Lefty Pitching

Comment by Coach Ruben Corral on August 19, 2009 at 10:29am

I can't believe no one has posted to this one yet! Lefties are a fun breed to coach if you know both pitch sequencing and controlling the running game.

At those young ages, hitters haven't mastered the art of driving an offspeed pitch the other way. They still have strong tendencies to pull the ball. Since it's fundamentally easier to pitch to the throwing arm side of the plate, hitting the outside edge with fastball, change and curve will effectively keep batters out in front and pulling the ball to your shortstop or 3rd baseman.

Simply put, pitch sequencing is the art of pulling a hitter's hands/weight out of position. Using fastballs and changeups on the outside edge should be your primary weapon. Once your ahead in the count you can use curveballs to force hitters to miss if you need to. Keep the ball low and you'll induce plenty of groundouts. Teach your pitchers to miss down and keep their fingers on top of the ball through release to help with that.

Controlling the running game really depends on how the other teams steal bases. These days, baserunners are taught to steal on FIRST MOVEMENT when dealing with lefties. Lefthanded pitchers who are "readers" (slow leg lift to READ what the runner is doing before pitching or picking), usually fall victim to a speedy runner who takes off immediately when the pitcher's foot lifts. Do not create readers.

Let me know how things go. Don't overthink pitch sequencing. Force teams to beat you away from their strength...i.e. pulling middle-in pitches. The minute hitters get too comfortable with the outside pitch, bust them inside with a few fastballs...then away again. You'll do just fine keeping teams off balance. Let me know how things go.

Hope this helps,

Coach Corral
TeachingBetterBaseball.com

Comment by Pat Meagher on August 19, 2009 at 12:12pm

Every young man can always master a change up. No one ever taught me one until I was in college. Fork balls and splitters are extremely effective but are very hard to control. Good Luck!

Comment by Steve Medina on August 19, 2009 at 1:06pm

As a lefthanded pitcher, I have several suggestions for your young southpaw staff. First, make sure they all throw the 2-seam fastball. This will give the ball that tailing effect that makes the outside pitch that much more effective. Second, establish the inside part of the plate. Doing this at a young age just makes good sense. Ofcourse a good change up is important so teach them the either the splitter or the circle change empasizing the same motion as their fastball. Finally, have them work on the cut fastball. Particularly to the righthanded batters. The most effective cutter will start on the middle in then break down towards the batters feet. I don't recommend throwing too many breaking pitches at a young age, but if you have a 5-man rotation, it sounds like they will have sufficient down time to rest their arms between appearances. Good Luck.

Comment by Jon LeTourneau Jr. on August 19, 2009 at 5:13pm

i'm a lefty pitcher and i love throwing the 2 seam. just throwing your normal 4 seam, curve, and change up won't get you bye all the time. what's helped me over the years is being able to throw all my pitches from over the top, 3/4, and side arm. i do agree that a splitter is also a geat pitch to learn and being able to work the corners and changing the eye level of the hitters is a must if your gonna be effective at a young age. but as usual practice makes perfect

Comment by Coach Ruben Corral on August 19, 2009 at 11:00pm

Just an FYI and nothing against any of the other posters, but I would not teach the splitty, slider or cut fastball to younger pitchers, lefty or otherwise. I don't teach any of my pitchers these pitches until at least high school and I also never suggest it unless they've already been fooling with it.

The danger in throwing the split-fingered fastball is the pressure it places on your wrist, forearm and elbow area. Try it. Grip a split-fingered fastball and feel the pressure in your elbow? Those are your ligaments being stretched and as you throw the split, they will stretch further during the throw. This is a danger to young pitchers who, unlike older pitchers do not spend any time strengthening up their throwing arms enough to throw this pitch.

Throwing a slider involves supinating the wrist (turning thumb upwards). Plainly put, its like turning a doorknob. This wrist motion is the equivalent of slamming the brakes on your car at a stop sign. I've seen professional pitchers try this pitch, and end up on the operating table within 3 weeks. I threw a slider, it was one of my most dominating pitches, and I believe in its dirtiness. But to a 12-14 year old? I would not.

The cut fastball is a terrific pitch. Its held on the outer third of the ball very similar to the slider and in order to cut the ball, you must keep pressure on the top knuckle of your middle finger as you release the pitch. However, you are still gripping the ball on the outer third and the finger pressure is very similar to a slider. I vote no until high school (and physical maturity).

Again, these are my opinions based on my experiences and knowledge of pitching. At those ages, I've always had plenty success with 3 pitches and control, control, control. Not one of my pitchers I've coached has ever come down with an arm injury. Take care to teach your pitchers not only the right pitches to throw, but the correct way to throw them. Proper pitch mechanics are crucial at these ages because mechanics learned at these ages will follow them throughout their careers.

Comment by Mike Greene on August 19, 2009 at 11:28pm

Coach Corral, I agree with you on the potential for arm damage. At the ages that I coach, I not only have to worry about the normal injuries that players have but also the growth plate issues that come with young men of this age. I follow Jim Palmer and Nolan Ryan's thought process. Even though it is an old idea, my pitchers don't even throw curves until they have to shave at least twice per week. There are just too many other pitches to throw. We work on their mechanics and location on a constant basis. They know how to throw curveballs by the time they leave me, but typically are only throwing a few per game. We avoid splitters and sliders all together. We focus on different fastball grips to give different movements and looks along with changeups.

The difference between 12-14 year olds and Varsity and beyond players is pretty amazing. You would be surprised at how many guys come to us after pitching for several years and really have no idea on mechanics or grips. They have pitched in the past because they have the strongest arm on the team, not because they can throw strikes or actually pitch to a batter. We have a game that we play that involves working on location. I made a stand that holds 4 metal cooking pans that are about 15 inches across. The bottoms are cut out and nets are attached to catch balls. As part of their bullpen sessions they start with owing me 25 laps of the field. For every pitch I call that goes into the right pan, we deduct a lap. Depending on the age and ability level, we start with 30-40 pitches. The better the pitcher, the less pitches and room for error. It has been a great drill to build confidence along with learning control when it counts. To make it interesting some of their teammates will stand to the side and hollar or make sudden movement (simulating a baserunner). It turns out to be both productive and fun.

Thanks for the suggestions and good luck to ya this coming season.

Comment by Don Ervin on November 28, 2009 at 8:56pm

Jon Le Tourneau, I have never observed any pitcher who gets by with their pitches all of the time, no matter how many different pitches they may have, basically, The more pitches an amateur pitcher in particular has the less control and command they have, pitchers who begin with and learn to control and command their 2 seam, 4 seam fast balls, can learn how to off of these motions control their straight change and curve ball, then with control and command of these pitches one can as Lincecum does use their fast balls and change ups effectively to compliment each other with a curve ball once in awhile again as Lincecum does to destroy a batters timing, saving his arm from a lot of abuse caused by throwing sliders split finger fast balls etg. and other pitches that are torture to one's arm and shoulder etc. "HITTING A BASEBALL IS ABOUT TIMING" "PITCHING IS ABOUT DESTROYING A BATTERS TIMING" just controlling and commanding the fast balls and straight change ups only, by effectively moving them in and out, up and down is highly effective in destroying a batters timing, also there are very few who realize the fact that left handers have more trouble with high tight moving or non moving pitches than right handers, Barry Bond's included due to the fact that left handed swingers are loop swingers
Along with the afore mentioned items mentioned above Lincecum and a hand full of other mechanical sound pitchers uses his whole body starting from the ground up driving off of the rubber with a stride of at least the length of his body height and a controlled follow through to it's finish, which very few pitchers ever experience, very few pitchers have ever been to a good controlled finish position. I hope I didn't scare you by mentioning Lincecum, most people I come into contact with agree that he is great but that is as far as they go they are so accustomed to the lazy forward slow body movement ,stutter striding, short striding and wow, all of the sudden we gotta get the old arm speeded up so we can get that power behind that fast ball that they are scared to death to get out of the comfort zone box and work on some constructive adjustments which would save their arm a lot of unnecessary abuse created by the unnatural act of throwing a baseball.
When a hitter is fooled into getting his weight out over the front foot his head is the culprit, get your batters in stance with a bat in their hands in the launch position . no swinging the bat, have each one, one at a time turn his hat backwards, pull it down tight stand behind him, hold on to the bill tightly and have him attempt to stride and move his head and weight out over the front foot, if one does not prematurely move the head forward one's weight will not move prematurely move out over the front foot.

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