Pitching To Your Strengths

[Greenmonsters]

After seeing Lee completely dominate the Yankees last night, I found the following post-game interview excerpt to be quite interesting.

“I mean, I do the same thing every game,” Lee said. “I’m going to throw strikes and I’m going to throw fastballs in and out and see how they swing and I’m going to make those adjustments on the fly.”

It’s true, Molina said.

“We go with what he has out there,” the catcher said. “We don’t actually follow any scouting report. We go by how he pitches. The only thing I notice, before the game we might talk about a few guys. … He’s the same guy every single time. He can throw everything for strikes. He doesn’t care who he’s facing. And that’s all.”

Focus on what you can control and pitch to your strengths, rather than worrying about the hitters' strengths and weaknesses.

Something to think about - GM

 

[Duane]

GM - totally agree with this. My daughter threw her first no hitter this past weekend. She struck out 11 and walked 2. I asked her after the game what she felt was different about this game and she said "I threw a lot of strikes and just wanted to get everyone out". She's been pitching for about 3 years now (she's 13) and this was our 2nd tourney at 16u. She's not a big kid, has a good fastball but lots of movement with her other pitches. I think she'd love to be the 6 feet tall dominant power pitcher but at this stage in her career she uses the tools she has. Guess on this day they were working for her.

Thanks for the thought.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Greenmonster, I noticed that, too and put it on my Facebook.

 

[starsnuffer]

It's refreshing to hear something like this. At times, I think a lot of people really overthink/overanalayze things, especially in sports (sorry if I offended any baseball stats nuts).

-W

 

[sluggers]

So, Lee says, "I’m going to throw strikes and I’m going to throw fastballs in and out and see how they swing and I’m going to make those adjustments on the fly."

Isn't Cliff Lee in fact worrying about the hitters' strengths and weaknesses and adjusting his pitching accordingly?

 

[Greenmonsters]

So, Lee says, "I’m going to throw strikes and I’m going to throw fastballs in and out and see how they swing and I’m going to make those adjustments on the fly."

Isn't Cliff Lee in fact worrying about the hitters' strengths and weaknesses and adjusting his pitching accordingly?

Sluggers - I read it more like that he was going to start with his best stuff and see what the hitters' game plan was and modify his pitch sequencing/strategy from there. My take from watching the game and the number of FB strikes the Yanks looked at w/out swinging, I don't think he was trying to exploit individual weaknesses, rather Lee simply threw his pitches in a sequence or location that the Yankees weren't expecting. While it was all about Lee's ability to execute, Molina certainly deserves a lot of credit too! Because a pticher's stuff can vary game to game, my take away is that the 'correct formula' varies game to game too! It'd be very interesting to see how a Game 7 rematch would develop.

GM