. He still could be the most likely Met to pitch the elusive first no-hitter, though Santana is an obvious threat to do it, and Maine missed it by a whisker two years ago.
But really enjoyed the good pitching advice from everyone else, very good stuff.