Luckily for me, I never bought in to that mentality. While I did enjoy watching Glavine and Maddux pitch, they were not the pitchers I ever wanted to emulate. I liked the guys like Nolan Ryan, Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens. I liked the guys that threw hard. Those were the guys I wanted to be like. I remember how fast Pedro's movements were and the big leg kick of Nolan Ryan and the competitive nature that Clemens always seemed to have. I wanted to have a big leg kick, move fast, and attack each hitter with my best fastball. I tried to throw every pitch as hard as I could. I wanted the big strikeout numbers. You see, it is true that if you can't throw strikes, you won't pitch much on any team. However, if you don't throw hard, you have no chance to play high levels of baseball (unless of course you are throwing a nasty knuckleball or throw from an unorthodox slot).
The guys like Maddux, Glavine, Jamie Moyer, didn't get to those levels by throwing the speeds they ended up at. I remember very well seeing Maddux pitch for the Cubs when he first got to the big leagues with a 90-93 MPH fastball. Not the 85-86 he was throwing in Atlanta. Once you are there and have established yourself, it is easy to back off the fastball and focus more on command. In many cases, guys back off of their fastballs to "pitch" a little more. If Maddux was only throwing 85-86 prior to playing in the big leagues, chances are he would have never received the opportunity to pitch in the MLB.
The reason I put the term "soft thrower" in parentheses is because many people believe that throwing a baseball in the 85 MPH range is somewhat slow. Very few people will ever reach 85 MPH in their lifetime. Throwing a baseball at 85 MPH is an extremely difficult feat. Relief pitchers at the Division 1 College level is where you will routinely see guys around the 85-86 MPH range consistently. Starters will be closer to 90. Keep in mind that the average fastball at the Major League Level is 91.
In order to play at high levels, you must throw a baseball at a pretty high velocity. The only way to do so is to train your body to throw harder and harder. If you are purposefully trying to not throw hard to work on control, that may help your local team win, but you are not doing yourself any favors if your dream is to play college baseball or beyond. You have to have an intent on throwing harder and harder. I've never heard of anyone becoming an Olympic Sprinter by running long distance events. You have to train your body to be explosive.
I will always stress the importance of the intent to throw hard. Usually it is a simple adjustment to throw pitches in the strike zone but it is all to common to hear coaches tell pitchers to slow down or take something off of the ball. Again, fine for trying to win today but what about the players future? I don't know of any high level college team or professional team that's looking for a guy that can throw 7 pitches for strikes but only throws 72 MPH. That's a big part of the problem, too. Everyone wants to throw 7 different pitches. Develop your fastball and never be afraid to throw it. Challenge every hitter until someone can prove they can hit it, and then keep throwing it until you find a way to make it faster than the hitter can catch up to. Quit trying to trick people. If your fastball isn't good enough today, make it good enough for tomorrow. I definitely want kids throwing strikes but I don't want them to be so focused on strikes that they lose sight of being explosive and going after the hitter with their best fastballs.
As a freshman at VCU, I was told that we were going to throw my fastball until someone proved they could hit it. I was definitely not expecting to hear that. I threw almost all fastballs in high school but was definitely expecting to have to use my secondary pitches a little more at this level. I got to pitch out of the bullpen early in the year and just as planned I threw almost all fastballs. About a month into the season, I was fortunate enough to become a weekend starter. My first start was against cross town rival Richmond. Richmond had a really good program at the time. They had been to the CWS Regionals 5 out of the last seven years. Since I was now a starter, I knew for sure it was time to throw more than just my fastball. But once again, prior to the game, Coach Keyes told me that the game plan had not changed. Until someone proved they could hit my fastball, that's what we were going to throw. I pitched 7 innings that day, gave up 4 earned runs and struck out 10. I threw 136 pitches and i'm pretty certain 130 were fastballs. This trend continued all year. I continued to win and would go on to win the conference Rookie of the Year Award as well as being named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American throwing primarily just a fastball that year.
So stop wasting your time trying to throw a million different pitches for strikes and learn how to throw the fastball at your maximum speed. Be aggressive with it. Don't be afraid to challenge anyone. Believe with everything that you have that you are better than the guy standing in the box. Don't be too concerned with trying to hit corners or trying to keep the ball down. The middle works just fine if you throw it hard enough and most balls up in the zone end up as pop outs anyways when you throw hard. The balls up in the zone look good to the hitter but they can't get enough on them usually to actually drive the ball. When you get the opportunity to get a strikeout, take it. No matter what anyone tells you, strikeouts are important.
Here are a few links to an article written by the Free Lance Star during my freshman year of college about the fastball
Free Lance Star Newspaper
Free Lance Star Text
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