Having wrote upon this topic just a few weeks prior, baseball is a game of adjustments. Those who make the necessary adjustments in the shortest period of time, generally make the most money. $$$ That’s just the way it is. The same also branches out to walks of life well beyond baseball. Now that I have your attention, a majority of the adjustments needed to be made are quick and to the point. A Series of Basic Tweaks for Pitchers. Keep It Simple Stupid!

 

Basic Tweaks for Pitchers
Tweaks, Not Overhauls

When you know how to throw a baseball and have a considerable amount of athletic ability, pitching is a series of tweaks when the mind-body unit goes adrift. A total overhaul of mechanics should be the very last resort.

Now for example: Rushing the Delivery, Pulling Off Glove Side, Not getting your hips open. Leaving pitches up and so on. These mechanical breakdowns have a negative chain reaction which affect the location and the outcome of the pitch.

The tweaks come into play when you understand your mechanics and know how to correct the flaw. Have you visualized the pitch before your threw it? Is your energy being directed towards your target? Or are you opening up your front side too soon? Is your head staying still? Are you stepping across your body too much and can’t reach the outside corner consistently?

The subtle adjustments can be tended to by paying attention to your own personal feedback. Often times, Addition by Subtraction creates the synergy needed to get back on track.

 

Basic Tweaks for Pitchers
WARNINGS!

Red flag coaches try to make a name for themselves because they have no name. They are inept to developing players. Their own personal playing experience which requires a strenuous trial and error process, may be inadequate. The same with their coaching tactics. What you have to look for here in coaches is AUTHENTICITY. Is the coach speaking with conviction about his methods? Does he speak with and underlying notion of:

 

I have had my ass handed to me plenty of times on the mound, and I found a better way, and so will you.

 

This truthful understanding creates trust and motivates it’s pupils.  

Another serious attribute which can expose a red flag, is FLEXIBILITY. There is more than one way to skin a cat and numerous ways to pitch effectively. Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux both are in the Hall of Fame together. Yet, had drastically different approaches and arsenals. They combined for 9 Cy Young Awards and 658 WINS while each receiving 97% of the HOF Vote. Nonetheless, you could not expect either of them to pitch like the other.

When a coach or instructor has a “My Way or The Highway” approach which doesn’t suit you as a pitcher, chances are you will be confused, frustrated, and regressing as a pitcher.

Example

Case in point, I wrote about this in an email to my list. From a winter workout I was at, when I was a freshman in college over winter break, I was grouped with a local college coach. He and his flat top, forced all of us in the group to alter our mechanics to be of his preference. It felt weird and unnatural, all while he had a strange enjoyment in frustrating us. I was 18 and relatively new to pitching. Unfortunately, didn’t know any better.

Long story short, it took me a few weeks to get my mechanics back on track and fluid, his college team won 2 games that season…..2 DAMN WINS!!!! Not even enough to get on the Lou Brown winning streak….and he still has his flat top today.

Some coaches and instructors are just one dimensional. It comes from lacking experience and aptitude. When you see the tell tale signs of a red flag, avoid it all costs. It is a plague. This does not mean you are uncoachable. You are just several steps ahead.

 

Basic Tweaks for Pitchers
Be True to Yourself

Pitchers can get into serious trouble with their performance when they are not aware of what kind of pitcher they are. For example, when they try too many new things they pick up on from their peers. The most basic way to reduce this thinking, is what works for one may not work for you. All that matters is locating your pitches, changing speeds, and getting late, sharp movement on your breaking pitches, which all result in getting OUTS!

When pitchers get caught up in this impossible cycle, every week they have a new pitcher they mimic, new mechanics which they know absolutely nothing about, and a revolving door of pitch assortments which they will never master. As a result, this is competitive suicide as their whole world is about to blow up and have no clue why. Like Carmen Ronzonni before Coach Leak got him straightened out.

Know what your strengths are and be true to them. Know your value and work to maintain it, all while moving forward with your results. Most importantly, don’t assume a magic bullet will show up and your velocity will take off. That is just crazy. Because when the velocity doesn’t appear, the frustration usually leads to overthrowing. That’s when it gets ugly…

 

 

Basic Tweaks for Pitchers
Sharpening the Slider

As for the mighty pitch which casts DOMINATION over humdrum hitters… The 3 main tweaks which you can implement when your Slider is inconsistent, are Simple. Stay Behind the Baseball, Release it Out in Front, and Throw it Downhill. This is a chain reaction which leads to the proper execution of this devastating pitch. When the first step is not performed correctly, surely the wheels will fall off on the next 2. Thus, the result is not ideal. Additionally, the Simple 3 are not only to be physically executed, they are also a mindset which tells your body how to throw the Slider correctly.

Keep a checklist in your head of what needs to be done when the consistency is at odds. The little things add up in this game. As the cliche goes, the team that does the little things correctly will win the game. Those little things are both collective and individualized. Consequently, it all starts with the pitcher. The faster the tweaks are made, the bigger the CA$H Pile to be earned.

 

Keep Dominating!!!