Dad's throwing BP

I was Greg Maddox at 46' feet and became Mitch Williams at 60'6"......

Now I'm on the sidelines because at any distance I can not generate the velocity needed to make it even remotely challenging......

5)Me type. Throws almost all strikes but certainly doesn't have pinpoint control anymore.

When I do miss it's slow enough for them to get out of the way. Now that the kids are 13 and 14 can't throw hard enough to create flaws unless I move real close. Always use an L-screen from less than 60ft. Those kids hit the ball hard. Actually probably was a bit of a 2) Rob Dibble type when the kid was younger and caused some flaws in his swing before I realized that throwing hard in BP did little or no good.

Low 60s is plenty hard enough for BP for most 13 & 14yo and about all I can throw anymore without serious pain later. There's quite a few that you need to throw even a bit slower to so that they can build their confidence and work on their swing.

Anyone who throws BP without a screen to high school aged players needs a serious dose of common sense injected into them. We have a dad who throws BP to his sons. One son, who is now playing juco baseball, hit a linedrive a few years ago while he was a senior in hs, that hit the father in the sternum. It dropped him like he'd been shot by a gun. Had to be taken to emergency room, where they discoverd that his heart was badly bruised. Doctors told him it might have killed him if it had hit him in the head.

ALWAYS USE AN L SCREEN.

A) I always use an L screen and B) I fall
under example #4 the Greg Maddux type who
has great control. In our small community
I throw BP to several HS kids on a consis-
tent basis. I also am known to show up at
Little League and Senior League practices
to throw and work with our area youth, Al-
though my son sees the bulk of my pitches.
My BP success can be attributed to my
years in the game as a player and later a
coach. There is no other place I would like
to be than behind an L screen throwing BP.

Since I quit coaching, I had gained 20 lbs. I used to throw 300-400 pitches, 4 days a week in those hot Georgia evenings. I now go to the gym and am back at playing weight after alot of hard work. With aluminum bats and kids getting bigger and stronger, you better use an L screen when they hit about 12. Also maybe for those competitive 6 yo travel teams.

I also forgot to add that in my 10+ years coaching youth baseball, I never hit a kid in BP. I attribute this to all those summer days growing up in the middle of nowhere in SE Alabama and throwing a baseball against a cinder block wellhouse probably a 100K times in simulated games in my head. I have pinpoint accuracy to this day which comes in handy during the county fair week. I think I won every game but a few those summers so long ago and struck out about 55k during my career. I know many may not understand but what great memories for me.

Dibble:
Great Post!

I'm a #4. Pitched to my son's teams for years (he's now 14)

I could get away without an L screen until he was 12. I wouldn't dream of doing it now, especially since I have to pitch from about 45 feet in order to meet the standard of "Maddux-like control".

Having gone to the same high school as The Wild Thing, (and having lived in Chicago when he was with the Cubs... great story.... Mitch's first outing with Cubs in season opener, comes in to save in ninth inning with a one run lead.... walks the bases loaded, then strikes out the side!)

Anyway, I know what not to emulate in my lucrative BP pitching career

This last weekend, I was throwing to my freshman son in the cage, with screen, from about 45 feet. Started paying more close attention to his swing, got a little lazy with the "pitching" hand...next thing you know I here the "ping" and immediately "felt the sting".

Scared to look at it for a few seconds as I was imagining the thumb pointing in an unusual direction. Evidently the hand was at just enough slight downward angle to prevent what most likely would have been severe "snappage"; instead, I only had major "purpleage" and some bleeding from where the nail pinched the end (still hurting today). Son was very apologetic, to which my reply was "do not apologize for your old man's stupidity!"

Moral...Use an L-screen and MAKE USE OF IT!

The following is my college baseball son's description of my BP pitching....

"PUS"
Pronunciation: 'p&s
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin pur-, pus -- thick opaque usually yellowish white fluid matter formed by suppuration and composed of exudate containing white blood cells, tissue debris, and microorganisms