How is Pitching Taught

[writehh]

The Orioles have had reasonable success developing minor league pitching recently. My question is this

How is pitching taught and developed?

In school I was first taught numbers and then arithmetic. If I passed, I moved on to multiplication tables, then eventually algebra, geometry and calculus. Each grade taught a distinct skill. No advancement was earned unless the skill was mastered. Each new skill built upon the last.

Is pitching taught in the same discrete, building-block way? Can it be?

If a child is in the fourth grade then I expect him to know arithmetic and the multiplication tables and to be learning fractions. What is pitching's equivalent to the multiplication tables and to the fourth grade? Just as every fourth grader should know how to do X, every Double A pitcher should know how to do what?

Thanks for reading and educating.

[HoodGuy007]

Honestly, it all depends. There is no tried and true method, otherwise every pitcher would be Eric Bedard or Johan Santana or Bruce Chen. Some guys are more "advanced" and don't need to be taught "the little things." Take Guthrie as an example. He was taught in the minors, but was lackluster. He comes to the O's in a completely different system and has been outstanding.

There is no "checklist" or "grade" a pitcher must receive to be called up. For some guys, they are called up on talent alone, while others are called up because of work habits and being smart pitchers.

It all depends.

[bretholmes4]

The Orioles have had reasonable success developing minor league pitching recently. My question is this

How is pitching taught and developed?

In school I was first taught numbers and then arithmetic. If I passed, I moved on to multiplication tables, then eventually algebra, geometry and calculus. Each grade taught a distinct skill. No advancement was earned unless the skill was mastered. Each new skill built upon the last.

Is pitching taught in the same discrete, building-block way? Can it be?

If a child is in the fourth grade then I expect him to know arithmetic and the multiplication tables and to be learning fractions. What is pitching's equivalent to the multiplication tables and to the fourth grade? Just as every fourth grader should know how to do X, every Double A pitcher should know how to do what?

Thanks for reading and educating.

I like what the previous poster said about no set formula but when it comes to pitching I still think there are building blocks but that...by the time they get to the majors (unless they just throw cheese and that's it) that they have honed their craft to the point of tweaks as opposed to lessons.

1. Balance -teach your pitcher balance first by having him be able to hold his pause point (knee up one foot on the rubber)
2. Arm position - Obviously each pitcher throws from different slots but the pointing of the glove and the position of the throwing hand upon break from the glove are important.
3. Pointing your hip at the mitt ....

I mean it could go on and on but this is the kind of stuff you learn in high school. When you get to college or the minors you start to learn more...

1. Pitch location and ease of delivery
2. Breathing and "clearing the mechanism" (as is now popular to hear)
3. How to REALLY throw a slider or a change up
4. Consistency and training

Once you hit the majors I really think it gets to the point of just retooling all you’ve learned in the past and knowing that your body changes, hitters adjust, and the level of play is much harder. It becomes much more cerebral than it does physical at the ML level but you still have to take care of yourself physically and do those things correctly. But the obvious mental game is reinforced by the efforts or Glavine, Moyer, Maddux, Clemens (now), Bradford etc....

[Cavspider]

Since you give examples of early math etc, I give you my brief exeprience regarding my son and other 10 and 11 year olds that are learning to pitch from the beginning.

My son is 10 years old and started pitching last year at 9 in his rec league. First thing is you teach them to pitch from the windup since runners take no leads and cant steal til the ball crosses the plate. You teach them to throw strikes over the plate to minimize walks. You teach them a 4 seam grip using as many as 3 fingers to hold the ball since their hands may be too small for a 2 finger grip. Strikes over the plate is the key.

When he got 10, we worked more on locating the fastball to the corners. It had as much to do with teaching the catchers as it did the pitchers. We had to get the catchers to understand to move to the corners and give the pitchers a good target. We tried to get the pitchers to keep the ball down and away as much as they could to keep the ball on the ground whenever possible as a ball hit to the outfield in the air was bad bad trouble LOL. Also we tried putting our better fielders in the spots we thought the kids would hit the ball if the pitch was low and away to right handed hitters.

At 10 is where we tried to get the kids to experiment with a 2 seam, sinking action fastball and some kids worked on changeups. Some kid hitters are really good at catching up to fastballs, and the first time they get a changeup thrown for a strike is quite funny to see. You dont teach breaking balls/curve balls til much later (Like highschool) as they are said to be very bad for the young elbow/arm. Personally if your kid can locate his fastball and has a changeup, thats all you need to do really really well at a young age. A sinking fastball is nice too but locating it no matter what is the most important thing.

Cal Ripken baseball rules change at 12 U (Little league I think is later) so you have to start teaching kids to hold runners, pick off moves etc. It becomes important to learn to pitch from the stretch position and how not to balk. This adds a whole new set of problems to deal with since before pitchers only had to cover home plate on a wild pitch/passed ball with a runner on 3rd. We are slowly converting to these "new" rules as my kid graduates to 12U next year.

Anyway, most pitchers probably start their pitching careers like this from the very beginning. 4 seam Fastball, 2 seam fastball, changeup and locating those pitches. We dont mess with a kids arm action at all. We just take the kids that seem to throw the best to start with and work with them.

Biggest problem we had that I saw, was that kids were not consistant with their delivery. Basically the leg kick and step to the plate would change. If they didnt lift their leg and take a big enough step, they'd invariably throw with all arm and no legs and stand too upright and throw very high for a ball or hit batter. If they leaned into the pitch and took a nice stride, they'd get the ball low. This we tried to work on so they'd be consistant with their delivery.

So there ya go, elementary education for pitching. Beyond 12 u I have no clue...yet anyway. And I have probably reached the limits (or more likely exceeded the limits) of my coaching ability too. LOL

[Say O!]

I'm going to go in a different direction here.

The best thing a kid can do is build arm strength. Don't worry about mechanics so much and I would not even worry about position. You want a youngster to throw and throw and throw some more. Just playing a lot of catch at the park or in the backyard. Maybe some long-tossing too.

It's great to think about mechanics and location and types of pitches, but a kid with good arm strength will hopefully translate into a very strong fastball as he matures.

And honestly, I think this holds true for minor leaguers as well. As their bodies develop, you hope they gain a few ticks on their fastballs by building arm strength.