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Dear Baseball Gods EP87 Full Transcript – Finding the Right Pitch Mix; Being a Good Teammate on the Bench; Why Pitching to the Corners is Bad Strategy
You’re listening to the dear baseball gods podcast. I’m Dan Blewett. And on this show, you’ll learn advanced concepts in baseball. Explain simply I’m here to guide you on your baseball journey and help you paddle through. What’s now an ocean of misinformation, guru wisdom, an overly technical diamond babble.
Welcome back. I’m Dan Blewett and this is the dear baseball gods podcast. And today’s topic. We’re going to talk about how many pitches should a pitcher throw and why? So this is a really important thing to discuss because what I see it’s analogous to having a really, really big family. So if you had say five, six, seven, eight children, Uh, how are you going to spread out your attention as a parent?
Right? You’re just going to have to divide your time in smaller chunks to every kid. Like, they’re just not going to get as much one on one time when you have such a big family, right? Just like anything, the more tasks you have, the more friends you have, the more sports you play, you have to evenly divide your time towards it.
Right. So in pitching. Sometimes people have this mentality that more pitches is better. And in reality, you suffer from the same problems that a big family suffers from that a really big corporation suffers from. And that’s again, dividing all of your time amongst your employees, your relationships, your kids, your activities, your sports, whatever it is.
Right. So. If you look hard at high level college baseball or pro baseball, what you see is the vast majority of those pitchers at that very high level, throw three pitches. They throw three, and this is not like I know when kids list what pitches they throw. They go, Oh, I throw four seam, two seam four seam, two seam.
They’re the same pitch. It’s a fast ball. We don’t really count those as separate pitches. You throw a straight pitch. Call it a fastball. Now, if you throw a really legit sinker where he really legit cutter, then those are different pitches, but amateur pitchers in general, don’t really throw a difference.
Uh, you know, throw one of those fast ball variables, variations well enough to where you could really categorize it as its own pitch, nor do I think cutters are appropriate for young players in any capacity. So really everyone throws a fastball. After that you need one good breaking ball and you need one change up.
Now everyone needs a change up. And here’s why, unless you can somehow predict which you can’t really, that you’re going to be a mid to upper nineties pitcher in pro ball. Then you’re going to need to change up. I mean, essentially the only players that don’t throw change ups in professional baseball are late innings.
Relievers, they throw so hard and their ending is so short. Right? And you’re going to be out there for 10 pitches, 15 pitches, maybe 20, if it’s a kind of long inning, you throw such nasty, hard stuff, and you’re out there for such a short time that you don’t really get in a position where you need to throw a third pitch.
It just, it just isn’t that way you rely on your fast ball, a little more than starters do because your fastball is so good. And then you just sort of wiped guys out with whatever your strike out pitches. That’s really the life of reliever. I live that as well. I had a really heavy, good moving, uh, change up.
And I often just didn’t throw it that much now because it didn’t believe in it, but because it just kind of just took a back seat to my curve ball that just, I just didn’t have the need to throw three pitches in a 12 pitch outing. So unless you can somehow extrapolate out your career where you’re going to be one of those back of the bullpen guys, again, which you really can’t, then you’re going to need that change up.
That’s going to fade away to opposite side to hitters. So if you’re a righty, A righty pitcher, your breaking ball is going to break in towards lefties, and then you want something that’s gonna break away from lefties, which would be your change up or a sinker. Those are both going to fade away the opposite direction.
That’s having a balanced repertoire, especially as a starter who you’re going to throw many, many innings against many, many hitters. You need weapons to get both sided hitters out. So if you have an incredible breaking ball or something like that, sure. You can get by a little bit better. But if that pitch isn’t.
On every day, which it never will be every day, your, your stuff fluctuates like maybe your fastball is great today and your curveball is kinda crappy and your chain up is just average. That’s a pretty normal day as a, as a pitcher. And you learn to battle with that stuff. And people in the bleachers don’t really realize that.
On any given day, their favorite pitcher out there on the mound is really not going to battle with his best stuff that almost never happens the way it’s always been sort of summarized to me. And I, I confirmed this through my own career that if you were to break out all of your outings into clusters of four, basically on one of those four games, your stuff is just awesome.
Like you come out, you feel fresh. Fast balls, really firm you’re breaking stuff as sharp, your commands. Good. Like everything is good. One of those four days and just going to be easy to win and be really good on the other, Oh, the fourth day or the other, like another one of the four, your stuff is going to kind of suck like your commands going, going to be great.
Your fastball is going to feel mushy, your curve balls, not biting very well. Like everything’s just kind of bad. And you’re going to lose that game or you’re just not going to pitch well, the other two days when your stuff is just, okay, you know, maybe your velocity a little down, but your curve ball is pretty sharp or maybe your curve ball is pretty muddy, but your command is good or whatever it is the other two days, you’re just going to be okay.
And that is definitely my experience and the experience of many other pitchers. Uh, those are the games that really define pitchers because they either win both those games by really gritting through it and being competitive and finding ways to win. And then they become a, I win three out of four games kind of pitcher, or they find a way to lose those two games.
I don’t feel my best. My curveball wasn’t breaking. That’s why I didn’t pitch too well. They find ways to lose those games and they became a, a one in three pitcher at a very four. So. You have to understand that having a third pitch is a really big importance to fail safe because there’s lots of days when a starter goes out there.
Hey, my curve ball is not great. And my change up there, my slider’s really, really good today. My change ups kind of stinks. So a lot of days they’re going to battle the two pitches and then they have the third. And you could be saying right now, well, that’s a great argument to have four. Cause then you have an extra tool where, when one’s not sharp, the other two are still there.
Now you have three good pitches every day. And that’s not bad thinking, but the reality is going back to my first point is that you don’t have the time and the reps to develop three secondary pitches to being a really excellent, not an amateur baseball. It takes a long time to get to that point. And if you just broke up your bullpen sessions into I’m going to throw equal percentages of all four pitches as 25% of each pitch.
In a 40 pitch bullpen. That’s 10 fastballs, 10 curve balls, 10 sliders, 10 ups. That’s not a lot of reps of each one. In reality. It’s going to be better over the long term. You’re going to end up throwing hundreds and thousands of more of each one. If you throw in a 40 of bullpen, you know, 13 fastballs, 13 change-ups 13 sliders, that extra 30% is going to make a really big difference in each pitch over the long run, because really it’s a race to throwing hard enough.
Right. Throwing above 90 miles per hour all the time. If you want to play pro baseball. Having a strikeout pitch, which is defined as something that you can go to, to punch a guy out of swing and miss pitch, like an Andrew Miller slider, something like that. That when, if I’ve got this guy, Oh two and I need to strike out, I’ve got this weapon, this nasty slider, this nasty curve bar, this 99 mile per hour fastball that I can get a whiff with reliably.
That’s what a strikeout pitch is. You need that an outpitch. And then your third page has to ability to just going to be something that’s decent. If you have to out pitches like you have a filthy curve ball and a filthy change up, then man, you’re just going to have an easy time cruising up through the ranks, but that’s not gonna be the reality either.
And so the goal is. Constant assessment. Do I have a legit outpitch something that I could just wipe out in any with just curve ball. Boom, punch you out. Next guy, getting out of a jam. Boom, fast ball curve, ball curve ball, punch out that guy too. Do you have an outfit? And if you don’t, you have to work really hard and spend extra time on doing that and getting that out pitch.
But yet when you hit throw a fast ball and a cutter and a splitter and a change up on a slider, now you have five pitches. None of those are going to get good enough because you’re not going to be, to give them enough attention to make them really, really special. It takes a long time in thousands of pitches to hone something great.
So it’s a common problem that I see that when I ask players that I’m new working with or whatever, what do you throw? Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Often here, I wouldn’t say more often than not, but I very often hear I throw these four or these five pitches. And when again, when you really look hard at major leaguers, go into fangraphs.com.
Look at the breakdowns of some of these guys. There are more pitchers than ever throwing a fourth pitch in the big leagues, but the vast majority did not make it there because they threw four. They added a fourth because it was a very purposeful pitch. And I’ll leave. I’ll leave you with this little idea to think about.
If you add a fourth pitch, like you’re not gonna throw two change ups, right? There’s a, there’s a change up, right? You’re going to figure out what change works for you. So your chain up is your change up and your fastball is essentially your fastball. Now, if you add a second breaking ball, that means you throw a curve ball and you’re adding a slider or a slider, and you’re adding a curve ball or you’re adding a cutter.
So if you throw a cutter, if you’re adding a cutter. When are you gonna throw that cutter? And how good is it and who do you throw it to? And in what situations, it’s a very purposeful pitch, usually a cutter. It’s not a swing and miss pitch. If it’s really special, like you throw out 93 miles per hour, like Kenley Jansen, then it can be a swing and miss pitch.
But for the vast majority of pitchers that throw cutters, it’s a purpose pitch. It’s something I can get this on the hands of a lefty. I can, you can jam a lefty with if I’m a righty or if you’re like me. Cause I threw a cutter one of my years. Um, That’s a pitch that I can get a ground ball with. I can throw this on the first pitch or a two, one count and have a bite over the outside part of the plate.
And it’ll get a guy to roll over a ground ball. That was the reason I threw a cutter. I didn’t throw cutters for any other reasons of the jam lefties and to get writers, to put the ball on the ground. That was the situation I used it. And most younger players, they’re not going to be in these battles with hitters because hitters aren’t good enough where they have to do stuff like that.
The other thing is say you add two breaking balls. You add your second, your second curve ball or your, your slider. Why do you throw a slider versus a curve ball or in a situation or it’s one and two. Why do you throw a curve ball instead of a slider? How do you pick between the two? And this is where it comes back to if you, if you have a really nasty outpitch, why would you not throw that?
Are you gonna throw your mediocre? Curve ball versus your nasty slider? I don’t think so. If you need a strike out, throw the strike, help pitch. It’s just going to come down to almost having like two power drills. Why would you have to power drills? When one of them is exceptional, right? If that one does the job all the time, then just use it.
So that’s kind of the situation here. And I think it’s a really important conversation to have with yourself and ask yourself, why do I throw a four pitches? Why do I throw five pitches? And again, this is not counting your fastball. You, you, if you throw a fastball. A cutter is a different pitch. A two seamer is not forcing her to steamer.
They’re both just, I throw a fastball. So really look hard, make sure you have a valid reason. And I would, I would warn and encourage all of you listening to drop down to three pitches, figure out what your best three yards probably fastball change up curve, ball or fastball. Change up slider. And really nurture those three and try to get to the point where man, one of these, I can really wipe out an ending with it and the other one is coming up behind it and getting pretty darn good.
That’s the goal. And that’s why most pitchers only want to have three pitches until they get pretty deep into pro baseball.
All right. Today’s 92nd mindset is. How to handle being on the bench and how to be a good team and on the bench, this is for players. And, uh, I’m just gonna keep this short, but here’s, here’s the point here. Number one, you’re going to find time on the bench and hear what coaches look for when they have it put on the bench.
They want you to stay engaged in the game. Show that you actually care about your teammates and your team, even when not playing. Cause it’s a common thing that when I’m not playing in the game, I don’t really care what happens cause I’m not out there. That’s something that college coaches will notice in the stands.
Your coach will notice if you’re mentally checked out when you’re not playing. And it’s honestly just really disrespectful to your teammates now at the same time. It can be hard to cheer on your teammates genuinely when you’re injured. And I’ve been injured for four plus years of my career. So I know what it’s like to sit on the bench and be like, this is BS.
This is unfair. I should be out there. Why am I heard again? And you have to put on a smiling face often. It’s a fake smile and give your teammates a high five and try to cheer for them as best you can when maybe you’re just like, not that happy, right? Like you don’t get a chance to play. It’s not fair.
Like I said, it could be injuries could be something else. That’s a genuine, it’s a real feeling and it doesn’t make you selfish to feel that way. Everyone who’s hurt who has to watch their teammates go out there or they just, they’re just not good enough. And it sucks watching everyone else get playing time and have fun.
And you’re on the bench. Those are real emotions. And so I struggle with trying to make this raw Rob BS on the bench. Like I’m not going to mandate the players are gonna, you know, be extra cheery. And this is not like I understand what it’s like to sit on the bench. It sucks. Right. It just sucks. So let’s be honest with each other, but that being said, There are things that you have to do to be a good teammate.
And that is number one, stay engaged, have watched the game. If you don’t actually care about your team winning, then the sports was not, not cut out for even when I was on the bench for years on end, always hurt. Always like in an elbow sling. I still cared. If my team won, I didn’t necessarily care of my shorts.
I went four for four. But if he had a good a bat and he scored us a run and he hit a ball to the fence or whatever, I was still excited because he was helping our team win. And yeah, I care about him and he’s part of the team and all that. I don’t necessarily care about his, into his individual stats. But I’m excited that he’s helping us win.
And so you get up with that. You want to be a part of the team. You want to be part of the whole winning experience. Cause that’s fun. Especially the worst thing when you’re hurt is to be on a losing team you’re hurt and your team sucks. You can’t win a game. That’s no fun. So it’s still fun to be part of a good team where you’re having fun.
You’re winning and everyone’s excited. So you just want to try to fold yourself into that. And be as involved in the game, as you can watch the pitcher, you know, try to guess what he’s going to throw, watch the hitter, um, try to put yourself in the situations and, and remind yourself of what’s going on.
Like where the shortstop might go. If you were a shortstop, like what duties does a player have? Just find some way to absorb yourself in the game. And just make it clear that you’re into it, that you’re paying attention, even if you’re not being a big rah rah guy, which again, I think lots of times teams are fake raw, and I hate that.
Be who you are. I’m not a raw person. So for me to like force everyone to be super raw as hypocritical, like be who you want to be. Some people are high energy. Some people are low energy be who you want to be, but be in the game. And if you can’t be in the game, find a way to be absorbed into the game.
Find some aspect of it that you can focus on and mentally check into. And then after that, just do the, the minimum. Do the, do the, do the foundational stuff that helps your team run. So offer to go, you know, warm up the left field, or if you can do it. Um, help clean up the dugout help just keep the place moving, like assist your coach with whatever count pitches, um, do the charts like whatever it is, stay busy and stay.
Just be helpful to your buddies, you know, help them find their gear, help guys get water, just be helpful when you’re being helpful. That’s sort of your role and you’re, you’re being a good teammate by contributing in whatever way you can to getting W’s. And again, just like continue to have more fun.
Cause again, at the end of the day, I’ll leave you on this. The only thing worse than being hurt or being on the bench because you’re just not performing is beyond team that loses because now everyone is down including you. So it’s at the very least fun to win even when you’re not playing.
Alright. Now it’s time for our listener Q and a portion of the show questions from the pious pious means to be devoutly faith. Full. And if you’re devout to the game of baseball, then you’re exactly the kind of person I want to hear from. If you have a question you’d like answered on the show, please email a voice recording to hello@danblewett.com.
Mmm.
All right. So today’s question is an email question and this was. Uh, actually, it might’ve been an Instagram question. I can’t remember, but it’s a, it’s a web question. And the question is, Hey, the season has started, I’m off to a slow start. Haven’t been pitching that well, and basically it boils down to that.
I haven’t been getting calls on the outside corner by the umpire, and then I walk guys or I have to bring it over to the middle and then I get hit a lot. So, what do I do to improve the situation? So this is a common, really common question. Number one, it can be tough to come out of the gate hot, right?
You haven’t pitched in a long time. Everyone was laid off from coronavirus. Uh, opening days are just scary a lot of times, but the biggest thing that I would tell young players is that there is this obsession with pitching on the corners of the plate. That becomes very, very counterproductive because, uh, when you say, Hey, I’m not getting the calls, like I’m not getting calls on the corner of the plate.
The question is, well, why are you competing with the black of the plate so much, you know, umpires, don’t squeeze you when you throw the ball over the way the plate. You know, once in a while, they’ll make an egregious, you know, miss, but in general umpires make bad calls by giving pitches that are not in the strike zone, a straight call.
They don’t nearly as much in amateur baseball, miss pitches that are on the why the plate and call them balls. It happens, but it’s way less frequent than expanding the strikes. I think we’d all probably agree with that. So if you’re saying I’m getting squeezed or I’m missing, I’m not getting the calls on the corners.
The question again is. Why are you focused on the black of the plate? So much learn to compete on the white of the plate. And this is a really important takeaway for young players, because a lot of times they will get ahead right down the middle and the first pitch. And it’s great. All right. Oh one perfect.
We’re off. We’re off and running. And now the catcher jumps over to the corner of the plate. He’s splitting the black with his cup, you know, his that’s where he’s, you know, when you send her a catcher who said, Hey, where should I set up wherever your cup is, is the center of your body. Right? And so your Mitt is going to be right there.
So if you’re a catcher and your cup is splitting the black of the plate, pretty much everything to the, you know, the, the outside is a ball, it’s an automatic ball. So 50% of, of a pitcher’s misses are gonna be that direction on average. They’re going to be balls. So now your likelihood of throwing a strike right off the bat, when you’re splitting the black of the plate is about 50 50.
So even big leaders don’t jump to the black of the play. Oh one, watch them, watch them really intently. They’re really more on the way the plate on the outer third or inner third. So lots of young players, they get into trouble because they’re so often obsessed with throwing on the corners. And when they do this, they fall behind the council.
They get ahead or want, or they get ahead on the first pitch now they’re Oh one great. Then they jumped the black, they miss because they don’t have a lot of margin for error. And now they’re back over the middle of plate. One, one, one hitters seen two pitches. He’s a little more comfortable. And now you’re trying to get to one, two.
So you throw him another fast ball and he bangs into the gap. That’s pretty normal. And that’s because of a lack of strategy. You’re much better off. You know, being really competitive on the first pitch down the middle. That’s great. Throw them a first pitch fastball, challenge them or throw them a fist.
First pitch change up or curve ball throw right down the middle of the plate. Encourage them to swing at it. If they have swing at a first pitch, change up or curve ball, they’re dumb. Let them do it. They’re going to get out nine out of 10 times, they have swinging a first pitch curve ball. So compete down the middle of the plate first.
And then you’re. Oh one. Great. Let’s move to the half, the outer half or the outer third at most. So we still have some way of the plate. So we still have margin for error. So our likelihood of throwing a striking two Oh two is much greater. And if they put that ball in play and outer half fastball or an outer third fast, four inner third fastball, they’re going to be out a lot of the time.
They’re not going to barrel that up that much. So a lot of times it’s a strategic air where pitchers are focused too much on the black of the plate, and they really need to learn and get excited about competing with hitters, like competing fun, throw the ball by a dude. You know, don’t be afraid of him putting the ball in play, compete on the white part of the plate.
And if you do that, You’re going to find this cascade effect where you’re going to be ahead in way more counts. And because your head way more counts, hitters are gonna start to feel more defensive. Now you can throw your off speed stuff more and they’ll swing and expand the strike zone for you, which is gonna make your day on the mound much, much.
Sure.
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