Playing Catch

Another day of rain with the boys up here in Tennessee.  We will be playing two games tomorrow, hopefully the rain will stay away so we can get going again tomorrow.  Whenever I get going during a season it is always nice to play almost everyday.  There is a reason why I leave San Diego and leave the beautiful weather and the waves and all that good stuff.  Not playing because of rain is not one of those things....lol!

Today's topic is Playing Catch.  What I mean by playing catch is being able to throw all of your pitches, as a pitcher, while you are playing catch.  At this level it is all about developing pitches that will be there for you as you move up levels and when the going gets tough.  There are a lot of young pitchers who get lost in results and never truly gain ownership of their pitches because they are skipping steps in the process.  You must crawl before you walk, right? 

When you go to a major league game and you watch pitchers warm up in the outfield and practice all their pitches you see guys owning the movement to all that they throw.  I will give you this example...when you go to a professional basketball game and guys are warming up before the game I am sure you witness almost every guy on the court shooting prior to the game.  How many shots do you see those guys miss???  Not too many!!  Most of the shooters hit every shot from every spot on the court during warm-ups.  This is the same for pitchers.  How would you expect to throw all your pitches in a professional game with the pressure turned up when it is tough to even throw all your pitches in a game of catch?

Start with catch and then build from there.  If you can spin the ball properly to your breaking ball, if you can throw the change-up with the same arm speed as your fastball, if you can create consistent angle and plane to your fastball when you are throwing to your partner, now you are ready for the next step.  But if you are not able to do all these things consistently, over and over and over,  there is no need to move on to flatground or to bullpen work or to a game.  It only is going to get tougher as you add in the steps.  Take your time in the process.  No need to rush it because if you take the time and do it right, you won't ever go backwards.  Plus you will always have a process to get back to where you want to be just in case you lose your way just a bit. 

Ok, that's all for now...Happy Pitching!!!