Pitching wins championships. It is invaluable how a good pitching staff can propel a team to the top; however, the importance of having a good pitching staff also hinges on selecting the right pitcher for the job. This is where baseball goes from checkers to chess.
While every pitcher is assigned the same position when they step onto the baseball diamond, every single pitcher has unique qualities that allow them to do their job. In recent years, Major League Baseball and its lower divisions have seen those same qualities become even more prevalent. A large percentage of pitchers’ fastballs sit around or over 95 miles per hour, with a large percentage reaching peak velocity of about 98 miles per hour and above.
Besides that, we’ve seen the invention of new pitches, such as the “splinker,” which became popular with Pittsburgh Pirates phenom Paul Skenes, the “sweeper,” which is making its way to many pitchers’ repertoires, such as Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Carlos Rodon of the New York Yankees. The newest addition to pitch types is the brand-new “kick-change,” which Clay Holmes, a newly implemented starting pitcher for the New York Mets, reinvented his pitching ideology for.
While fastballs are exciting, it is the pitches the pitchers mix in with their fastball to “tunnel” the batter’s vision, making it seem like another fastball is coming until the breaking ball dips away from the bat. William Arthur “Candy” Cummings is credited with creating the curveball, the first breaking ball, debuting the pitch in 1867 after tossing seashells and seeing how they moved in the air.
It is an art that pitchers work day in and day out to perfect; however, not only is it essential for the pitchers to know their limits on the mound, but it is also essential for the manager to know not only the physical, but also the mental state of their pitcher on the mound.
“The best managers, the best head coaches, they do it before it gets bad,” said Jeff Pelkey, head coach of the Bobcats baseball team. “That’s the ultimate goal: how can we make sure we’re pulling the trigger too soon or too late. If you constantly pull guys too early, they lose confidence in themselves, and they think the coaching staff doesn’t have confidence in them. So it’s definitely a balancing act when it comes to dealing with the players’ emotions.”
Pitching, at times, can be seen as the loneliest position in sports. Having a bad inning on the mound can be detrimental to a pitcher’s confidence.
“What I tell our guys, if we are processed driven and we are consistent on that day in and day out, the results take care of themselves,” Pelkey said. “There’s going to be days where you’re you’re feeling great, your stuff’s very good, but then the umpire is going to squeeze you on a pitch.”
Pelkey explained that pitchers need to have a process-driven mindset, and sometimes things may not go their way. However, one of the best ways to look at it is to say, “So what, next pitch.”
When many watch the sport of baseball, they often analyze a pitcher by looking directly at their velocity or the specific pitch a pitcher throws, such as a curve or a slider. Still, it can also be seen that not only is the effectiveness and quality of the pitches that a pitcher has essential, but the mental capacity and confidence in that stuff seem to be even more critical to a pitcher’s performance.
Pitching wins championships, after all, and having the ability to trust in your pitcher, not only on the mound, but also in the bullpen, is crucial for a team’s success.
“If you want to go deep in a playoff run or win a lot of baseball games, you can’t just rely on a handful of pitchers,” Pelkey said. “You gotta have you gotta have a staff.”