How To Throw A No-Hitter
May 6, 2011
Pitching is Upsetting Timing
May 10, 2011
In case you were out playing baseball Saturday (in a place that doesn’t rain) you may have missed Tigers ace Justin Verlander’s no-hitter against the Jays. I’ve got the highlight below for you.
Before we get there I want to highlight a couple things we can learn from his outing.
* He was throwing 95+ all day, and hit 100+ a handful of times, yet only had four strikeouts. He’ll get his strikeouts for sure, but the focus was location and pitch variety, not strikeouts. Too many youth pitchers want three strikeouts as the standard for a successful inning. No true. K’s are a bonus.
* Because of his low pitch count he was able to reach deep and increase his pitching velocity in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. Here again guys, control and pitch variation is the name of the game. Build your mechanics, learn your grips, and hit your spots. Strikeouts will come, but don’t make them your focus.
* He had three off-speed going for strikes in addition to his blazing fastball. Even if he didn’t throw all these pitches to every hitter, the psychological advantage he had was outstanding. You just want to place doubt in the back of a hitter’s mind. You want him to second guess what pitch you might throw next.
So enjoy the clip of all 27 outs of Verlander’s no-hitter. Remember, work hard at your craft. There are no free rides to high level baseball, it takes a lot of work. If you’re serious about really figuring your pitching mechanics, our instructional pitching DVD’s should be your first step. It will lay the foundation of proper technique. However, work habit is up to you!
