For many of you, the comments that follow might seem all too obvious; but, sometime, I think it makes sense to post the obvious if there's a significant message in it.
A day or two ago, a college newspaper carried an article about a Freshman pitcher's outstanding start in a recent exhibition scrimmage. In the article, the head coach was quoted saying, "...[pitchers] always — get in the mix when they throw strikes,”
[The starting pitcher] can hold runners, field his position and he’s got three above average pitches. He gives us a chance because he doesn’t walk people."
In those two short sentences, that coach pretty well summarized the attributes that force him and all of his peers to give newcomers the ball; and you can be assured that the Freshman will be considered a significant factor in the coaches' preseason discussions about who to consider as their principal contributors once the season begins.
Part of the reason I'm motivated to post this is that I often hear college baseball fans (including parents) wondering aloud why Johnny Flamethrower doesn't get more innings. More often than not, it's one of two things: (1) he can't command the strike zone consistently with that blazer and/or (2) the fastball is essentially all he's got.
This is not a post about velocity not being important. It's quite important to have enough velocity that you have a fastball that's going to be respected and effective at whatever level you pitch.
However, if you're a high school-aged pitcher who's working hard to succeed at the next level, you'll do whatever it takes to arrive at college with tools of the sort that prompted that head coach to say what he did to the reporter.
