March 17, 2010

Mike Maddux on Pitching

One of my loves in life is the game of baseball. I started playing when I could walk and stopped playing after three years as a member of the Vanderbilt baseball program.

Since my playing career ended, I have developed a serious passion for studying the game of baseball, especially the art of science of pitching.

I wanted to share an email I sent to the players of the 14 year old baseball program I help coach:

....I just finished listening to an interview with Rangers’ pitching coach Mike Maddux (older brother of Greg Maddux), and I wanted to share some of the pitching gems Maddux discussed.

Before I get into the specifics of what Maddux had to say, please remember that the Rangers' pitching staff improved its overall ERA in 2009 by nearly a full run from the previous season. The 4.38 ERA was the lowest for the club since 1993, a year before the Rangers started playing at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

From the Maddux interview:

Pitching is all about commanding the baseball and changing speeds.

If you command the baseball, you command the count. If you command the count, you command the at-bat. If you command the at-bat, you command the game. If you command the game, you command your career.

It all starts with commanding the baseball.

Please note that Maddux isn’t talking about velocity. We put way too much emphasis on velocity in today’s game and way too little emphasis on command. Please ingrain this in your head: IT ALL STARTS WITH COMMANDING THE BASEBALL!

Maddux also talked about the importance of keeping the ball down and pitching to contact.

Never forget that a 3 pitch inning with three ground ball outs is always better than a 9 pitch inning with three strikeouts. The goal of baseball is not to strike people out. The goal of the game is to get outs, and if I can get someone out with one pitch as opposed to three, I am a happy camper as a pitcher.

Maddux also talked about the importance of keeping an upbeat tempo and reducing the time between pitches. There is nothing worse in baseball than a pitcher who takes too long between pitches. I want all of the Dores pitchers to work fast and have an upbeat tempo.

As for mechanics, Maddux talked about three absolutes: Balance, Power, and Follow-through.

Balance doesn’t mean working with players on“the balance drill”, one of the most ridiculous and counter productive drills. Balance means controlling your body and being an athlete.

Maddux talked about making an athletic move towards the plate in a linear fashion to your target (alignment has always been and will always be the key to accuracy on the mound). If you want to visualize what an athletic move to the plate looks like, see the video below of the greatest lefty of them all:

Follow-through is all about pitching out front. Your body should be leading your arm, not the other way around. Every time we throw a baseball, we should be putting our faces in the target and getting out over our front knee.

To visualize what follow-through looks like, see the two pictures below:

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