First Pitch Strikes

I have seen too many 1st pitch HRs to say that a 1st pitch should be always thrown for a strike. Some batters are taught not to swing at the 1st pitch but I like a pitcher that mixes it up.
Some coaches want pitchers to th row 1st pitch CBs and work on that. To me a pitcher should know whar is working for him on a given day and work with those pitches. If he can tell the batter is a free swinger and will go at the 1st pitch keep it on the corners and low. A pitcher should not be afraid to walk a batter and use his CBs even in a full count situation. Never give in.

SK, who once visited this site, has a large database of very detailed HS pitching stats. Some time back, I calculated from his stats that if the first pitch is a strike, 70% of the time an out results.

Often, you can tell if a team is in the "take until you get a strike" mode. If this is the case, move the aim point into the zone a little more. Don't try to clip the corner.

Once they start swinging freely, as they probably eventually will when the pitcher is throwing first pitch strikes, then that opens up first pitch changeup, etc.

Texan,
I don't remember SKs data but I seem to remember that about 50% of first pitch strikes are taken. Assuming a very good HS hitter who hits .500 on balls put in play and assuming that he puts 2/3 of the first pitch strikes he swings at in play then you'd get a strike on about 2/3 of first pitch strikes, a hit on 1/6 of them and an out on about 1/6 of them. Given 6 batters faced you'd have one hit, one out, and an 0-1 count on 4 hitters at which point their average starts going down. So facing very good hitters you'd be at an advantage throwing first pitch strikes as long as you didn't absolutely groove the pitch. That's all speculation with no hard data behind it of course.

I think one of the reasons Bonds was able to have such a high average during his big home run seasons was that he very seldom saw a first pitch strike.

Deleted

Your question was about 1st pitch strikes.
I would guess that the hard thrower had trouble throwing strikes period compared to the other huy.
Wins and losses don't mean much to me as there are too many factors inmvolved. Both sound like good pitchers with respectable stats.
Working in relief can be tougher to get great stats. Starter who get in their rythm usually can put up more innings with better stats if they are good. relievers often go in against a team which is on a hot streak and have to shut them down. A good reliever can save a starters tail when they are running out ofr gas. Even a good coach who knows his starters limits can make a huge difference in the guys stats.
I find stats interesting but only a fraction of the whole storey.
Using HS data is even worse.

CADad, I may not have been clear. The data showed that a first pitch strike ultimately resulted in an out 70% of the time. The out didn't necessarily come on the first pitch.

The data set was pretty large, so I believe that the 70% figure was pretty reliable.

Subjectively speaking, in the MLB playoff games I watched the successful pitchers were throwing a high percentage of first pitch strikes.

Stats are tools but even large data is not accurate. Think of all the factors like Umps strike zone, hard drives hit right at fielder that are caught and the list goes on and on. wins and losses are one of the least reliable stat. I know 2 guys drafted who had 2-9 records in a weak conference. Obviously the scouts don't regard the stats very highly.

Huh?

I was not talking about pitchers records or ERA's.

CADAD was.

It is all about establishing control. If the pitcher can early in the game establish that he can throw first pitch strikes, he can then go to throwing pitches off the plate and get the hitter to go fishing for a pitch that looks like a strike and the umpire to call strikes when out of the zone.

If the pitcher can not establish that he can throw the first pitch for a strike, the hitter then has a great advantage that he knows most likely he does not have the control to throw a strike with control where and when he needs to.

For a good hitter, batting averages go up in certain situations and latter in the count.

Win and losses do count over the long run, you can make all the excuses you want but at the end of the day, it matters to the coach and the team.

Baseball is a game of statistics and is very relevant beyond high school, if they don’t matter, why do pro and college teams have so detailed statistics?

Relievers tend to have better stats because the hitters are only seeing them once and because they come in with outs already on the board.

Both of the pitchers I mentioned are excellent talents and Hunter will probably go much earlier in the draft than Enright did.

I'm simply saying that throwing a high percentage of first pitch strikes is valuable and that in order to do so there has to be some degree of give. The question is how much is appropriate at a given level.

quote:

Originally posted by Homerun04:
It is all about establishing control. If the pitcher can early in the game establish that he can throw first pitch strikes, he can then go to throwing pitches off the plate and get the hitter to go fishing for a pitch that looks like a strike and the umpire to call strikes when out of the zone.

You bring up a very good and valid point. A pitcher who shows command early on will tend to get more marginal pitches (or even pitches that are close misses) called strikes than a pitcher who started off having control problems. That old first impression thing...

Perry Husband has the data on first pitch strikes from the inside edge data base,(for MLB) but I don't have the book here at work. I will look it up and post it tomorrow.

One great suggestion from him is to approach each new batter mentally thinking it is a 3-2 count. Might help him get focused for that important first pitch.

Wins and losses matter to a team but is not reflective of a pitchers talent.
I see many a great game pitched by an excellent pitcher and he gets no win. My son threw a perfect game and didn't get a win.
One of the guys who got drafted with a 9-2 record throws mid 90s. He was in a weak conference and it just had no bearing on his being drafted.
If you look at the importance of a 1st strik pitch it depends on the pitcher and the hitter. My son has intentionally stayed out of the strike zone on a kid having a stellar day. He would rather nibble at the corners knowing this guy wants to hit. He would rather walk him in certain circumstances.
That fact that you don't throw a 1st pitch strike dosen't extrapolate into a pitcher who can't throw strikes. Any data is skewed by the pitchers who have trouble throwing a strike so the data would not be valid in making a decision tp throw a strike on a 1st pitch.

How about this?

There is an advantage to getting a strike called on the first pitch (whether the pitch was in the zone, or out of the zone & got swung at & missed).

At the higher levels of ball, relatively few hitters will chase a first pitch that is out of the zone.

While there are exceptions to almost everything, as a rule it is a good practice to start a game throwing the first pitch in the strike zone (albeit not right down the pipe).

quote:

There is an advantage to getting a strike called on the first pitch (whether the pitch was in the zone, or out of the zone & got swung at & missed).

Yes that is true.

Not sure what level you have to be at where batters stop chasing pitches out of the zone though .

First pitches. Most batters are a little more conservative on the first pitch.

I think it has a lot to do with what level of player we are talking about

I know a lot of batters who will not go after a 1st pitch. To me it makes no sense. I also belive in being patient at the plate but you only have so many chances. I like to see guys adjust to the pitcher they are facing and if you have a pitcher with control you don't waste any opportunity.

That is part of game management, what type of batter is the pitcher facing? Is the batter going to let the first pitch go, if he is not, what type of pitch will be most effective against the batter for the first pitch that he will either let go or not.

To be an effective pitcher you need to be confident of your skills, if you pitch afraid, you may want to hang it up….because you are going to get hammered.

quote:

Should a pitcher be trying to hit a corner on the first pitch with their fastball or should they simply be trying for the outer or inner half of the plate?

A lot of that depends on how "locked in" your pitcher is that day. He should know after a few pitches if he can paint that day or not... he's got to make the adjustments. Some days the control is going to be outstanding; and some days it isn't and the battle takes on different parameters.

OK gents here are the facts from the inside edge data on MLB pitchers from 4/2004 to 10/2006. You will have to extrapolate (and make your own assumptions for HS baseball).

Count Bave Strike %
0-0 .336 59%
0-1 .316 58%
0-2 .166 54%
1-0 .338 65%
1-1 .323 64%
1-2 .178 63%
2-0 .346 68%
2-1 .335 70%
2-2 .193 70%
3-0 .365 66%
3-1 .356 72%
3-2 .230 78%
Totals
.265 63%

It is pretty clear that pitchers (MLB) can throw strikes when they want to (I know DUH...) and you better get them in early since it does not get any easier. I suspect the data for HS pitchers would have the same trends with the strike % being the largest variable.

Still pretty clear: Pitchers get your first strikes in.

quote:

Some days the control is going to be outstanding; and some days it isn't and the battle takes on different parameters

This is the main reason stats are useless in the decion to throw a 1st pitch strike. If you could eliminate the guys having a bad day and several other factors these historical facts may have some relevance. There are several models that eliminate extremes that result from a pitcher having a bad day. There are so many things that affect stats.
BB is a game dealing with humans who influence results. Umpires with tight strike zones, players tripping over their own feet etc etc. Yes even pros have bad days and make bad plays. BB fields can create bad hopes and there are so many things that can influence the game. Stats attempt to reflect historical info and are subject to all those influences.

This is the main reason stats are useless in the decion to throw a 1st pitch strike.

Stats attempt to reflect historical info and are subject to all those influences.[/QUOTE]

You are clueless if you don't use stats to establish and game plan and direction for your team. You are also clueless if you don't set objectives for your pitchers to throw first pitch strikes. Does that mean you do it to all hitters...no. Yes stats are historical, but they are indicative on what happens in the future. You set a strategy and plan based on them. The advent of computers and data collection methods are allowing intelligent baseball managers have a better insight into decisions on the field. Then what happens in the game is just that...a happening, but the happening is less random based on your decisions guided by the statistics. You gather the data from that game and move on for the next game.

The beauty of the game is its randomness, but to not utilize as much data that is available for your on field decisions foolish.

Maybe I am clueless but I use current information. What did that guy do recently ? What kind of hitter is the guy you are about to face. I want to know what really matters and that is recent info.

BOF,
Those stats show that when a hitter puts the ball in play their batting average is a bit over .300 with some improvement when the hitter is ahead in the count. The reason the averages are lower with 2 strikes is the fact that you can't strike out on a pitch when you've got less than 2 strikes in the count. The reason they aren't quite as low with a 3-2 count is that you can't walk until you get a pitch with a 3 ball count.

What they do say is that you are better off getting ahead of the hitter and that there isn't a big penalty for throwing first pitch strikes in terms of batting average against.

CAdad,

You are correct regarding the strike out part of the equation, but you also have to account for balls in play. The stats I did not put up were the well-hit which are:

0-0 .065
0-1 .092
0-2 .084
1-0 .094
1-1 .103
1-2 .092
2-0 .102
2-1 .123
2-2 .106
3-0 .027
3-1 .140
3-2 .136

Which again point to "throw first strikes". The whole point of my taking the time to put the stats up were to give CAson some statistically information on why to throw first strikes. We all know it is important, but the statistics back it up. There is also the whole concept of pitching to contact (the pitchers) and reducing pitch counts within a game, which is a whole other argument. (and thread)

Thanks for all the stats.

Throwing first strikes and pitching to contact (with good location and movement) are great pitching approaches as it reduces the amount of pitches and it also has a great advantage of keeping the fielders in the game as it gains confidence that their pitcher can throw strikes and it keeps them on their toes by making plays.

I am not sure how the decision to throw a strike on 1st pitch leads to all this stuff.
A pitcher faces a batter that is free swinging and he throws a pitch that is not a strike but is intended to induce a swing. ie it is not over the plate but gets a swinging strike. It is not that a pitcher intends to throw a ball it is that he wants a hitter to come after the pitch which will be a ball if the batter doesn't come after it. It is also true on a 3rd strike pitch with a low ball count that you don't want to throw a strike but you do want the batter to chase it. How many pitchers grove a pitch with 2 strikes on a batter ?
My
point is that you don't always want to throw a 1st pitch strike. Yes you do like to get ahead in the count but being 1-0 just makes you even.

found these two articles by chance, thought they were good information. something i have stressed for years and will try to stress forever is to get ahead. this has some good thoughts backed with some research into counts.



http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/printarticle/the-impo...-strike-one-part-one


http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/printarticle/the-impo...-strike-one-part-two

turnin2,
Thanks. I've e-mailed the url's to my son. Good stuff.

i think it has alot to do with the batter, the situation, how good the pitcher is throwing. but i love my coaches philosophy... throw strikes, get outs.

Those stats as I stated are skewed.
If you throw an off the plate pitch which is swung at it is called a strike but it was not thrown as a strike. Like the CB that hits in front of the plate and is swung on.
I am talking about the location of the pitch as opposed to the results. i have known the historical info for years.
My point is that overall it is statistically better to throw 1st pitch strikes but you have to adjust to the batter. I would rather see my son throw off the plate pitches or out of the strike zone pitches to a hot hitter/slugger.

It's obvious that you need to get ahead of the hitter to be effective. However just throwing any ball for a 'Strike' doesn't work either.
A fast ball down the middle will get crushed more often than not. You need to command your fastball to hit spots in the strike zone as well as having another pitch or two that you can locate for strikes. Accomplishing these goals from the first pitch to the last will make you an effective pitcher.

In the ML 93% of 1st pitch strikes end up as 0-1 or outs. ML hitters swing at 11% of the strikes thrown on 1st pitches. ML pitchers throw 55-56% 1st pitch strikes. This is based on the Inside Edge data base. (Kenny Kendrena)

JW

quote:

Originally posted by jerry weinstein:
In the ML 93% of 1st pitch strikes end up as 0-1 or outs. ML hitters swing at 11% of the strikes thrown on 1st pitches. ML pitchers throw 55-56% 1st pitch strikes. This is based on the Inside Edge data base. (Kenny Kendrena)

JW

JW, is the 55-56% 1st pitch strikes that low by design?

HR
Very much pitcher dependent. Maddux for example doesn't nind pitching from behind because when he gets hitters sitting on fastballs, he can throw change ups for strikes. In general, I think that in general pitchers at all levels tend to look at 0-0 batting averages(which are high) & pitch too defensively. IMO it becomes more of a stuff over location approach rather than location over stuff. They tend to throw their strike 3 pitch on strike 1.

Jerry welcome to HSSBW nice to see you here.

I will send you a PM.

The few times I get a chance to catch a pen for my son we play a game with the simulated batters where he owes me $.75 for a first pitch ball and I owe him $.50 for a first pitch strike. I owe him $.25 for a simulated K and he owes me $1.00 for a simulated bb. So far he's even because he hasn't given up any walks, but he's 40% on the first pitch strikes.

I've tried to get him to work middle in and middle out when he isn't ahead in the count and rely on a bit of wildness/movement to limit the number of pitches down the middle. His first strike percentage in games has gone up a bit but he still has a tendency to go 2-0 before focusing on strikes at times.

Great idea. Going to try it. However I am going to charge him $5 or every knot on my shin...

Offer that to my son and he will pay his way through college.

The problem is not the abitiy to throw strikes. The problem is keeping the ball in the infield.

BOF,
Cup, shinguards, mask, and since he buried a curve that got me in the chest, a chest protector.

Bobblehead,
Keeping the ball in the infield doesn't seem to be much of a problem for mine, except for the occasional 2-0 pitch. Of course in his most recent winterball game he gave up 3 infield hits and a ground out to the first 4 hitters.

I don't have too much general philosophy to add to this discussion; on the other hand, here is a practical tip from Tom House that has worked, and worked, and worked, for my son:

Early in a game, try throwing a high percentage of 0-0 breaking balls. By midway into in the game, change the 0-0 pitch to a higher % of FBs.

The upsides are: Very few batters are sitting on, or will swing at, a breaking ball on 0-0. Thus, if the pitch is a strike, it's almost a free strike. If the 0-0 breaking pitch is a strike, the hitter's attention has been altered and he is set up for your 0-1 FB. Even if the 0-0 breaking ball misses, it is a relatively risk free spot in any sequence to "practice" getting the breaking ball into the strike zone. Most pitchers justifiably hate to go 2-0 or worse with a hitter, but 1-0 is not that stressful.

The downsides are: If the pitcher really doesn't have a decent breaking ball, the opposition will realize that quickly and go up 1-0 far too often. Then, they'll too often be okay sitting on the FB. The reason for adjusting the strategy mid-way into a game is obvious--hitters adjust, so pitchers should remain ahead of hitters' adjustments.

I agree with House. My son's 1st pitch is usually a CB. He has the same approach even if it misses being called a strike.

quote:

Originally posted by BOF:
Great idea. Going to try it. However I am going to charge him $5 or every knot on my shin...

I'll add $10 for every broken toe (and yes, I wear shinguards that have "toe protectors"), and $20 for each time he busts by left thumb. I'll be rich...

quote:

Originally posted by Texan:

quote:

Originally posted by BOF:
Great idea. Going to try it. However I am going to charge him $5 or every knot on my shin...

I'll add $10 for every broken toe (and yes, I wear shinguards that have "toe protectors"), and $20 for each time he busts by left thumb. I'll be rich...

Ever put any thought into catching the ball?

quote:

and $20 for each time he busts by left thumb.

You might also try using a catcher's glove.

Those inside fastballs that tail sure can get the glove in the wrong position pretty quickly.

Wait until y'all's boys are throwing in the high 80's with lots of movement. Then we'll see about some of these comments...

Heck, CADad, I even want to use a catcher's mitt when playing catch these days. The extra padding comes in handy.

It's easier on the hand if I don't catch the ball, hr. For some reason, at my age it is harder to get down & catch those low ones when sitting on a bucket.

As CADad pointed out, it's those inside two seamers that are so tough on the left thumb. And even the heavy duty Nokona catcher's mitt can only do so much.

If my boy is throwing in the high 80's with lots of movement I won't be catching for him, not even if I'm foolish enough to try to.

It does get interesting (read: intense) at times. No way I would do it without full gear.

I played every position but catcher back in the day. And having to catch pens now, I don't regret not having played catcher for a single second.

quote:

Originally posted by Texan:
Wait until y'all's boys are throwing in the high 80's with lots of movement. Then we'll see about some of these comments...

Yea no doubt!

My son thinks it's funny sometimes to throw a fastball when I'm thinking he's throwing a hook (or vise versa).

Did he get any Christmas presents, RV?

CADad, my son was playing with a couple of your teammates at Oxnard College on Friday. He was the closer. He threw 4 strikes before he threw a ball. He had 2 outs with his 1st two pitches. The 3rd batter laid off a nasty 2 strike knuckle curve that bounced on the plate. It was so fat and juicy I don't know how he didn't bite. The batter worked for a full count then dropped a single over the 2nd baseman. My son K'd the last batter on 4 pitches.

MTS,
Sounds like a great outing. I sent you a PM to see who from our team was there.

Hate to pound this one to death but last weekend this was again shown to me how important this is:

We are at a tournament/try out for some of the top 16U kids in the West. We ended up playing the "B" team and "A" team for one of the top 5 - 16U teams in the country.

At the start of the "B" team game they had one of the best looking 16U pitchers I have seen warming up, kid was probably 6'4" nice long clean delivery, nice fast ball with nasty slider and curve. I thought to myself "this is going to be one tough day". Guess what? Could not get his first pitches over so the kids just laid off his nasty stuff until he had to throw a strike and they made him pay. He was gone after 3 and we beat them handily.

Next day playing the top team, kid on the mound looked OK, nothing special, looked hittable. Guess what? He was in the zone all day and his defense did their job. We did not score a single run off the kid.

THROW FIRST PITCH STRIKES!!!!

We tell our hitters and pitchers that at each at bat you can have three types of strikes: a hitter's strike, a pitcher's strike (pitcher's best pitch), and an umpire's strike (a borderline pitch that could go either way.) We do not want to throw a hitter's strike when we are behind in the count and the hitter expects it. Early in the count the hitter does not have as strong of an idea of what's coming if you mix it up. We look to get ahead early. It could be a fastball on the outer half, a change-up to get a foul ball, or a curve to a first pitch swinger; it depends on the hitter. I have found that most kids are not prepared to hit when they first step into the box. Often when they swing, it is not their best. We challenge and see where a team is. We once threw an entire game by starting every hitter with a first pitch fastball right down the middle; they never hit it so if they don't adjust, we don't need to either. Another game we never threw a pitch in the strike zone because the team swung at any fastball they felt was close. Challenge early and see what the opponent is doing that day.

Those are good comments, hsballcoach--I really like your ideas of challenging the opposing team very early on to find out if there is a consistent pattern to their AB approach on a given day.

That strategy is very likely to pay immediate dividends if the opposing coaches have given their squad some type of cookie-cutter advice about how to approach their ABs against you.

If it turns out thatt the opposition players are always allowed a highly individualized approach to their ABs against you then you'll find that out quickly, too.

Good stuff!

Just saw this on my other favorite baseball website and thought I would share it. Joe Sheehan has done a nice job of categorizing the class of pitchers and hitters and the pitches they see and throw.

The real interesting part of this article is in the imbedded link in the third paragraph to an article by Sal Baxamusa. It is about first pitch strikes and batters success rate on 1-1 pitches put in play. It is actually higher on a 1-1 count that got there by ball - strike.

OK...... I relent.....lets now change the thread to "first pitch balls"


http://baseballanalysts.com/

Enjoy!

My question is, how much should a pitcher "give in" to get the first pitch strike?

I realize it depends to some degree how good their stuff is relative to the hitters they are facing, and I recognize the value of a "get me over" first pitch curve in some situations but let's stick with the first pitch fastball for this discussion.

Should a pitcher be trying to hit a corner on the first pitch with their fastball or should they simply be trying for the outer or inner half of the plate?

This will be especially important for him to figure out this weekend as they're playing a team that has won multiple national championships and will probably make a run at it again this season.
==========================================
If you look at the original question the poster states he realizes the importance of a 1st pitch strike. Stats have shown this if you look at the overall picture. The link shows you a similar story.
To answer the question I think you have to be creative. The odds are high that a pitcher who has had it drummed into his head to throw a 1st pitch strike is going to throw a FB. I would rather not do that depending on the batter and the skill/strengths of a pitcher.
If you face a weak batter you can afford to go after him with a 1st pitch strike but a strong hitter can be more selectiv and creative. This is not the same as being incapable of consitently throwing 1st pitch strikes. There are batters/situations I would rather throw 4 straight balls to.

If you look at the statistics YOU MUST COMMAND THE STRIKE ZONE. This is critical, very simple if you don't your dead. Does not mean you must grove it - no. I was actually surprised by the article that showed on a 1-1 count ball-strike that there was a 40pt lower average for the next ball in play over a strike-ball 1-1 count. Take the time to read both in articles in detail they talk about pitch selection to weak vs strong hitters. Very good stuff.

As an example, my son pitched for the Varsity squad last week as a fill in for a week-end tournament as they needed some additional pitching. (He is a Freshman) Ended up closing one of the games. Now granted this was for only one inning, but they were the No 1, 2, 3 batters.

He threw 11 pitches 9 for strikes and set them down 1-2-3. Since he was coming in behind a hard thrower they pitched backwards. CH to batter 1 1st pitch. Curve to batter 2 1st pitch. Both strikes, both swing and miss. Fastballs behind them, both for strikes, both looking. Both hitters were so confused they had no idea what was coming next. Weak grounder to third, weak fly ball to SS, pop up to third for batter 3.

Yes you do have to command the strike zone but the guession is about giving in.
I can site examples of both situations were my son pitches out of the zone and others were he throws strikes. Last season he threw his 1st 14 pitches against a nationally ranked D1 college for strikes. It depends on how his best stuff is working and it doesn't always work. No pitcher is on all the time.
Here is a clip that he fell behind 3-0 and came back into the zone. This was pre college against an elit team. He threw his out pitch even at a full count to get the strikeout. My point is that you can't be afraid to walk batters under certain conditions

http://s138.photobucket.com/albums/q275/greentw/?action...¤t=1ASTROS.flv

[QUOTE] My point is that you can't be afraid to walk batters under certain conditions


Took a look at the video over the week-end. Nice job. Your boy is pitching the next level(from HS) up and I am sure you are proud of him.

We basically agree the only difference is view point or maybe just wording. I think as a pitcher you have to be fearless in the zone as Perry Husband calls it. So instead of approaching it from the point of being afraid of walking someone a pitcher needs to have a stong mental approach and not be affraid to throw any of his pitches to get some one out. If it ends up out of the zone or gets hit thats just baseball. Your son demonstated that he was comfortable throwing his breaking pitch in any count and was successful.

Again just wording, but I think the underlying mental approach is critical for pitchers.

Yes I agree. The importance of being able to throw 1st pitch strikes is statistically proven over time. My view is that there are times when you are better to approach a certain batter in a given situation and the 1st pitche strike is not so important.
My son is a JR in college and he called last night. (Looking for money) He had just taught a bucnh of young pitchers the fundamentals of pitching at a camp put on by the college. He stressed the ability to throw 1st pitch strikes and said if you are facing the best hiiter on the team with bases loaded. You know 1 thing for sure . This guy wants to take you out with a bases lpaded homer. Don't make him a hero. Keep everything out of his zone even if you give him a free pass. Make him swing early /late and off balance. Give him stuff that he can't make solid contact with and possibly will double up a base runner.
This is the type of situation I am talking about where the 1st pitch strike is not nececarily a good idea.

Eureka! One Month, 64 posts and 1507 views we have consensus!

quote:

My question is, how much should a pitcher "give in" to get the first pitch strike?

This is the question and that is why my answer was what it was.
Also you didn't expect me to give in without a fight. I have been aware of the stats for many years but I still would prefer a pitcher to think about what he is doing on a batter/situation basis. There are days my son has trouble throwing a strike like the time he faced Missouri State as a freshman. He walked and hit batters and nothing went right. The coach talked to him on the mound and left him in. After the game he just smiled and said he had no feel for the ball. Even his FB was moving around too much. He gave up half the ERs that season in that 1 inning.
Thats BB.

A pitcher should never "give in" to the hitter ..

The 3rd pitch is no different then the first pitch. You still have to make a quality pitch. And I want all my guys pumping strikes. As many as they can. Keeps your defense in the game also. The fastest way to the showers is the guys who cant get the ball over. Puts hitters in the count they like. (FB Counts) Be aggressive in the zone but work down. Once your ahead in the count, then you make them hit the border line strike. I just feel like if your stuff isnt good enough to beat the guy first pitch then you might be at the wrong level. Doesnt mean throw all FB 1st pitch. GET AHEAD- STAY AHEAD, you will win many games. I think you would be amazed at how many 1st pitch strkes the guys like Maddox throw. He has never been a blow you away type guy but I assure he issnt giving in to anyone. He will however make the quality first pitch. Also help when you do miss that you have the abilty to pitch backwards. 1-0 2-1 Changeups for strikes when the hitter is in the hitters Fb count doesnt hurt him either. For me, 1st pitch strikes is the name of the game when it comes to the hill.

I saw this article and thought about this thread so I am resurrecting it for prosperity(and maybe CADad might be still lurking and pop in)

For you Twinkie fans this is one good reason why your team is still in the hunt. For the poster who was talking about a knuckle ball and his son: note the comment that no Twins pitcher throws a KB or a split finger.

And finally they throw all of their pitches for strikes in any count…..


http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Aqd394jsZz2pZUHl6...&prov=yhoo&type=lgns