Off speed pitching

[halskinner]

Have her work hard on using 3 speeds; fast, slow and an off-speed. Try not to throw 2 in a row the exact same speed. Make sure the wind up for all three looks like a fastball wind up.

Any hitter can adjust to seeing only two speeds. NO BATTER can deal with 3 speeds and the pitcher going back and forth constantly. It is almost impossible to train a hitter to deal wth three.

When they cannot use the pitcher's motions to let them know what speed the ball is coming, they have to wait and watch it travel part way to determine how fast it is coming THIS pitch. THAT TAKES TIME THEY AINT GOT!

Hal

 

[Sponge]

So if you target 3 speeds I assume...

Fast...

Off speed

Changup

Is there any specific for off speed? Im sure you dont slow your motion, do you set the ball deeper in your fingers? Do you only throw specific pitches at off speed? Any hints for off speed?

My DD HS coach is not throwing changups for some reason. I can see the hitters timing her and the advantage goes to the hitter the more they foul off.
Her curve is working well and she is just starting to call that more....So off speed may be helpful.

 

[sluggers]

hal, could point about off-speed pitching. If you watch a pro baseball starting pitcher, they vary their speed, usually by a few MPH. It isn't a huge variation, but it is enough to throw the timing off.

I wouldn't go so far as to say "no batter can handle three speeds of pitching", but it certainly makes the pitcher better. If you have a pitcher that has a good breaking pitch and varies speeds as well, then you've got something.

My DD varied her speed from 62 to about 55 or so on her fastball. On her drop, she had three speeds, something like 50, 55 and 62. She didn't have a good change, so she would throw a slow drop.

My DD's pitching coach said he had 4 different speeds for his pitches.

 

[SnocatzDad]

I think that speed variance is one of the main reasons pitchers with a good third(or more) pitch are so successful even if they don't have tremendous movement. So your drop ball moves 4", or curve breaks 3" so what, but the fact that those pitches run 3-5 mph slower than the fastball is a big deal.

 

[sluggers]

I talked to my DD about this last night. Generally, she would usually throw one fastball to a batter in the 63 to 65 mph range. She had a live arm--her fastball moved without her having to do anything. So, even her fastball wasn't flat. She would then throw breaking stuff of some kind and would vary the speed of her pitches from 45 to 60. She used her off-speed drop as her change-up.

Sometimes the batters weren't fooled and they would hit her. I've seen some of her pitches hit into the bleachers. But, most of the time it worked. She wasn't a great college pitcher, but she was good.

For the record, her pitching coach taught her this.

 

[Sponge]

So if she throws the same pitch different speeds, whats the BEST way to change speed? Slowing the arm is not an option...is it the grip? More fingers on the ball? Different things for different pitches?

 

[CoachC]

My daughter will typically tuck one finger and put that knuckle on the ball.

You could also move it away from the finger tips and move it tighter in the palm.

 

[sluggers]

My DD slowed down her body. She would just push off a little less with her legs and drop the speed.

 

[halskinner]

So if you target 3 speeds I assume...

Fast...

Off speed

Changup

Is there any specific for off speed? Im sure you dont slow your motion, do you set the ball deeper in your fingers? Do you only throw specific pitches at off speed? Any hints for off speed?

My DD HS coach is not throwing changups for some reason. I can see the hitters timing her and the advantage goes to the hitter the more they foul off.
Her curve is working well and she is just starting to call that more....So off speed may be helpful.

_____________________________________________________________
Find yourself a concrete (NOT stucco) wall. A concrete block wall will work but you will tear up a softball quickly on those. I used to use a handball court wall when I was a kid.

Measure off your pitching distance from the wall and draw a pitcher's rubber with chalkon the concrete or asphalt. Then, draw a strike zone on the wall also with chalk.

Once you have warmed up and are ready, throw several of your fastest pitches and mark where the ball comes back to on the concrete/asphalt, only the ones that hit the strike zone count.

Lets say that one comes back 35 feet before it touches the ground.

Now, do the same with your slow change up and mark that distance, let's say it's 15 feet.

Now draw a thick line at 25 feet, halfway between fast and slow, and practice until you can throw the off-speed and make it come down at 25 feet or very close.

THEN comes the rough part of this training method. Have a coach, or Dad, call off the speeds and quickly throw them correctly and see how you do.

Fast, slow, off-spped, slow, slow, fast, off-speed, off-speed, slow, fast,etc.

Worked for me when I was a kid. I even had a friend that was a baseball pitcher in high school that used this method and said it worked for him too.

This can be done with no catcher.

This is 'The Wall Workout', it is a chapter in my book and was a featured training article in the NFCA's Fast Pitch Delivery newspaper
Hal