Becoming a successful pitcher is much more than being able to throw 100 miles per hour. To get better at pitching you need to develop mental toughness, arm strength and leg strength. Here are three simple tips to succeed on the mound.
Developing Mental Toughness
Baseball is a game of constant failure, batters strike out and fielders make errors and pitchers. But pitchers give up balls, base hits, walks, stolen bases, hits, runs and home runs. So being a successful pitcher takes more mental toughness than other baseball positions.
Just think about, a pitcher must overcome adversity every single game. A pitcher is constantly fighting adversity. He must be able to control his emotions, regain his confidence, forget his recent failure and get back to focusing on the job at hand, whenever he gives up a hit, run or home run.
Pitchers can build mental toughness for baseball using positive thinking and visualization. Developing mental toughness is essential to succeed as a pitcher.
Developing Arm Strength
The best exercise for anyone wishing to develop arm strength is the long toss exercise. It is especially beneficial for pitchers looking to increase their arm strength and increase pitching velocity.
The Long Toss is exactly what it sounds like, tossing a baseball with another teammate over distance between 100 to 150 feet. The distance can be increased over time. The long toss will stretch the arm muscles, add arm strength and increase pitching velocity. For maximum effect, the exercise should be done on a daily basis. Developing arm strength is key to becoming a better pitcher.
Developing Leg Strength
Anyone who knows about pitching will tell you that successful pitching is all in the legs. However, many have the misconception that jogging long distances is the best leg exercise for pitchers. Nothing can be further from the truth. Running sprints, like the 60 yard dash, is the optimal exercise for pitchers. Not only does the 60 yard dash help build up leg muscles, it builds stamina and closely resembles the act of pitching. Developing leg strength is essential to pitching.
If you heed these simple baseball instruction tips, you're on the road to being a successful pitcher.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Baseball Tips To Improve Your Game
Because baseball is game of skill, the top athlete isn’t always the better baseball player, especially if he or she doesn’t possess the multitude of skills that can help them become a complete player. Baseball is a game of throwing, fielding, pitching, catching, base running, and hitting. To improve all of these areas, you must practice using drills and get appropriate baseball instruction.
However, practices can be fast, jumping from one drill to another. As a player, you must always focus on getting the most out of every drill session.
Don’t just “go through the motions” as you will develop bad habits. Don’t just go through the drills to get as many opportunities as you can. You have to focus on getting quality out of your drills. Focus on getting top form with as many opportunities you get while in practice. The following information will provide you some tips to keep in mind while you drill that will help you improve your game
Baseball Tip 1: Throwing the ball
Grip the ball with your index finger and middle along the long seams of the baseball with your thumb underneath to give support. When you throw square up your shoulders with your target, move towards the target and throw with a ¾ arm action. Remember to follow through.
Baseball Tip 2: Fielding the ball
Make sure you have good balance by having your feet spread and get down. You don’t want the ball to go between your legs. Always have your glove in front so you can block the ball and see it go into the glove. Bring the ball up to your midsection and throw.
Baseball Tip 3: Catching Fly Ball
If you’re in the outfield and want to be striding towards your target, you want to be behind the ball. First, you can see the ball and secondly, you can quickly get into your stride to throw to your target. Furthermore, catch the ball above your shoulder with a bend in your elbow. That will help cushion the catch.
Baseball Tip 4: Batting Stance
Generally, you want a parallel stance with your feet shoulder width apart. Your toes should be pointed inward slightly. This will help your balance. Look at the pitcher with your head level.
Baseball Tip 5: Pitching
Focus on consistent strikes with good mechanics. This will reduce the changes or arm injury. Don’t throw each pitch with the same speed. Keep the batter confused and their timing off. Learn to locate the ball inside, outside, up and down. Learn to get late movement in your pitches.
Baseball Tip 6: Base running
You always want to run in a manner to give yourself the best chance for top speed. For instance, if running more than one base, time your steps so you hit the base with your right foot as you get less arc and can keep a more consistent stride losing less speed towards the next base.
Baseball Tip 7: Baseball Instruction Ebooks
You can get a lot of baseball instruction help right off the internet. Don't be afraid to get help from baseball sources.
Although these baseball tips are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to skills for playing baseball, they will help in your effort in becoming the complete baseball player.
However, practices can be fast, jumping from one drill to another. As a player, you must always focus on getting the most out of every drill session.
Don’t just “go through the motions” as you will develop bad habits. Don’t just go through the drills to get as many opportunities as you can. You have to focus on getting quality out of your drills. Focus on getting top form with as many opportunities you get while in practice. The following information will provide you some tips to keep in mind while you drill that will help you improve your game
Baseball Tip 1: Throwing the ball
Grip the ball with your index finger and middle along the long seams of the baseball with your thumb underneath to give support. When you throw square up your shoulders with your target, move towards the target and throw with a ¾ arm action. Remember to follow through.
Baseball Tip 2: Fielding the ball
Make sure you have good balance by having your feet spread and get down. You don’t want the ball to go between your legs. Always have your glove in front so you can block the ball and see it go into the glove. Bring the ball up to your midsection and throw.
Baseball Tip 3: Catching Fly Ball
If you’re in the outfield and want to be striding towards your target, you want to be behind the ball. First, you can see the ball and secondly, you can quickly get into your stride to throw to your target. Furthermore, catch the ball above your shoulder with a bend in your elbow. That will help cushion the catch.
Baseball Tip 4: Batting Stance
Generally, you want a parallel stance with your feet shoulder width apart. Your toes should be pointed inward slightly. This will help your balance. Look at the pitcher with your head level.
Baseball Tip 5: Pitching
Focus on consistent strikes with good mechanics. This will reduce the changes or arm injury. Don’t throw each pitch with the same speed. Keep the batter confused and their timing off. Learn to locate the ball inside, outside, up and down. Learn to get late movement in your pitches.
Baseball Tip 6: Base running
You always want to run in a manner to give yourself the best chance for top speed. For instance, if running more than one base, time your steps so you hit the base with your right foot as you get less arc and can keep a more consistent stride losing less speed towards the next base.
Baseball Tip 7: Baseball Instruction Ebooks
You can get a lot of baseball instruction help right off the internet. Don't be afraid to get help from baseball sources.
Although these baseball tips are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to skills for playing baseball, they will help in your effort in becoming the complete baseball player.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
How To Score A Ground Out On A Baseball Scorecard
Most ground ball outs involve more than one defensive player. The out is entered by recording each defensive player in the sequential order in which they handled the ball.
The outs are entered into the hitter’s cell for the inning in which they batted. The out is recorded using the Defensive Position Numbers of the fielders involved.
The entry into the baseball scorecard above illustrates the ground ball out of the First Baseman, Jones in the First Inning. He hit a ground ball to the third baseman who caught it and threw the ball to the first baseman for the first out of the inning.
It is recorded in the scorebook as a “5-3″ ground out; where “5″ represents the third baseman catching the ground ball and “3″ represents the first baseman catching the throw from the third baseman for the out (notice the sequence of the play is repeated in the scoring).
The number “1″ with a circle around it is used to help keep track of the number of outs in an inning. This is a good habit to get into!
The boxes in the upper left hand corner of each cell represents balls and strikes. You can keep track of the batter’s count and count the number of pitchers by entering a dot after each pitch. The top three squares are to track balls, the bottom two for strikes. The ball that is hit in play is not recorded.
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