Fall baseball begins

I just had about a three week break from doing any team coaching.  I have had some pitching/hitting lessons scattered throughout those three weeks, but this tends to be a slower time of the year for that, so I have been able to relax a little, rejuvenate, and prepare for the school year and fall baseball.  Today begins the fall high school baseball season with the Adrian Dirtbags Fall Baseball League.  I am fortunate to be able to coach two different teams each Sunday for the next 5-6 weeks.  I've got to admit, being on a baseball field with young athletes who are enthusiastic about learning and improving is one of my passions.

In addition to begin the fall high school league, our college players at Adrian College begin fall semester classes tomorrow, and we have our first team meeting on Wednesday.  This fall the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) has expanded the amount of practices the teams can have during the fall.  Instead of the nine practices we were allowed in the past, we can now have 16 practices plus one competition date in a four week period in the fall.  This will allow for significantly more time to teach skills and evaluate our players; thus enhancing our ability to improve our players and the entire team more than what we could in the past.

In saying all of this, I am looking forward to the college fall practice schedule so that we can begin setting goals and work on the steps to achieve those goals.  We have had some very good seasons in recent years from both a team standpoint and from the perspective of the pitching staff.  There is no reason we shouldn't continue to make improvements and expect success.

In the meantime, today I get to spend 18 innings in the dugout with high school players, some of whom I know and others I will get to know.  Though one of our goals will be to win games, what will be more important to me is to teach as much of the game as possible to these guys.  This is designed to be an instructional league, though without team practices all the instruction will be during games.  Some of the teaching will have to do with the hitting/throwing/defensive mechanics of individual players, some will have to do with game strategies and situational play, and of course much will have to do with the mental part of the game.

As I was reminded of this summer while working with high school aged players, the mental part of the game needs to be taught and learned in order for players to make individual improvements.  Many talented players don't advance as much as possible because the thoughts and attitudes that they create become obstacles in their progress.  It is important for each player to understand that their development is a process, and they can choose how much progress they make in that process just by positive thinking and body language.

As coaches, we can teach a group of athletes on a daily/weekly basis.  Some of the athletes are going to understand and buy into the messages and make some progress in their development, while others will resist some teaching and not make as much progress as their peers do.  For each kid, it is a choice that they make, and their development is completely up to how open they are to learning more about themselves as athletes.  

The game within the game

In all team sports competition there are versions of games within games.  In baseball, each at bat gives us a glimpse of pitcher versus batter.  The bigger picture of that game is the battle between the pitcher and the entire batting order of the opposing team.  In any given game, therefore, two of these battles exist.  Each team’s starting pitcher has his own game against the hitters of the other team.

Before I continue, I want to tell you that a pitcher does not compete against the opponents by himself.  When he is on the mound, it is a good idea for the pitcher to understand that he has eight teammates working with him against that one batter.  In other words, it is nine against one.  That kind of thinking can make a pitcher feel a lot more confident about his odds.

With the designated hitter in the lineup in today’s game of baseball, a pitcher never really competes directly against the opposing pitcher, but the ability of the other pitcher can influence how a pitcher competes in any given game.

When a pitcher throws a well-pitched game, whether his team wins or loses, there is usually a method that he uses consistently throughout that game that determines his success.  For example, sometimes a pitcher does a great job of throwing first pitch strikes (getting ahead of the hitters) and then forces the hitters to swing at pitches on the edge of or out of the strike zone.  A game with this kind of M.O. usually becomes a game pitched very efficiently, with a pitcher keeping his pitch count low and thus being pretty strong in the later innings.

Another way a pitcher can be efficient is when he gets leadoff batters out consistently.  By getting the leadoff batter out in an inning, especially in a closely contested game, the innings become relatively stress free on both the defense and the pitcher.

As with most things in life, a pitcher can be effective and win games in many different ways.  Sometimes a pitcher may throw a relatively low percentage of strikes (ie., less than 60%), get behind the hitters, but still throw some good pitches later in the count and get a lot of hitters out.  Other times a pitcher may allow leadoff hitters to reach base and then turn around and get double play ground balls, allowing his defensive teammates to help get him out of trouble.

In some more stressful innings, some of the better pitchers pitch through trouble after perhaps a couple hits, or a walk and a hit, or some combination of walks, errors and hits.  This is what we call taking care of damage control.  Sometimes these situations are managed by pitchers who have great potential for strikeouts and can get some harmless infield popups with runners in scoring position.

In the big picture, a pitcher who can recognize potential problems and make early adjustments can give his team a chance to win.  A pitcher who can manage stressful situations effectively and maintain a positive thought process, thus controlling his emotions, has a better chance to help his team to victory than a pitcher who does not do that.  A pitcher who can keep his pitch count low early in a game has a better chance of completing the game and leading his team to a victory than a pitcher who throws too many pitches in the first few innings.

A pitcher’s job is simply to give his team a chance to win, and there are many ways to do that.  Some ways are easier than others.  A pitcher has to understand that his teammates are putting the same effort into the team’s success that he is, and that his teammates who may come in from the bullpen to relieve him have the same team goals as he does.

Next time you really sit down to watch a game, check out the two pitchers competing against their opponent’s hitters.  They may do things differently, but they both have the same goals in mind.  Each pitcher may also have a different method the next time he steps on the mound, too, depending on so many factors. 

Nine against one, one pitch at a time!