Have one of your coaches ever told you to “just throw strikes” and get us out of this inning? Many coaches out there make the mistake of telling pitchers to “just throw strikes”.

Attention Coaches! Do your pitchers really know how to throw good off-speed pitches? Pitches that have incredible movement? Pitches that win ball games?

We all know that the best of teams can be beat if you have a handful of pitchers on your team that can throw a great breaking ball or changeup.

Look at Greg Maddux for example, he wasn’t overpowering at all. When most pitchers get in a bind they just try and throw the ball by the batter; not Greg Maddux. He knew what his job was. His job was to keep the hitters off balance, so when he would get in a bind he would locate better and change speeds. Heck, I think his fastball at the major league level looked like a changeup to most hitters. Think about that!

What I wanted to write about today has everything to do with teaching your pitchers how to throw off-speed pitches correctly.

As I mentioned last week, Baseball is taught by people with the greatest intentions, but those same people teach their pitchers techniques and strategies that are not only ineffective, but can cause some serious damage to their throwing arms. [Read more...]