Pitching Podcast of the Day

Before I head off to my lessons in the afternoon, I listen to podcasts all day. I have one going while I type, exercise, walk, and clean. The reason I have a business is actually because of podcasts! One of them inspired me to start one.  They’ve also taught me how to teach young pitchers how to develop. If you are a team coach and want to learn more about managing your battery in practice and games, listen to this episode. Not only will you hear a shout-out to moi, but you’ll learn how to warm up your pitchers, talk to them during games, manage pitching changes, and more. 

Two weeks ago I wrote about “The Dirt”, a show produced by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. My cousin, Erica Hanrahan, was featured on an episode titled “ Prepare Your Pitchers to Perform.” The episode was released after my last blog, so I broke it down for you below to make it easy to listen to the best parts. A lot of this will seem quite familiar to you, since I borrow most of DePauw University’s material for pitching school :)  Guess where I got the idea of “The game of 5?” and “The Hit/Miss game?” Listen to find out!

1:00  - How do you prepare your kids when they come into your program? Shout out to Abby!

3:00 - Preparing seasonally - In January mechanical tweaks are DONE. It’s about preparing for confidence and stamina.

4:00 - Workload and arm health. 

6:30 - Honest conversations with your pitchers. Where do you need to be?

8:30 - How do you practice inside? It’s cold out there!

12:00 -  Do you need to practice like you play?   

14:00 - Different types of pitching warm-ups: full & abbreviated. 

16:40 - What do you expect from the catcher? 

18:30- Which pitcher goes with which catcher?

21:20 - Communication between the catcher and the coach - what’s working with this pitcher? 

24:40 - Catcher communicating with a signal back to the coach.

25:20 - How, when, and why to go out to the mound to talk to the battery. 

28:00 - Pitching changes - go with your gut or a formula?

32:00 - The intentional walk - Good tool? Or rarely use it?

34:00 - Designing practices for pitchers: strike zones & pressure pitching. 

37:00 - A super fun game we will probably be playing next week: the two-pitch scrimmage. 

40:00 - Hits, good misses, and bad misses: counted differently for contact pitchers.

42:00 - The “30 Pitch Chart” - great at-home sequenced practice workout.. 

45:00 - Advice to coaches: be curious and pick the brain of the best coaches you know. It's the main reason for our success at DePauw.

If you’d like to listen to more episodes about coaching from the NFCA, here’s the full library.