The Criticism You'll Never Forget

This blog features a guest blogger. It comes from a player named Alyssa Anderson who went to DePauw University. The pitching staff was assigned a writing project by their coach based on a blog I did a couple years ago about defining your “pitching personality.” Each player was to define who they were as a player. What was their “Wow!” factor? What makes her exceptionally great? How did she acquire those skills?

This was such a great story that Alyssa provided, I asked her if I could share it. She kindly obliged.

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My story starts at just eleven years old. At this point, I had been pitching for a year or two.

By no means was I the best in my rec ball program but I was not the worst at this point either. My team and I were playing in a playoff game. I came in to relieve our ace pitcher. As I threw my first few pitches I heard the other team’s coach tell his team, “Wait on it! She is as slow as tee ball.”

Thinking back on that now, that comment does not even make sense. Surely my ball was moving a little faster than one just sitting still on a tee, but at that point, it was the end of the world to my young mind. I finished out the inning but afterward, I was devastated. I told my parents and my private coach about what I had heard with tears streaming down my face.

From that point on I was more motivated than ever to prove that coach wrong. That one comment, some random coach made, to motivate his team drove me to work harder than ever and to truly want to prove him and anyone else who doubted me wrong.

I continued to work, I felt as if I worked harder then most of my peers however, the speed I threw was never as fast as they did. I trained and practiced but just did not have that natural gift of speed.

So with the help of my private coach we began to perfect the spin of my ball. I knew I was never going to be the fastest thrower but I could still be a great pitcher. I worked on pinpointing spots and getting my pitches to break, not just blowing it by opponents, but tricking them with my off-speed. I worked all summer and by the time next rec season came around I was eager to face that coach again.

I don’t necessarily remember all of the details of that game, but what I do remember is later that year that the same coach who accidentally propelled my pitching career, asked me to play on his team.

Alright, now we flash forward to the present time. I have fully embraced the fact that I will never be the fastest pitcher out there but, when I step onto that mound I know I can be efficient. I have full confidence in my abilities to get batters to roll on top of my down spin pitches and swing and miss with my off speed.

Another thing I have worked on that I can control is my presence on the mound. I have gotten proficient at keeping a blank face with my emotions in check. This keeps me in the right head space when I am pitching. If I am to get too excited after a good out or too depressed after a walk or mistake pitch I will not be able to concentrate enough on my location and spins.

I pride myself on being a smart pitcher. By this I mean I focus more on the quality of the pitch than the quantity. If I can throw a great drop ball and get the batter to ground out on the first pitch I would prefer that to throwing a ten pitch at-bat and getting that big strikeout.

As time has gone on I have grown more and more comfortable in the fact I am a drop ball pitcher and am proud of my outcomes when I step on the mound being a pitcher, not a thrower.