tips on not over thinking

Breathe, pitch, repeat.

 

Tempo

Look for the spaceships.

True story

 

 

Bob

Okay, Bob,

 

For us followers who haven't been here as long as others....tell the rest of the story!

John Wetteland one of our former Santa Rosa Legion players, a Goodwill Series player

to Japan was the "closer" for the LA Dodgers. Ron Perranoski a former teammate

and Dodgers pitching coach goes to the mound at Dodger Stadium.

 

He said John- "bases loaded, no outs, 9th inning and 55,000 people in the stands.

John said "Ron do you see that space ship in the sky"

 

He retired the next three batters.

 

"no worries"

 

Bob

Keep your sense of humor!

Pitchers need short memory, after you throw the pitch, its done.

However, you also need a plan of attack, that should be developed early.

The problem I see is that a pitcher gets up and is directed at what to do, without really understanding why he is doing it. Nopw he gets to the next level and he really doesnt understand what needs to be thrown and why because someone always told him what to do.

I dont know your sons age, but if he has no plan going into the game, nothing is going to really work. The plan can be as simple as throw strikes, but also know what type of strikes to throw and on what count.

JMO

Pitchers thrive on short memory. They have to understand once the ball leaves their hand the results are out of their control. Whether the last pitch resulted in a homer or strike three, forget about it and move on to the next pitch. And like anything in life proper preparation leads to better results.

I played Legion ball with a friend who never reached the level of success he should have. He had good velocity (upper 80s back in the 70s) and one of the best lefty moves to first you will ever see. But he never got to pitch in important games in high school and Legion. He still got a shot at a D1. But he washed out after never making the travel squad.

What was the problem? He thought too much instead of letting his catcher lead and throw the ball. If he got behind on the count he feared walking hitters. This led to walking more hitters or getting cranked on fastballs down the pipe. If he gave up a big hit he worried about giving up another. Then he did or started walking hitters. His biggest freakout was seeing the bullpen get up and ready.

The talent was there. He was an invited walk on at a program that went to the CWS. What was lacking was composure and letting coaches and catchers do the thinking for him.

Going back to LL and BR ball I loved facing him. He wanted so badly to get me out (we were good friends) he overthrew and piped a lot of pitches to me. A couple of years ago he mentioned I got 14 straight hits off him in BR ball. He never forgot.