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Is it possible to throw too many strikes?  Son at times is throwing 85% of total pitches for strikes.  In HS, he finished in upper 70's% for four years of varsity ball.  Threw one game at PG at 91% strikes for complete game.  Last night he gave up way too many hits, even though several were weak infield hits.  Only gave a couple of hard hits with one being a HR.  But I think he is throwing too many strikes and one of his buddies on the other team told him we knew with 0-2 that you were going to go for the strikeout.  Do you fix it or do you continue to be consistent in throwing strikes?  Did not really hurt him in college this year because he had 7 guys behind him who were going to get drafted but it reared it's ugly head in summer ball.  He has thrown over 50 innings this spring and summer and has 1 legitimate walk with a couple of we're gonna throw 4 pitches near the plate but not over the plate and hope he swings, 4 pitch intentional walks.  I'm torn as to what to tell him because I despise walks but I believe at 0-2 he needs to show something every  now and then, maybe especially this summer but do you change what has worked for you in college for summer ball.

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The issue is not too many strikes but too many pitches down the pipe. Sometimes it is better to throw a ball than a fat pitch.

That especially applies if you have mediocre stuff. If you have huge stuff you can get away with more. I listened to a podcast where they said the rays told glasnow to basically aim down the middle (just worry up or down but aim middle of zone) and let the movement take care of the rest and it worked for him because he has huge stuff. but if you watch for example Zack greinke who doesn't have great stuff anymore he will nibble around the edges all the time which  works because he has great command of course- guys that throw many "uncompetitive pitches" (like glasnow before he joined the rays) can't afford to do that because they fall behind more often.

Ideal of course would be to not throw too much in the zone but still get many strikes by chases. But for that to work you need to throw competitive pitches.

I'm not a fan of the good old "waste pitch" or "changing the eye level". If you are ahead you don't have to throw in the zone but don't throw a shoulder high fastball or a 55 foot curve that rarely gets swung at by advanced hitters but throw pitches just off the plate that are "too close to take"

I can understand coaches teaching the 0 2 waste pitch to youth hitters because they hate seeing 2 strike hits on a ball down the middle and also young hitters sometimes swing at a pitch "over their head" but more often than not the waste pitch leads to 0 2 turning into full counts and even if not it drives up the pitch count.

So try to throw competitive balls that are borderline strikes or slightly outside and not throw the straight shoulder high waste pitch.

Last edited by Dominik85

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