"we know you're a 1-2 pitch person"

Heck yeah I'm a "1-2 pitch" person! Chatting with a new-ish lesson family today and I took so much pride in the fact that this is part of my reputation in our Central PA softball community. And no, I don't mean liking the 1-2 count....like you only need 1-2 solid spin pitches! 

There is this insane push for pitchers to be learning every spin pitch in the book. Every time I meet a 12 year old with 3+ spin pitches my heart sinks. We are doing these young pitchers such a disservice by continually pushing new spin pitches before they're ready just to keep parents paying for lessons and athletes happy. Perfecting pitching is repetitive, fundamental, and sometimes straight up boring. It takes YEARS to truly master a pitch. 

If college and professional pitchers are relying on one fantastic spin pitch with 1-2 solid supporting spin pitches, why in the world does a middle school or high school pitcher need 5 spin pitches? Being a jack of all trades and master of none just hurts pitchers (especially pitchers who want to play in college). As a college coach, I looked for something my current staff didn't have. For example - if I have a great rise ball pitcher, curve ball pitcher, and a pitcher who changed speeds well I was on the hunt for a great drop ball pitcher to compliment the pitchers I already had on staff. More often than not, when I couldn't tell what a pitcher's go to pitch was while watching them I moved on from recruiting that pitcher. 

How are you making your best spin pitch better and multidimensional? THAT is the question we as coaches and athletes should be asking rather than what spin pitch can I learn next. Learning is not mastering. What does mastering a spin pitch look like? If your drop ball is your go to can you cut both corners with it, throw it 2 balls off the plate, off speed, break it waist down, and break it knees down? If you curveball is your go to can you throw it back door, cutting the outside corner, and off speed? 

I am a huge fan of pitchers working up and down in the zone rather than side to side...I'm basically on a one woman mission to create more up down pitchers in the world! Think of Cat Osterman who is known for her drop ball, or Kelly Barnhill known for her rise ball. Their best pitch is so dominating that most people don't even think about the fact that they throw other pitches! When in doubt, change planes and change speeds! 

Should you learn multiple spin pitches? Absolutely. Once our pitchers master their mechanics, hitting spots, and throwing a consistent change up we then introduce a spin pitch. Notice I don't do this based on age, but on ability and mastery! This winter I taught a 6th grader her first spin pitch based on her progress, and "reset" a high school freshman for 6 months of mechanical work before we reintroduced her two spin pitches. Generally, we work on a spin pitch for about a year (give or take again based on ability) before introducing a second. After having two, that's usually where we start to work on taking the better of the two pitches and making it multidimensional.

I use "usually, generally, and based on ability" a lot when discussing timelines for learning spin pitches because EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. I repeat, EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. You cannot compare your own progress and journey to that of others. At the end of the day, focus on your own progress and what you can be the most successful at!