A Drill to Make Every Pitch Count

Too often pitching practice is an unsupervised time when pitchers throw tons of pitches, constantly re-doing any they don’t like. But games are NOTHING like that as each pitch matters and everyone’s watching. Learn how to make these two match up for game success.

The United States has been blessed with a ton of tremendous pitchers from the current group we now have, names like Finch, Osterman, Abbott, Nelson, Burkhart, Canney to greats like Smith, Granger, Harrigan, Fernandez, Henderson. Williams, Joyce, Tickey, Welborn and more. We’ve always had great pitchers who have had to grow up facing great hitters. Competition breads excellence and constantly having to face great hitters is one reason our pitchers have developed into such strong world class winners.

Even if your pitchers don’t face world-class hitters it doesn’t mean they can’t work on developing their competitive drive and their ability to throw their best pitch when they absolutely have to get it done.

I want to share with you some comments from 2 pitching legends to give you a glimpse inside the minds of 2 Olympic Gold Medalists and see how they think in regards to their performance, and how their approach shapes their excellence.

First, we’ll hear a quote from Michele Granger. For those of you unfortunate enough not to know this name it’s a real shame as Michele is one of the greatest pitchers to have played the game. She was a pitcher on the U.S. Olympic gold medal team in 1996 and a four-time All-American at the University of California. At Cal she threw 25 no-hitters and five perfect games and still holds the NCAA Division record for 21 strikeouts in a 7 inning game! She is considered one of the fastest female pitchers of all time!

Michele would say “as every hitter walked up to the plate I’d look at them and know right away if I had to get them out or if they were going to get themselves out”. Think about that statement for a minute. First of all, she’d watch the hitter as she walked into the batter’s box, how many of our pitchers do that? She wasn’t watching because she was intimidated by the hitter, just the opposite. She’d watch the hitter to quickly figure out information that she could use to dominate her. Either the hitter was weak enough that she’d get herself out which meant Michele didn’t want to throw anything too good. Let the batter chase pitches but stay ahead and don’t walk her – let the hitter get herself out from a lack of discipline. Or, Michele would have to get her out which meant it was a stronger hitter and Michele was going to have to find and attack her weakness. Oh, and this was from a pitcher that threw GAS! Michele averaged between 68-72mph back when the pitching rubber was at 40 feet! But even throwing that fast this statement proves she didn’t rely solely on her speed.

That simple statement says a great deal about Michele’s state of mind while she was out there in the circle. Even when she wasn’t actually pitching the ball she was hard at work figuring out how the next hitter would make her pitch. Anyone who knows Michele knows she was into fuzzy slippers off the ball field but on the field she was as hard a competitor as anyone and this statement really shows why.

The other pitcher I want to talk about is our current day star – Cat Osterman. Cat is a 2-time Olympic medalist (Gold and Silver) and considered by many to be the best pitcher in the world. She is also the NCAA leader in Strikeouts per 7 innings, and 2^nd all-time for strikeouts with 2,265 and a 4-time All-American from the University of Texas.

Now Cat’s statement comes following a loss, and not just any loss but the Gold Medal Game of the 2008 Olympics. In the press conference after the game they asked Cat how she felt she threw and here’s her comment: “I didn’t pitch that bad of a game, I only threw 2 bad pitches”.

Now 2 bad pitches from the best pitcher in the world doesn’t seem like a big deal at all. In fact, the line on Cat’s game is a very good one: 0 walks, 8 strike outs and 3 hits. But, we’re talking the elite world of Olympic-Level softball where the best pitchers throw to the best hitters, and 2 bad pitches was all it took as one was hit for double and one was hit for a homerun. The US ended up losing that game 3-1 and yet Cat only threw 2 bad pitches – the game can sometimes be cruel!

Cat went on to say, “Personally, I wish I could take back two pitches. If I couldn’t take back two, I would take back the home run. I should have learned my lesson with the first rise ball. I just wish I could have done more.” That really shows how detailed Cat was thinking even at her lowest point. She felt a personal responsibility to try and do more to help her team win. She also shows us how pitchers at that level still need to mentally be in the game in regards to the pitches they throw by keeping track of them. Even though Cat had someone else calling pitches she still felt a responsibility to not only make them better but to change up the sequence or the pitch as well.

Great pitchers don’t become great overnight. They all start out horrible; barely able to throw the ball through the strike zone but with tons of practice and an iron will to succeed they overcome their youthful wildness and master the art of pitching.

While I don’t know any magic potions that you can pour over your pitchers and turn them into a Granger or a Cat, I do know a great drill to help get your pitchers to really understand the importance of each single, individual pitch.

Here’s a drill that will really help your pitchers practice the importance of making each pitch as good as they possibly can.

One Pitch At-A-Time Drill:

• Have your team out on the field on defense and all of your pitchers warmed up and ready to pitch.
• Put a hitter in the box with her bat and helmet and ready to hit.
• Have one pitcher start the at-bat by throwing a pitch to the hitter (working with the catcher and/or coach – whoever calls pitches)
• After ONE PITCH, have the next pitcher step in (other pitcher leaves) and this new pitcher inherits whatever the count was (coach calls balls and strikes), and now she throws ONE PITCH.
• The next pitcher steps in (other pitcher leaves) and she throws her ONE PITCH.
• This continues with each pitcher inheriting the previous count and only throwing ONE PITCH until either:
  • The Pitcher’s Win = Hitter out by K or flyball, groundball out
  • The Hitter Wins = walk or base hit
• Play either innings or else a few times through the batting order and keep score for Pitchers and Hitters and the winning team determines the losing team’s penalty.

For more help with your pitchers try the following:

• eClinic: Pitching – The Fastball Basics
• eClinic: Improving Your Pitcher’s Accuracy
• eClinic: Increasing Your Pitcher’s Speed
• DVD: Breaking Down the Pitching Motion
• DVD: Identifying Pitching Problems & How to Create Them
• DVD: Pitching 4 DVD Set
• Dartfish Video Analysis
• Book: The Complete Book of Pitching
• Drill Manual: 30 Drills for Pitchers