Orioles vs. Twins. American league majors for 11-12 year olds. Both tied for 1st place in the league. 4-4 tie after 3 innings. Coach Flores brings Martin off the bench in relief. *Special note here* -- I taught Taylor to pitch from the stretch and only from the stretch especially at this age. 1st, they can't steal until the ball crosses the plate, and 2nd, I noticed a lot of the kids were doing full wind ups (some pretty spectacular ones at that), and their control and endurance wasn't that great. I have Taylor come set at the belt, bring the leg up, step home, bend the back and throw over the top. Least amount of movement and he concentrates on his target. He has 3 pitches. 2 seam, 4 seam and little guys change up. So back to the game. We're visitors, 4th inning, Taylor struckout 1st at Bat (his hitting SUCKS this year His 1st pitch nails the kid dead square in the middle of the back. Runner on 1st. Next 3 batters....KKK. Bottom 5th. Smokes the 1st kid on 4 pitches. Walks the 2nd...then KK. Bottom 6th. Lead off single (2nd base booted the ball). Then, and if I'm making this up I'll kiss your arse, Taylors friend, Quentin, whose the other teams relief pitcher that struck him out earlier is up to bat. Taylor throws 2 heaters for strikes, then says "Hey to Quentin", winks at him and throws his change up. To say the kid swung early on the pitch would be very kind. I looked at Shawn and said, "Did he wink at him?", she thought so also. Cocky lil' ****. I'll have to work on that. Anyway, he's obvioulsy feeling it know, so he mows down the next 2 batters on 8 pitches. Sounds like a triumph right? Our bats also sucked for the last 3 innings and they finished in a 4-4 tie.
Gee...I wonder where that comes from? :wink: Congrats, Dad. You are in the midst of wonderful years watching your kids grow and develop through sports. By the way, nice going in the way you've taught him to pitch at this young age. Nothing fancy. Just focus on the target and throw.
When my nephew was that age I liked going to his games, but not for the baseball...for the hot looking moms!! I'm a bad man!
Excellente mi amigo! Congratz to Taylor. It sounds like he's becoming a real pitcher. When all the parents start talking behind his back in a jealous rage, then he'll know that he's arrived. You can't be a pitcher without being cocky. It goes with the territory... His three pitches are right-on too. That's perfect for his age group. When the season is over (Not now!) he can turn that 2-seam into 4 different pitches: Keep the two fingers between the seams, but have him adjust his thumb under the ball either to the left or right side. This causes the ball to slide left or right instead of going straight. When you throw those pitches at medium speed, its a sinker that cuts left or right. When you throw it hard, it becomes a cut fastball that sinks left or right. With that simple thumb adjustment, he'll have six pitches: 4-seam fastball (riser); 2-seam sinker left; two seam sinker right; 2-seam cutter left; 2-seam cutter right and a straight change. He'll have a full bag of tricks ready before he even learns the curve... Congratz Taylor!
Forget the college stint. He's probably better than half the current Tiger bullpen right now. Does he like dirty cities?
Coach, GranPops Martin says that his senior year in High School is still to early to throw a curve. What do you think?
Rick, I tell ya what. If Mom and Pops are still around, I got to send him back to the Mother Land. I know you understand. If not (God Forbid), Then since I like the Cat's colors more so than the burnt baby **** of the devils....sure, why not.
Yeah, it is surprising that you know as much about sports as you do Doc, when obviously you're not paying attention to the game most of the time.... :lol:
:idea: Curves are not dangerous pitches if they're thrown properly. Pitchers who hurt their arms with curves do it by overthrowing them. That pitch is supposed to set up other pitches; it should never be the main weapon. The two most dangerous pitches are the slider and the split-finger fastball, which used to be called the forkball: The slider is an elbow-eater. For decades, the Dodgers refused to allow any of their pitchers to throw it. Think about it. Koufax never had a slider. Neither did Drysdale or Podres or Perranowski or anybody else. That pitch was banned by the Dodgers for nearly 50 years. Sliders eat elbows and they're unnecessary. Forkballs are shoulder-eaters. When I played 40 years ago, rotator cuff injuries were almost unheard of. In modern baseball, its a more common injury than elbow injuries! The difference between then and now is the split-finger fastball. Also know as the forkball, the pitch tears up the rotator muscles in the shoulder that radiate around the arm-shoulder joint. If any one of those muscles becomes strained, the other muscles attempt to compensate and that's when serious injuries occur. There isn't much pain at first, so pitchers don't even realize that anything is going wrong until its way too late... I believe that you can safely begin teaching the curve at age 14, as long as it it used for its main purpose: to set up other pitches. Make sure that the elbow is not twisted when the curve is thrown, and make certain that it is not thrown hard. The curve is a changeup, thrown at medium speed. It should be a regular part of the pitcher's arsenal by age 16. Its reasonable to throw about 10% curves at that age, if the other pitches have been developed first... Safest pitches: 1. Fastball 2. Straight change 3. Sinker 4. Cut fastballs 5. Curve Dangerous pitches: 1. Slider 2. Forkball (split-finger fastball) 3. Screwball 4. Knuckle curve Don't waste time with knuckleballs or spitballs. Those are pitches for old men who're losing their stuff. They can be learned much later. Stay with the fundamentals while they're young.
DD, I'm going to print out your last post and give it to my son-in-law, a former college pitcher, who is raising his four sons to play baseball. Thanks.
Sid, No problem. BTW- most of the safety advice that I give is not original with me. It comes from Dr. Steve Bast. He's a medical doctor who specializes in orthopedic surgery and sports medicine. He's also a former pitcher for the Boston Red Sox; as well as an all-world QB at my old high school. He did a lot of experimental work with Orel Hershiser and cadavers to find out exactly why pitchers injure their arms. For what its worth, he did NOT throw a breaking pitch at all and he was a great believer in the straight change, limiting the number of pitches thrown and sinking his fastball...