On the pitcher's mound is a base called the rubber, that the pitcher stands on when delivering pitches. It is the pitcher's job to throw strategic pitches that will either result in strikes or the batter making an out. To accomplish this, pitches can have different speeds and movements that make them tricky to hit, and there is a certain method to throw these specialized kinds of pitches.
The pitcher can also act as a fielder if the ball is in play within his general area like in no man's land. On some plays, he will cover 1st base if the first baseman must leave the base to field a baseball. The pitcher is important because he is the defensive team's first line of defense in preventing the batters from reaching base.
The more batters the pitcher gets out at home plate, the less base runners there are, which means the opposing team has less of an opportunity to score. Because pitching is such a difficult and specialized craft, it requires a significant amount of time and energy to become great at it, leaving very little room to practice other skills such as hitting.
Therefore, pitchers are often not strong hitters ; this is so common that pitchers in the American League of the MLB are not required to hit and a designated hitter will take their place in the batting order. Each pitcher has their own strengths and weaknesses and may fulfill a specific role for the team.
The act of throwing the ball in this specific manner is called pitching, and the throws themselves are called pitches. The batter attempts to hit these pitches in order to reach base. The starting pitcher is the pitcher who starts the game for their team. In today's game, managers and coaches typically expect their starting pitcher to last at least six innings. It is very rare to see a pitcher on the mound for the entirety of a game due to the large emphasis on pitch count and player safety.
With that said, there are instances where the starting pitcher will be dominating and their manager decides to let them go all nine innings. This is called a complete game. The relief pitcher is the pitcher who "relieves" the starting pitcher. Every baseball team has a bullpen which typically consists of at least five relief pitchers. These players have to be prepared to come in and take over at any moment during the game.
Each relief pitcher has a distinctive role on their team. For example, there is the lefty specialist who comes in to face lefty batters only. In contrast, there are right hand relievers who face righty batters only. In addition, there are "middle-relief pitchers," "7th inning specialists," "8th inning specialists," and "closers.
A closer is the pitcher who closes out or throws the final pitch of the game for their team. Despite the fact that closers usually are only responsible for one inning of work, they are heavily relied upon. A closer will come in to finish the game when their team is in a close game. A relief pitcher will earn a "save" when they enter the game while down, tied, or up by one to three runs and they record the final out. In most cases, the closer will not come into the game unless it's a save situation.
With that said, you do not have to be a "closer" to throw the final pitch. During a blow out, when the game is out of reach, any of the pitchers can record the final out. Pitching, just like hitting, will bring advice from almost everyone, especially if you're struggling. Handling the "advice" will often take as much mental toughness as pitching in a game.
Most pitching problems are caused by poor mechanics. The mechanics of the baseball pitching motion can be difficult for a coach to dissect at full speed. Often advice will be given relating to one particular aspect of the motion. Much like a golf swing, if the fundamental mechanics of the pitching motion are flawed, changing one aspect of the motion will not fix the problem.
As a pitcher it's your job to realize when your motion doesn't feel right. Lack of control can certainly be one of the most important signs that something is wrong.
Pitching isn't something that you can do once in awhile and be successful. It's something you have to practice and continue to work at. Being able to work on your pitching motion while throwing less than full speed will be an important ingredient in determining your progress in developing sound pitching mechanics. It's rare to find a young pitcher with good mechanics. Roger Clements once told a young pitcher during spring training that when he no longer had anything to work on he would no longer be pitching in the Majors.
That should tell you pitching is something that requires hard work and a lot of it. You must dedicate yourself to being in good shape, taking care of your arm, and working on proper throwing mechanics to reduce the odds of hurting your arm. How much you pitch is also important. I believe that young pitchers need to throw a lot to build up arm strength, but have to be careful not to be throwing at full speed too much. The most important skill is being able to throw strikes. A pitcher who walks a lot of hitters will not find a lot of success.
Being able to take command of the strike zone is an important skill to have. Also, throwing the baseball with a high velocity will help a pitcher sneak his fastball by the hitter.
On the other hand, being able to make the baseball move with different grips is another very important physical trait a good pitcher should possess. Just like anything in sports, baseball pitching requires a lot of practice. It takes a lot of repetition to master the mechanics of a pitching delivery, and this only helps if those mechanics are GOOD mechanics. Many baseball pitchers start pitching when they are very young, sometimes as young as seven years old!
However, it is never too late to start pitching. One of the big misconceptions in baseball is that playing the game keeps you in shape to pitch.
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