Take Responsibility: No Excuses!

If you are being honest with yourself right now, you cannot tell me that at some point during your career you didn’t blame someone else for your failures on the mound. Every single one of us has done it. The ump’s strike zone was too small, Johny should have caught that ball in left and they didn’t give him an error, coach didn’t give me enough time to warm up, the mound was bad, my catcher was terrible and the list goes on and on.  Here is a list of reasons why we do this:

1. Reduces the pain of failure
2. Protects our EGO
3. To get sympathy from our teammates.

It is one thing to make excuses in your head it’s even worse when you express these excuses to your teammates. Your teammate may agree with you and make you feel better about yourself but you are also losing credibility with them and they won’t trust you in tough spots because they know you have already made an excuse mentally to bail yourself out of any potential failures.

 There is a distinct difference between taking responsibility and blaming yourself. An example of self blame is saying "we lost and it is all my fault." That is never true this is a team game. In that same situation the correct thought process is, "I didn’t stay focused in the present and execute my pitches, I let the negative results effect my confidence level and I didn’t continue to focus on the next pitch. I will be better my next outing to give my team a better chance to win." Recognize the facts, learn from them and apply what you have learned in the future.

 You should never feel responsible for the performance of the entire team. Many great pitchers think, “I need to put the team on my back and dominate today."  This puts artificial pressure on you that you shouldn’t have to deal with. Remember: "control what you can control." You could pitch a great game and execute your game plan and still lose. Maybe you made some great pitches and the hitters just found holes, that is part of the game. The result on the scoreboard should have little impact on your self-evaluation of your performance. The next time out, you may not be sharp and guys just hit rockets right at people and your defense plays great behind you and your team wins. Does that mean you should feel better about that performance then you did the previous outing when your team lost? No! Most pitchers judge themselves on there W-L record. This is very similar to a hitter judging his performance based on his batting average. If you do this you will constantly ride a roller coaster of emotions purely based on RESULTS. Eliminate this thought process. Focus on making quality pitches and staying even keel with your confidence level. You are never as good or bad as one individual outing.

 Pitchers use their coaches as a crutch. Your pitching coach may suggest you do certain things mechanically. They are trying to help you become a better pitcher. However, pitchers think I HAVE to do it this way now that my coach told me to. They say, “Coach wants me to have a longer stride so I am going to try it but if it doesn’t work in the game its not my fault, the coach MADE me do it.” When you say I HAVE to you are taking away responsibility from yourself.  In the end your mechanics are your choice, you are the one who has to go out on the bump and pitch not your coach. You have to take ownership of your own delivery. In college most pitching coaches call pitches. I tend to disagree with this because of the same reason I just stated. Pitching coaches call pitches because they believe they have a better understanding of the opponent. This is usually true but then the pitchers say, “well coach called a curve ball here so I’ll throw it but if it gets ripped its not my fault, the coach is the one who called the pitch not me. You have to be 100% dedicated to every pitch you throw off the mound so if you don’t agree with the pitch selection SHAKE THE COACH OFF!! I would rather you be confident and committed to the wrong pitch then throw what the coach has called for. As coaches we try to put you in the best position to succeed but in the end a coach will never throw a pitch off the mound. Your performance is your responsibility!!

 Do not justify your performance in terms of luck, fate and the breaks you get in a game. Even when things are going great these pitchers say, “well everything just went my way, I got lucky, I caught all the right breaks.” Subconsciously this type of pitcher is not taking credit for his success because he wants to eliminate the burden of taking the blame in failure. I want you to sit down and make a list of things that are realistically in your control as a pitcher. Something like this:

1. Work on my pitches and control during my flat ground work everyday
2. Do my bullpens at game intensity.
3. Control me emotions and confidence level during the game, pitch in the present the whole game, one pitch at a time.
4. Be aggressive and attack the hitters with strikes
5. Know the scouting report on my opponents
6. Never show negative emotion on the mound
7. Take care of my conditioning between outings so my body recovers properly
8. When I am not pitching watch the game closely to see if I can pick up on my opponents weaknesses.  

you can not put in this list:

1. Win 10 Games
2. ERA under 3
3. opponents batting average under 250

Most Pitchers judge their performance based on the results in the box score. This type of evaluation is wrong!! Take care of what you CAN control and the results will take care of themselves in the long run.

In Summary:

-It is what you say to yourself and what you visualize in your mind that count, do not make excuses to justify your performance.

-Never say I HAVE to, say I have decided to, I want to.

-Always ask yourself what can I learn from this situation?

-Recognize when you make excuses for yourself and eliminate making excuses to your teammates.

-Define what is realistically in your control and what is not.

-Judge yourself honestly based on execution, IGNORE YOUR STATS!

You ALWAYS have a choice, if you do not take responsibility you have still made a choice…. The WRONG ONE!!

Mound Presence and attacking the zone

Part 2 on Confidence:


As a Pitcher we have to remember that our opponents are always watching us when we are on the mound. When you do not have confidence on the mound the hitters on the other team know it. You are giving your opponent an advantage that he didn't earn. Even worse your teammates can see it too. There is nothing worse than having your defense out there thinking, why do they have this guy in he is scared to make a mistake. The reality is in baseball the majority of the results are out of our control, however as the pitcher we have the ball and we set the tone for the whole game. You have very little control over the results of the game but you can always control your confidence and game plan.


There are plenty of pitchers that understand the importance of mound presence, there are also plenty of pitchers that "fake it" they look the part, but then their game plan does not back up their demeanor. To make a hitter uncomfortable you have to attack him. In 0-0 counts I would rather have a pitcher throw the ball right down the middle. What he is saying to the hitter is I don't fear you go ahead hit it. Don't get me wrong if you have good enough command that you can pound the inside and outside corner go for it. However, most guys that try to paint pitches on the corner are nibblers and there is nothing worse. If you try to be too fine you end up down in the count. Guys who attack the zone with strike one will get more hitters out and the numbers prove this. In 2010 the major league batting average for 1-0 counts was 345, 0-1 counts was 317, 2-0 counts was 359 and 0-2 counts were 162. Don't try to be perfect earlier in the count CHALLENGE the hitters. Hitters will make outs the majority of the time. PITCH TO CONTACT!


In college most pitching coaches call the pitches and when the best hitters on the other team come up, most coaches move the outfielders back and throw off speed or fastballs off the plate in 0-0 counts to these guys. What is that telling the hitter? It tells him that you think he is a great player and you are scared to pitch to him. What about if the guy who is hitting 400 with 15 bombs steps in the box and you throw him a fastball right down the middle. One, he probably will be shocked and not swing and two you are sending the message that you may be good but I'm not scared of you. Sure there are times to pitch around great hitters but not his first time up with no one on base. Go right after him, the worst thing that happens is he hits a bomb off you and your team is down 1-0 in the first, SO WHAT!! That's better than walking him and starting a big inning. I played with Abe Nunez this summer, he played in the big leagues for 10+ years and he told me, "I love when guys nibble early in the count I just take pitches and they LET me get in good hitters counts and I hate the guys who come right after me, it makes me uncomfortable. I know I have to be ready to hit right away and I will probably chase when he does expand the zone with two strikes because he is always around the plate." Have confidence on the mound and back it up with your attack first mentality.


Lets take a look at the guys who does this the best in the big leagues.
here is a you tube video of cliff lee in the world series: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tpQZM_tTk8



This is in game 1 of the WORLD SERIES!! Lee's confidence is undeniable. He catches that pop up like it is some spring training game in the middle of march. His statement was , "I'm pitching in yankee stadium in the world series and I really don't care which all star the yankees send up to the plate next, I'll get him out." This is what Lee said after the game, ""This is the same game I've been playing my whole life, and this is the stage that I've wanted to get to from a little kid. Now that I'm here, I've already put all the work in. There's no sense in being nervous and worried. It's time to go out there and let my talents and skills take over and execute pitches." He threw 9 innings gave up 6 hits struck out 10 and had 0 walks. He threw 122 pitches with 80 of them for strikes. Out of the 80 strikes he threw 43 of them were either put into play or fouled off and only 16 times did the yankee hitters swing and miss. The whole game Lee was saying here it is go ahead and hit it. Lee pitched is one of the greatest post seasons starts of all time and shows what all pitchers should be working
towards. Lee began the game with a 3 pitch strike out of Derek Jeter. Lee came right after Jeter and continued to do that the entire game. Lee was RELAXED and CONFIDENT. He trusted his stuff and attacked the hitters with strikes for all 9 innings. Attack hitters and you will put them on the defensive. As a pitcher we have the ball and we dictate the game. TAKE CONTROL!!

Confidence Part 1

In my opinion there is nothing more vital to a pitcher than his confidence. Therefore it deserves a few separate blogs. Here is part 1;  the greatest attribute you can have as a pitcher is to be 100% confident in your ability. I even encourage our guys to be cocky. I want them to believe they are the best college pitchers in the country. You don't yield to anyone.  This year we open up against Florida Gulf Coast and on Friday night their ace is probably going to be a stud. So what! I want our Friday guy to think, "I'll show him I can pitch too." That is the great thing about sports, there have been great upsets and it all starts with having the confidence to say I'm pretty good too!

 Now their is a difference between being cocky and arrogant. Arrogant people like to talk about themselves and brag about all the great things they have done in their career. Now if someone asks you if you think you are good there is nothing wrong with saying Hell Ya I'm good I think I can beat anyone. You want guys like that on your team. Cocky people have ultimate self confidence in their ability and let their actions do the talking. Now, the test is if you go out there one day and get absolutely shelled. Can you look yourself in the mirror and say "hey it was only one day but I'm still a good pitcher and I will be better next time out." If you can ever get to the point where you have just thrown a complete game shutout and you feel exactly the same about your ability as you do on days you stunk, now you got something. Personally, I always tried to get to that point and I still haven't been able to do it. It is a very hard to have enough confidence to stay even  keel over the course of a season.

I have played with countless pitchers who performed way above their ability because they truly believed that they were better than they actually were. A confident pitcher stands on the mound and believes he can get anyone, ANYONE, if Babe Ruth steps in the box I am going to find a way to get him out. I know you have all heard it before but hitters that get a hit 3 out of 10 times in the big leagues get to the hall of fame. That means 7 out of 10 times they are outs. Sure some days a guy on the other team will  light you up but the next time up you should feel just as confident that you can get him out. As  an athlete you let the results dictate how we feel about yourself. So when you shove you feel great and when you get lit up you think you stink. You are never as good or bad as any individual outing.  This is the hardest thing to do as a pitcher. If you can get to the point where the result of any outing does not change how you feel, you got something special. Few can honestly do this.

Now being confident sounds easy enough, but you forget that fear is always trying to crush your confidence. Everyone experiences fear on the mound, if you say you have never felt it you are lying to yourself. Most Fear FAILURE. Failure is in the future, Failure is the unknown, as athletes we fear that. Let me yield to Auggie Garrido right now watch this video it is one of my favorites of all time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96977oEzf0c

The Demon is fear, the warrior is confidence and they battle it out. As Pitchers we fear the outcome. We don't want to fail. As a competitor it is embarrassing to fail, to say that guy beat me today hurts the ego. Only Great pitchers accept the fact the YOU WILL STINK once in a while. Instead we ignore this truth and pretend like we can prevent it. Take Justin Verlander for example, Overall he had an incredible 2011 season the included winning the AL MVP and CY Young awards. However, even Verlander had bad outings in 2011. On May 24 against Tampa Bay he pitched 6 innings and gave up 9 hits and 6 earned runs while only striking out only 2. By any standards that is a bad outing. However, Verlander did not let this affect his confidence and went out the next time against Boston and threw 7.2 innings of scoreless baseball. That's what excellent pitchers with great confidence do. Verlander knew that he had a bad start but had enough confidence in himself to believe that the next time out he would be better. Your entire career you will have to fight the battle between confidence and fear, don't ignore the presence of fear, acknowledge it and combat it with your ultimate confidence in yourself.

I will stop there for today, in my next post we will talk more about your body language and composure on the mound. It is key to showing your teammates and opponents that you are confident no matter what situation presents itself during the course of a game.

Playing Catch and Flat Ground Work

In my last post I briefly touched on the importance of the daily flat ground work you do as a pitcher. This post is all about how to get the most out of this part of your daily routine. The most important thing we do on a daily basis as pitchers is play catch. The way the average pitcher plays catch is not correct. They stretch out and then throw until they feel loose and then work there way back in towards their partner. Also, many high school and college coaches do not allow their pitchers enough time to slowly work their way through the throwing progression. They do not realize that this is the most important thing the pitcher will do unless it is his bullpen day. After a player has played catch and does not have a bullpen that day the rest of practice is made up of PFP work, pick off moves, conditioning, shagging bp, etc etc. Remember to improve as a pitcher we have to develop our arsenal of ways to upset a hitters timing, with speed location and deception. Besides playing catch and throwing on the mound these other parts of practice that pitchers spend a majority of their time working on have little to do with improving our effectiveness.

When we play catch work on throwing the ball to each hip bone of your partner. You do not want to master throwing a baseball right down the middle of the plate. How many times have you heard a coach tell you to try to hit your partner in the chest. That simulates throwing the ball right down the middle, instead try to hit your partner on his right hip bone for 5 throws and then his left hip bone for 5 throws, alternating back and fourth. Once you get to 70 feet now you can focus on hitting your partner in the chest as you are throwing the ball farther than you would off the mound. As you begin to stretch out the distance between throws you should only go to a distance where you can reach your partner without taking a crow hop and still be able to throw the ball on a line. The point of playing long toss is to develop arm strength and work on developing power in your delivery to be able to throw a ball longer than you would off the mound. I see pitchers all the time play long toss and take a crow hop like an outfielder to throw the ball further. When are you ever going to take a crow hop in the game? The whole point of any type of practice in baseball is to make you a better player in the game. Taking a huge crow hop and generating artificial momentum is not helping you improve at generating power and rhythm in your pitching delivery. Once you get to a point that you can no longer reach your partner on a line stop. If your partner has a better arm and wants to stretch it out more than one hop him with your throw. Don't let you ego get in the way, it doesn't matter how far you can throw a ball playing long toss. Remember why you are doing the drill.
Now once you return to 60 feet, you should throw all your pitches with your partner, still trying to hit him on his right/left hip bone. Spend the majority of this time throwing your CHANGEUP!! This is where you develop your confidence in this pitch. Play around with different grips and also try a two seam fastball. The thing about these two pitches is there is no right way to throw them. There are many different grips pitchers use to throw changeups and 2 seam FB. You have to find the one that is right for you and the only way to do this is by experimenting with a bunch of different grips to see what they make the ball do. Now it is time for you flat ground. Move in to around 50 feet and have your partner put his hat down on the ground to act as home plate. TAKE YOUR TIME as go through your motion mainly from the stretch position. Have your partner give you a target just below his knee so you can work on creating a good downward angle on your pitches. Go through your entire arsenal of pitches and then let your partner do his flat ground. One guy be the pitcher and one be the catcher until you go through the whole flat ground session and then switch. Really focus on hitting spots this is where you develop touch and feel on your pitches. Just with anything spend more time working on your weaknesses, for most of you that is your changeup. Turn it into a strength.

Here is Just a few basic grips for the changeup and 2 seam fastball. Most pitchers do not throw it exactly like in these pictures but it gives you a starting point to begin your experiment on which grip works best for you. (first image: 4 seam circle change, second: 4 seam three finger change or "palm ball, third: across the seams 2 seam FB, fourth: with the seams 2 seam FB)

Playing catch and doing your flat ground work is something you should do EVERYDAY if your arm feels good. Just like hitters go to the cage everyday to take care of their swing this is what we need to do everyday to take care of our pitches. Like I said, take your time during catch and flat ground. They are the most important thing you will do everyday at practice. If you do your work everyday it will show up in the game!!!

27 OUTS

What is your goal as a Pitcher? Everyone wants to throw a baseball fast. Sure the harder you throw a baseball the less time the hitter has to react. However I come back to my initial question what is your goal? Is it to throw the baseball as hard as you possibly can, if it is then you need to change your way of thinking. Now lets talk basics. You can break down any aspect of pitching but no matter what it comes down to getting outs. THAT'S OUR GOAL!

Upsetting a hitters timing is the key to getting outs. There are only three ways to change a hitters timing, speed, location and deception.  Don't think fast when I say speed. Ask any great hitter and they will tell you they would rather face a guy who throws 90 mph with a straight over the top FB that doesn't have any good off speed, then a guy who throws 85 with sink with a nasty change up and breaking ball who can locate his pitches on both sides of the plate. Pitchers spend too much time trying to find velocity. Pitchers need to work on developing a CHANGE UP!! It is the hardest pitch to hit in baseball and the easiest to learn but all too often I hear pitchers say I have a good fastball and curve but no change up. WHY NOT? The Change up deserves it own post so we will stop there. As a pitcher you have to ask yourself on a daily basis, how am I getting better a upsetting a hitters timing?

As a college coach I have to recruit players in high school that I think can be successful division 1 pitchers. I hear other college coaches talk all the time about how they saw Johny so and so throw 88mph and how he is going to be a great pitcher for them in college. Velocity is glamorous and good for the ego but it still doesn't answer the only question that matters in pitching. Does he consistently get hitters out. That's ALL THAT MATTERS!! Don't get me wrong if you throw gas that is great but don't think you can just blow hitters away all the way to the big leagues. Somewhere during your career you will get to a point where people catchup to your heat. Therefore it is important at an early age to develop your arsenal even if you can rely on your hard fastball against weaker competition.

Playing catch is the best way to work on pitching. I see pitchers at all levels play catch and the whole time they throw their 4 seam fb. You need to work on your different grips while playing catch that's how you get comfortable with a 2 seam fb and a change up. Also, work on throwing the ball with a purpose. Pick a spot on your partners body and try to throw it to that exact spot. This is how you develop control. Too many pitchers wait until they get on the mound to work on these things. Also, at the end of your catch you should do a flat ground everyday. Maybe you only throw ten or so pitches at 50% but flat ground work is vital to improving command and confidence in your pitches. (more on flat ground in a different post)

 I want to keep my posts relatively short so we will stop here today. The message for today is clear, the only thing a pitcher should be worried about is finding his own way to help get the 27 outs necessary to win a baseball game.


"My pitching philosophy is simple--keep the ball away from the bat"  -- Satchel Paige

Welcome

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to my Blog. Let me introduce myself first. My name is Michael Gedman I am currently the assistant baseball coach at Bryant University a division 1 school in Smithfield RI. I played division 1 baseball at Lemoyne College in Syracuse NY for my freshman year before transferring to the University of Massachusetts Amherst for my final 3 years of college. In college I was a two way player pitching and also playing first base. I just finished my rookie season of professional baseball for the Worcester Tornadoes of the Canam League where I was a left handed relief pitcher.

I have to give credit to Chris Colabello for showing me the way. He writes an excellent blog: http://everythinghitting-cc20.blogspot.com/2011/10/whos-this-guy_12.html where he dives into all sorts of hitting subjects. I use a lot of his information with my hitters at Bryant. My blog is for pitchers only as there is not enough good information out there for pitchers looking to improve their craft. I want to put together some information for you on all aspects of pitching. There are many pitching coaches out there that are teaching kids the wrong way to go about delivering a baseball. There is no quick fix to becoming a better pitcher. Pitching is all about consistency and being able to repeat the same delivery over and over again. However, the most important element of pitching is the mental aspect. There are countless pitchers out there who could throw a baseball over 90mph that never had a chance to play professional baseball. They had the physical tools necessary but were unable to master the mental side of the game. I hope that you can take some of the information from this blog and use it to bring your game to the next level!

-Mike Gedman