Most important trait of a pitcher?

1. Mental strength
2. Good mechanics
3. Overall conditioning

I'm no pitching expert, but when I've seen meltdowns on the mound, it has been because of a failure of one of those 3.

confidence in your stuff

A lot of god given fast twitch muscles. The rest you can teach.

Your never going to be a pitcher if you don't have the arm strength to actually get on the mound. Why do kids become pitchers? Why do they get the chance to be pitchers? You dont say "Hey lets let Billy pitch because he can really focus." "Hey lets let Tommy pitch because he has no fear."

Its no different with mif's. Why do some kids end up in the middle? They show the tools needed to play the position. The kids with the good arms get the chance. And then it goes from there. The #1 thing is arm strength.

Then it comes down to the ability to command that arm strength. And it goes on from there.

First, a "live" arm, at the appropriate level. You can't coach God given arm strength.

Second, not just good mechanics, repeatable mechanics. The ability to repeat your delivery, repeat pitch location, and repeat command.

Lastly, Mental Maturity!

GED10DaD

I think you can pluck just about any player that's made as far as HS out of the field and train him to pitch at a reasonable level. Most have the arm and athletisism. But to get really good or master the craft takes work, desire, confidence. just like hitting...

Well Coach May and GunEmDown beat me to it - have to have a live / strong arm. Without that none of the rest matters. You do need all the other aspects but the live / strong arm is what gets the others worked on.

Probably the next two important things are control and mental toughness.

quote:

Originally posted by cball:
I think you can pluck just about any player that's made as far as HS out of the field and train him to pitch at a reasonable level.

Maybe in Texas

OK, we've got 3 or 4 posters who I've learned a lot from and whose viewpoints I value take the position of "arm strength first".
I agree and generally understand this position. However, I'd love to take this opportunity to ask those posters for specific breakdown as to why a pitcher who doesn't have a mid 80's plus arm cannot be affective at college level if he locates, mixes well and has mental toughness.
2012 son has been effective to date with those three and I anticipate that continuing thru HS. He has heard repeatedly that he needs to be mid 80's (he's not there)to make it to next level and is totally OK with trying to get there as hitter/position player but specific reasons/info/sound bites from experts always help.

quote:

However, I'd love to take this opportunity to ask those posters for specific breakdown as to why a pitcher who doesn't have a mid 80's plus arm cannot be affective at college level if he locates, mixes well and has mental toughness

A pitcher probably can be effective with those attributes, but the problem is there are many pitchers that possess these attributes but can also throw in the high 80’s.

Is the player likely to get stronger during the season and build arm strength, or do you believe he will never work above the low to mid 80’s?

quote:

Originally posted by cabbagedad:
OK, we've got 3 or 4 posters who I've learned a lot from and whose viewpoints I value take the position of "arm strength first".
I agree and generally understand this position. However, I'd love to take this opportunity to ask those posters for specific breakdown as to why a pitcher who doesn't have a mid 80's plus arm cannot be affective at college level if he locates, mixes well and has mental toughness.
2012 son has been effective to date with those three and I anticipate that continuing thru HS. He has heard repeatedly that he needs to be mid 80's (he's not there)to make it to next level and is totally OK with trying to get there as hitter/position player but specific reasons/info/sound bites from experts always help.

Velo is king. There's enough players that will meet the minimum velo requirement, Subsequently those that are effective at a lower velo would not be afforded a opportunity.

cabbagedad you can't say that someone who doesn't throw hard cannot make it but the likelihood of it happening is pretty slim. There are many guys out there at MLB, MiLB, DI and down who don't throw hard but get guys out but it's really not what the next level (whatever that may be) is looking for.

Let me explain it a couple of ways - first you can't teach / coach / create tremendous arm strength. Yes you can work your rear end off and make what you have better but you're not going to take a guy who has worked at it and is throwing 78 and change / increase his work and turn them into 90 plus. You can increase arm strength but what you look for is the guys who can naturally do it because the potential to work at it gives them a higher ceiling. The next level feels that they can teach a guy how to pitch as a softer thrower. They can be taught how to spot pitches, mix speeds and be mentally tough. But the thing is if they aren't able to teach that then no harm no foul - you really didn't lose out on a pitching prospect. You now have a second baseman or outfielder or whatever position.

Another way of looking at it is a guy who throws harder has more room to have an off day and still be effective. We got a kid who legitimately throws in the 90s and the rest of our staff is low 80's. We're pretty good team with the other guys on the hill but we're almost unbeatable with the 90's guy pitching. When our stud in on the mound he can throw three pitches out of the zone and still get a strike out whereas the other guys will probably walk the better hitters. It's not to say our 90s guy can't be hit because we lost the state championship with him on the mound and he pitched well. That's baseball but we actually had to make a nice comeback because the other team hit our other pitchers and got the lead.

In terms of getting noticed if scouts see a guy who can hump it up there he has their attention after one outing. A softer thrower can still impress scouts but it's going to take several outings to create interest. They want consistentcy from the pitcher. If the guy can throw it hard then they are going to take a chance with him and hope to teach him the other aspects - control, secondary pitches, mental toughness, holding runners. If they see a soft thrower have a nice performance they have to figure out if that's what he can do all the time or if he got lucky / the other team stunk.

Hope that helps some - it's not impossible for a softer throwing pitcher to get noticed and be successful but it will take a lot more work to get it done.

Tell your son if he wants to pitch at the next level then to go for it. Work his butt off getting a stronger arm but don't let up on the "other stuff" because chances are he won't turn into a guy throwing 90 (I really hope I'm wrong) but he can still be an effective pitcher.

Or since he is a lefty move him to left field or center and work on his hitting...

thanks guys... good stuff.
2709 - he is starting to work on arm strength and he still has 2 yrs of HS for natural growth but agree that he won't "turn into a guy throwing 90" so we'll just enjoy that aspect of the game in HS

florida - fortunately, that's exactly what he is doing - focusing on cf and hitting. He loves those as well.
BBB08 - sorry, didn't mean to hijack your post... thought it was very much related. thanks for the topic.

1. Moving fastball - or 95+
2. Good mechanics/ Consistency
3. Mental toughness
4. Overall conditioning

Without #1, you're toast.

Most important?

Extraordinary determination to succeed.

Most important trait for a pitcher is the ability to get ahead in the count and stay ahead in the count.

The pitcher ahead in the count is not forced to throw a hitters' pitch.

The pitcher who controls the count, controls the game.

It makes no difference how hard you throw as long as you can be effective.

quote:

Originally posted by BBB08:
Several agreed that the most important traits would be listed as follows:

1. Good Mechanics
2. Core Strength
3. Leg Strength
4. Arm Strength
5. Mental Strength

All are important however as you move up through the ranks into college or pro ball I would say possessing #1 thru #4 gets you in the game... #5 will probably be what sets you apart as best of class.

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"It makes no difference how hard you throw as long as you can be effective."

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