Defining Success

Success doesn’t always equate to throwing strikes. The amount of times in a lesson that I say “I don’t care if you throw strikes right now” might shock some. The reality is, if it’s a new drill or a new way of doing something, how can we expect to throw strikes right away? Giving young pitchers, or really any age pitcher who is learning something new, a way to define their success OTHER THAN by throwing strikes is how most grow best. (Success is throwing straight right now, success is driving your leg out this far, success is speeding up your arm circle, etc.) Letting them feel uncomfortable and aiding them as they work through things in lessons gives them the confidence to continue to work on new things at home and at practice! Most of the time, when you focus on a piece of your mechanics that you need to improve you naturally start to throw more strikes as you become more comfortable with it!
 
One of my favorite examples of this is when we work on creating stronger leg drive. Generally, the first thing that happens when we use our legs more is that we pitch the ball high. (When you drive out more, your body stays naturally taller, which creates a “later” snap that you then have to adjust to snap a bit lower/sooner in your motion.) Do we stop using our legs just to throw strikes? Or do we continue to work on using our legs and then adjusting our snap to bring the ball back into the zone? Of course, we’re going to continue to use create stronger leg drive to increase speed, we almost always “get a little worse before we get better” when we’re trying something new. Until we get comfortable with the uncomfortable our accuracy will be a bit off.
 
Don’t be afraid to throw balls (especially at lessons where it’s more about the process than the product anyways!) – throwing a “bad pitch” teaches us more than throwing a “good pitch” does! Encourage youth athletes to work their way through their mechanics and start to truly feel what their body is doing. I love pitching/doing drills with your eyes closed for this! Once pitchers can feel what their mechanics are supposed to do instead of being solely focused on throwing strikes that is where true growth comes from!
 
In the work I do with lesson athletes, winter is my absolute favorite time of the year! While I love getting updates, videos, and etcetera from their Fall and Spring/Summer games – winter is where I can make the biggest difference for them as a coach. Winter is when we can stop worrying about how we are performing in games and completely focus on enhancing their skills and pushing them to be their best selves once the Spring/Summer season starts up again!