How to Prevent the Pre-season Pitching Practice Plateau
/For those of you who read my blog back on February 11th, this is a second installment of how to "practice better" in your pre-season pitching workouts. Before diving into the nuts and bolts of this article, I recommend reviewing that first installment of this topic, as the information below builds on the concepts presented on Feb. 11th. A basic understanding of block, varied, and random pitching workouts is helpful knowledge to assist in "curing" the Pre-season Pitching Practice Plateau. For easy reference, I have hyperlinked that first article here.
As a Quick Review:
Pre-season pitching workouts mark Phase 2 in your yearly training regime (see #3 below).
Phase 1 is the "off-season."
I've always thought the offseason was a bit of a misnomer; frequently, the most gains can be mastered in the work that is invested during this October - December training period.
Strength increases, fundamental and mechanical fixes, and "new pitch" development are the BIG THREE of Phase 1: Offseason Training.
We are currently in the middle of Phase 2: Pre-season Training.
This phase spans from early January through the end of March for most pitchers.
Depending on your age level, this time frame may vary slightly, depending on when your games begin.
The most important focal points of this segment center around accuracy training and endurance development.
Mechanical adjustments are minimal at this point, as accuracy relies on a repeatable motion.
Block, Varied, and Random practices are all valuable & it is important to know how often to implement each of these models into your pre-season training regime.
Now that you are all caught up, let's get into the best part of pre-season training: becoming game-ready.
Unfortunately, pre-season pitching practice can start to get mundane at this halfway point if we don't raise the stakes. By now, you've fully transitioned from off-season training to pre-season training, but games are still a ways off into your future. This is where making your preparation more competitive should take its next step. I highly recommend creating a reward-and-consequence segment within your personal pitching practices. Sessions with this element of risk and reward will replicate some of that game day adrenaline. It will also make your 1-1's between you and your catcher much more fun because (and let's be honest) games are fun!
Q: So what does a pitching practice with more focused competitiveness look like?
A: It emphasizes continuous goal-setting with reward-consequence measurements to hold oneself accountable to meaningful improvement. This outcome based structure mirrors gameday rewards and consequences.
Let me give you a few examples:
1. The game of 5: You begin "at" the number 5. To start, you will call out a pitch & location to your catcher. If you hit your spot perfectly, your number moves down from 5 to 4. If you miss your spot wildly, your number moves up from 5 to 6. If you miss in the correct direction (not fat across the center of the plate or in a location that your catcher can not reach the ball), then you stay at the number 5. After that first pitch, you say a different pitch and location aloud to your catcher. If you hit your spot perfectly, you move down another notch (possibly from 4 to 3). If you miss your spot wildly again, you move up another notch (possibly from 6 to 7). If you have another "good miss" - you do not increase or decrease your number. Repeat until you get down to 0 or up to 10. If you get down to 0, you win! It is time to reward yourself. Maybe you and your catcher can share an ice cream cone after practice. Maybe you get to pick where to go to dinner with your mom or dad. Maybe you get to stay up an hour later on a school night. The reward is up to you and your catcher to decide PRIOR to the competition beginning. However, on the flip side, if you get to 10, you lose the game and must give yourself a consequence. Maybe it is an "exercise" consequence like 100 box jumps or 100 burpees. You can make this as difficult as you think it needs to be to motivate you to focus intently on hitting your spots and making adjustments. Another possible idea for a reward or consequence: If you get to 0, practice is over; if you get to 10, you perform your consequence and start over again at 5, trying again. Repeat until you reach 0. This particular drill emphasizes accuracy while refining your skills in resilience.
2. Pitching Obstacles Challenge: For this "game" - you need a big traffic cone to set in the middle of home plate and two other objects (like a batting dummy or a plastic garbage trash can) representing where players on the other team would stand in as a hitter in the lefty or righty batters' boxes. You have to throw your different pitches in between the cone and the batting dummies 10 times without hitting any of these obstacles or throwing a pitch wild to your catcher. The object of this game is to throw believable balls. Throwing pitches across the plate (where the cone is located) may give you a strike-call by the umpire, but this area is also where the hitters can hit the ball most solidly. Therefore, learning how to pitch in the "river" (just outside or inside of the plate in the area between the plate and the batter's box) can entice these same hitters to "fish" for a pitch that looks good enough to swing at but will produce a ground ball, pop up, or swing and miss due to its location. Rewards and consequences for successfully completing this drill (or not) is something you will decide with your catcher ahead of time. The more enticing the reward or terrifying the consequence will be key to releasing more adrenaline. You and your catcher know your skill level the best. Create a challenge that pushes you outside of your comfort zone far enough to stretch your goals a bit farther than you thought possible.
3. The Deception Game: This game challenges your skill level to be deceptive on your change of speed pitches (your clips and change-ups). Here is how to practice this in a competitive manner: Set a timer for 7 minutes. Create a goal that you have to "fake out" your catcher 10 times in those 7 minutes. You will throw a change up, clip, fastball or fast movement pitch without informing your catcher what is coming his or her way. Their job is to say FAST or SLOW before the ball reaches their glove. If they are wrong, stay quiet, or say the answer late, you "faked them out" and get a point towards your 10 point total. This is a great thing, as we want our motion for each pitch to mirror itself regardless of the speed. Change-ups and clips should look just like fastballs until it is too late for the catcher to confidently and correctly shout FAST or SLOW. If you get to 10 "fake outs" in 7 minutes, you win! If you don't, you need to issue yourself a consequence and try again, keeping in mind the speed of your arm circle and release point as the keys to deception.
4. Ropes and Sticks: This game challenges your movement pitches by emphasizing late break with ropes and sticks set up 10 feet to 15 feet in front of home plate. You want your drop ball and/or change up to go over the rope and land on the ground just after the plate. You want your rise to go under the rope and end up a foot or so above the rope. You want your curve ball (for a righty pitcher) to travel just right of the pitching stick but end up just left of the stick. There are actually pitching ropes and sticks that you can buy so that if the ball hits the rope or stick, it maintains the same trajectory. Your catcher appreciates this a great deal. Again, make a goal for yourself that seems attainable but stretches your abilities. For instance, maybe you set a timer for 12 minutes and your goal is to successfully complete the above tasks for all of your pitches 1 time. If you make it, practice is over. If not, you are holding yourself accountable by doing whatever preconceived consequence has been determined and trying again.
Competitors love to compete, and the more you up the ante, the more exciting things will become. When you aren't in an actual game, creativity, competition, and accountability are key ingredients to your pre-season practices becoming fun and game-like. If you have your own games that you play with your catcher in your 1-1 practices, I sure would love to hear all about them. Write me here or tell me at our next Pitching School Workout.
Keep up the good work, and I'll talk to you again in March!
