Teaching Different Pitches - Tip From a Professional Player

“PRO TIP: Get really good at mastering one pitch before you move on to the next. Learn to locate your pitches well, & be able to do it consistently! 3 DOMINATE pitches are far better than 6-7 average (at best) pitches.” @ksandberg23 

Parents, I promise I’m not crazy when I preach this. Your girl doesn’t need a million pitches!!!

Part of my pitching philosophy is having a: 

• Drop/fast (same spin) - one drops down and one is flat. The quicker the spin, the more rotations it has, the faster the ball falls off the table
• Changeup and/or Off speed - changeup is about 10-12 miles an hour slower than your fastest pitch, off-speed is about 7-8 miles an hour slower. 14u and younger I believe just need a changeup. Come 16u, I like to teach my pitchers how to change speeds on their drop ball. Having multiple speeds at the college level really helps keep the batters off balance! 
• Up spin pitch (rise and/or curve) - you can angle your curve to cut 2 different directions. A curve and a rise have the same spin-off your fingers, but the wrist is angled differently. One goes left (rightys) and one goes up with a 6:00-12:00 pure rotation, but your fingers move in the same direction for both. I can post a video about this in more detail soon. 

I developed this philosophy with the help of Doug Gillis. He is the current pitching coach at Virginia Tech and one of the smartest people I’ve ever met who have been involved in the pitching world. If you don’t know who he is, check out his bio