I am calling out to all the Lefthanded Dominators here in this post. Today, we will go through a Left Handed Pitcher Dream Sequence that can carve out a hitter in an at bat and his psyche. SouthPaw Powers Activate.
A few summers ago, I worked with a LHP who was going into his junior year in high school. Already a solid 6’4” frame with room to grow. Surely, what catches the scouts’ eyes.
Left Handed Pitcher Dream Sequence
The Arsenal
First things first, he had good command of his fastball. Everything else plays off of that. Then he threw a Cutter, Slider, and Curveball. From catching him, I saw a pattern develop. The 3 secondary pitches all came out of the hand identically and broke in the same direction. The discrepancy was that the 3 pitches all broke out of the zone in a progressing order. The cutter broke enough to miss the barrel of the bat. The Slider was an exaggeration of the cutter. And since most lefties throw in the ¾ range, the curveball was more like a sharp Slurve.
At the point of swing decision, they were all in the same spot. Needless to say, they all broke late and sharp. Hitters don’t adjust too well to that.
Then to make matters even worse for hitters, he could throw a good tailing fastball in typical lefty fashion to the armside of the plate. Piggybacked with the change up, of course, to the same location. The Deadly Combo which I love! the most impressive thing about this is how much he threw all these pitches with immense conviction.
My only advice for him was simple:
Stay out of the middle of the plate and you will be just fine.
Therefore, we worked on expanding the plate with all his pitches. This pushed him to understand where he needs to start each pitch and where they will finish. It also gave him a game plan for when he has the hitter set up that he doesn’t need to throw him a strike.
Left Handed Pitcher Dream Sequence
The Visuals
These diagrams come from what my point of view was as I was catching this arsenal. If a photo says a 1,000 words, well, that’s a lot of cursing and muttering under the breath of hitters. Let me know in the comments what words come to your mind when see this visual.
As you can see this is about stretching the plate with a multitude of velocities and movements. All of the movements go away from the middle of the zone. When pitches break towards the fringe as much as this, it becomes even more difficult to decide which side of the plate the hitter can protect. Simply, because he is being forced to look away off the plate, all while the notion in the back of his head that his feet could be moved on any given pitch. Pitching In & Out like this neutralizes hitters who dive out over the plate, as well as those who pull off the ball.
Left Handed Pitcher Dream Sequence
TIPS
On the 2nd or 3rd time through the line up, when hitters may now be adjusting to the arsenal, throw the glove side pitches to other side of the plate. Backdoor to RHHs or start at the front hip to LHHs. Then you have even more potential for damage on hitters when you go back outside with these pitches.
The more you can change speeds, change locations, and change movements, it is the less that the hitter can work with in his approach. He will result in to looking for pitches over the plate, hoping he gets one. When you don’t miss there, it will be a long night for him.
Left Handed Pitcher Dream Sequence
MLB Examples
Let’s look at some of the pitch velocities of lefties that rocked these pitches over their careers.
Keep Dominating!!!
About the Author
Brad Kirsch is the Owner/Creator of Slider Domination. He is a former professional pitcher who blogs about all things Pitching. Brad has also authored the AudioBook, 7 Reasons Why YOU Should Throw a Slider. If you haven’t done so already, you can Download the AudioBook Here
