Pitching Thoughts
March 18, 2010I’ve been listening to “HomePlate” on XM radio 175 a lot lately in the car. Between this and reading Buster Olney’s great ESPN blog, I feel like I’m able to stay current enough for the questions lobbed at me during my guest gig Thursday mornings (6:35PT) on the same XM channel.
Anyway, a couple interesting pitching things have come up through this process. The first thing I’d like to mention was a great interview Kevin Kennedy had with Royals pitching coach Bob McClure a couple days ago.
McClure seems like an excellent pitching coach and he said a couple things that I think bear repeating. The first idea surprised the heck out of me but made a ton of sense. He was sharing his philosophy of warming up before games and how it relates to his staff’s stamina over the course of a season.
Basically McClure tries to limit his starters to 30-35 pitches before a game. He said Cy Young winner Zack Greinke averaged closer to 25 and has started games with as little as 18 warm ups! 18 warm up pitches! Fantastic. McClure made the point that over the course of a 35 start season, this saves each pitcher about 700 game speed pitches. (This is assuming the last 20 or so pitches a guy throws in the bullpen are equivalent stress-wise to a game situation.) He’s talking about saving 7 outings worth of pitches by being thrifty in the pen. I like it a lot.
The second thing I loved about the interview was when McClure revealed his keys to pitching success. And that was – in order of importance – command, movement, and then velocity. Very wise words to aspiring pitchers (and catchers trying to help pitchers). Location, movement, then velocity. Success on the bump is all about throwing the ball where you want to with some movement.
The last thing I want to mention came from host Jeff Nelson on the XM show this morning. He asked my thoughts on whether or not Steve Strasburg should skip the minor leagues. I started to ramble on a bit and Jeff brought up the point of understanding how to attack hitters and calling a game. Great observation.
I’m not positive, but if San Diego State was like 99.9% of the teams in amateur baseball right now, it’s quite possible that Strasburg has never called his own game before. In other words, he may have no clue on how to attack hitters…much less big league hitters. Yes, he’s got Ivan Rodriguez back there to take most of the pressure off, but there’s no way he’s going to hold his hand every outing. The fact is, Strasburg better have a clue and if that means going down to the minor leagues to figure it out, so be it.
Then again, maybe Tony Gwynn at SDSU didn’t call pitches and Strasburg already has an idea. In that case, it’s just a question of whether he has the stamina to handle a big league workload and has the resilience to deal some failure. It’s gonna be interesting.
Brent, I heard you on XM this morning. Good work. I was thinking afterward about how pitchers/catchers prep for different hitters – lots of stats to work with. But what about hitters…are you prepping for the pitch you think Strasburg wants to throw or the pitch you think Rodriguez will call for?
Kind of both. I think as a hitter you’re definitely more concerned with how a certain pitcher has approached you in the past or the types of pitches he throws. That being said sometimes, after you’ve played against a certain catcher enough, you might start to notice tendencies…similar plans of attack regardless of pitcher. That’s when you know the catcher is doing the majority of pitch calling and adjust accordingly.
Brent,
Nice to hear you the other morning on XM. I’ve been a listener for a long time and a contributor on many occasions. You had some very good things to say about catching and I enjoyed the interview. 2010 will be my 46th year in baseball, 17 as a player and 29th as a broadcaster and I can still remember some of my pre spring training workouts at Orange Coast CC with your Dad. I hope he’s well and be sure to send my regards. Have a great year and if you ever have any questions about the Florida Marlins (I’ve been a TV Broadcaster for them the last 14 years), please contact me. Till then, Tommy Hutton
Brent
Ever since I started working with you dad and Tom House the information about pitchers has been absolutly fantastic. Both,, many years ago, advocated exactly what Bob McClure has stated about pregame warm up pitches and about the necessity to command pitches, make breaking pitches move within 10-12 feet of the plate and then work on velocity. Another thing that I see continually in high school and lower level college baseball is that pitchers do not have a change up. That pitch is perhaps the most important pitch following a fastball with excellent command. My definition of the difference between location and demand is: Location- being able to locate the ball within the area of the catchers glove. Command is hitting the dime within the catchers glove. The latter requires focus, the former a good look and in most cases in high school the target is the entire upper body of the catcher.
Calling games by the catcher is almost a lost idea in youth and high school baseball, college as well. The idea of the coach knowing best is interesting but there is a loss of education for the catcher. If a coach knows which pitch to call from the dugout can he not instruct the catcher on how he evaluates which pitch is necessary or best for the situation and allow the catcher to apply that knowledge and the knowledge gained from calling a pitch? When the coach calls the incorrect pitch no one says anything, not even the coach acknowledges his error. We discuss the ideas of catching, calling pitches and then at the close of the defensive inning discuss the plus and minus calls made by the catcher. In a high school season I call, at the most, ten total pitches. What I have found out is that in most cases the pitch I call is normally what our pitch calling educated catcher was about to call without my interrupting. Because the coach calls pitches in most cases the catcher very seldom knows what pitches were called on a batter and the sequence of the calls. He doesn’t remember from plate apperance to plate apperance what he batter did and how the reacted to the various pitches. Another high school pitch calling norm that is absolutly a pitch count adder for the pitcher is the 0-2 waste pitch low and outside, in most cases very outside. With that type of pitch calling batters can almost guarantee the the count will go to 2-2 and place the pitcher in a bind.
Tom
Hi Tommy Hutton. Thank you for checking in and glad that you enjoyed the XM show. I guest on that show every other Thursday morning 6:35 PT. Congratulations on such a long career in baseball. I vividly remember you working out at OCC…your presence there made a big impact on me. Thank you for your offer to provide insight on the Marlins…I’ll take you up on that sometime. If you ever need a guest to come on during a game, I’d be happy to meet you at Dodger stadium. Best, Brent
Tom, thank you for your insight and support with catchers and pitchers calling their own game. I like your point about nobody noticing or holding the coach accountable when he mis-calls a pitch. Good stuff.
Brent, I have disscussed baseball and pitching strategies iwth my son Dominic since he could understand. He has been the primary catcher on his teams for the last 5 years. He is one of very few Pony League catchers in ou league that primarily calls his own game. But this is the only one I’ve seen that goes to the field on off days to chart the batters on the other teams. With proper coaching and desire, he rarely calls different than what our staff would call. Most differences come about because he is spotting something in the batter’s stance or position in the box.
Cheech, to me Dominic is going above and beyond by going to games and charting. I sure as hell wasn’t doing that at 13. Come to think of it, I’ve never done that. The charts and reports should only be a fraction of calling a good game anyway. For me it was studied and then let go once the game started…always going with intuition and pitcher’s strength over “the right pitch” or what the chart said. Again, I’m of the opinion that the very best pitch a pitcher can throw at any given time is the pitch he can throw with his heart…with conviction. Regardless if it was the right or wrong selection.
If you insist that he call by the book, then you should probably be charting opponents, then giving him this information and making him memorize it. In my opinion, it shouldn’t be a requirement for him to chart. Like I said, I never did, and I could call one hell of a good game.
Hey Brent,
The idea of allowing the kids to call the game works. I had a 14 year old pitcher and catcher combo work 5 shutout innings the other night without a single pitch coming from the dugout. 77 pitches, one walk and one hit. Nice work from a couple of punk kids.
Bart
Yeah Bart, way to risk it all…your reputation, your pony league head coaching job, parental abuse, to let the kids play. I love it, a success story. See coaches, it ain’t that hard. And you ain’t calling as good a game as you think you are.
Brent,
Thanks for the advice. I must note, however, that Dominic charts other teams on his own. (Well maybe not anymore since reading your response) This is not my requirement. He hopes to have as much information as possible to draw upon. I don’t have the patience to chart and memorize as a Pony League coach to require him to do so. The point of my reply was only that if your catcher is motivated on his own, he should be trusted to call the game with minimal interference from his coach.
Good point Cheech….a motivated and interested catcher should be given the chance to call his own game. Sorry if I discouraged him in any way…if he wants to chart and it makes him happy, I say go for it. Good luck and keep me posted.