This week is pitching grips week at The Pitching Academy. My favorite week.

There’s nothing like throwing a great knee buckler that fools even the best of hitters in your league.  The best is seeing a hitters eyes light up thinking they just got served the perfect pitch only to find out the bottom dropped out of it and they swung for the fence.

Yes, throwing different pitches is fun but to perfect a pitch takes a ton of time, energy and effort.  It doesn’t have to be difficult, but it really does take some patience to make a pitch do exactly what you want and when you want it.

Today I wanted to make sure your understand a common mistake most pitchers make when they begin to throw something new; especially when they begin to start throwing any off speed pitch.

You have to remember the rules: first, always throw this new pitch with your fastball mechanics. second, keep the same arm slot you use when throwing your fastball. three, the only thing that changes is your wrist and forearm angle when you throw a different pitch.  Keep it simple!

As easy as this is to know, it’s hard to do sometimes.

One of the biggest mistakes pitchers make when throwing any off speed pitch is forcing the ball for a strike, they may stiffen up their arm when they throw instead of staying relaxed.  Staying relaxed is so important to get your pitch to do what you want it to do; move and change speed.

It is very difficult to keep your wrist where its supposed to stay at release of the baseball if you are tense.  Learn to relax and throw each pitch and you will be much more successful throwing anything.

We explain how to do this very well in our pitching grips and workouts DVD . Pick up your copy today and throw knee buckling pitches!