How would you like to increase your chances of getting hitters out without increasing your velocity?  Instead, you focused on the velocity in-between pitches.

If only pitchers knew how to take advantage of the clock, the game would go by much quicker and it would place the advantage squarely in the pitcher’s favor.  In fact, it would make masking pitches so easy, it’s almost unfair.

Back in 2008 I had two pitchers that made it feel like I was playing a video game when calling pitches.  The beauty was neither threw above 84 and pitched in the 81-83 range.  Not to mention both needed to insert soles into their shoes if they had any chance of getting on a roller coaster.  At least without a supervised adult being present due to them standing only  5’8 and weighing less than 170 lbs.

And the best part was neither pitcher threw a pitch above 84 mph that year.

Here’s just a couple of headlines the paired garnered.

And here’s the really, really cool thing.  Both these guys were mainstays inside the Top 25  that year for ERA and batting average against while pitching in the 81-83 mph range.

So, how’d these two guys do it?  

1. They had the ability to mask the fastball with a secondary pitch.  Meaning the secondary pitch shared the same tunnel or flight path for the first 40 feet or so before taking a detour in the opposite direction of the fastball.
2. The first pitcher played East/West with a two seam fastball and slider that shared near identical paths until taking a detour to the opposite side of the plate.
3. The second pitcher was even more effective as shown with his ERA of .38.  Yes, that’s not a misprint.  He led the league in pitching and let’s just say there were a few notable names in our conference.

Ever hear of Jacob DeGrom, Cory Kluber or Chris Sale?

What made him so dominant even though he never threw a fastball above 84 that year was his ability to pitch on a linear plane.  He pitched N/S which makes it difficult to determine the speed of the pitch because the human eye cannot detect speed changes on a linear path.  (It’s why the ball hit to you with top spin is more difficult than the the fly balls who slice or fade down the lines)

GAME PACE WAS THE KEY 

These two worked at an extremely fast pace.  One of the stats I kept as a pitching coach was time between pitches and both of these guys averaged around 12.9 seconds.  The next closest pitcher on the staff averaged around the 14 second mark.

You’re probably wondering why I did that, right?

Honestly, I had no idea at the time. 

I was only doing it because I’d spent so much time around Derek Johnson (DJ -2022 MLB Coach of the Year) while he was the pitching coach at Vandy.  He’d preached the importance of game pace and luckily I blindly followed without knowing why.

It wouldn’t be until I met the Legendary Tony Robichaux, head coach of University of Louisiana-Lafayette. 

His staffs would smother your hitters with a crisp, quick pace and the uncanny ability to pound the zone with two pitches that played off one another.  After getting killed by his staffs two seasons in a row I wised up and asked if I could come down and talk pitchin’ as he referred to it.

Of the many lessons he shared with me on my initial visit, one of the most important was the science behind working fast: VSTM

In his thick Cajun accent, he introduced me to Visual Short Term Memory (VSTM).  He told me

• Pitcha’s can increase their chances for playing off the previous pitch by getting the ball back in front of the hitters eyes in under 15 seconds, max.
• The shorter the time interval the greater the chances for being successful in masking or playing off the previous pitch.

Why? As the pitch is released a hitter must quickly process and encode visual information.

1. Between pitches this visual information is temporarily stored in VSTM, which has the potential to last up to 30 seconds max with it quickly beginning to dissipate around the :13 second mark.  Therefore, the faster you get the ball back in front of his eyes, the better your chances.
2. The shorter time period pressures the hitter by constraining time to allow the hitter to fully process and encode the visual information from the previous pitch.  Leaving him with a poor visual representation of the previous pitch and opening the door to visual hallucinations, you could say.

Another factor at play is ‘Effective Velocity’.

You may be familiar with Perry Husbands Effective Velocity System.  Inside the system he shares that a hitter as young as 10 years old can successfully guesstimate where the pitch will be located, in/out, up/down within the first 20 feet of the flight path.  During the second 20 feet of flight, the hitter attempts to predict the speed and spin of the ball to increase his chances of getting the barrel to the ball.

In other words, you’re creating an optical illusion for the hitter.

Because a hitter wants to hit, hitters are susceptible to being masked.  I’m sure you’ve seen a guy get his knees buckled by a 12/6 curveball?  The knee buckling occurs because the hitter sees the fastball that turns into a curveball.  He got masked.  Setup by the previous elevated fastball.

It’s why hitters don’t hit what they see.  Hitters hit what they think they see. – Tony Robichaux

If that’s not enough to encourage you to work fast, here’s a few more. 

1. Pitchers get into a rhythm.  Think back when you were shooting basketball, trying to see how many consecutive free throws you could make.  Once you got hot, what did your buddy do?  He probably rolled the ball to a spot that forced you to move.  His goal by doing so was to break your rhythm.
2. The defense gets into a rhythm and stays active, “keeps them on their toes.”  The opposite occurs when the pitcher works at a slow pace.
3. The umpire gets into a rhythm.  Let’s face it, these guys are human and aren’t getting paid by the hour and the strike zone is an opinion.  Like any opinion, it can be swayed.
4. Pressures the hitter to feel hurried and places you firmly in control.
5. The catcher gets into a rhythm with pitch sequences and spends less time in a squatting position.  Therefore, you’re going to get a happier and more active defender behind the plate. Trust me, he’s going to love the idea

Oh. One more thing.  Teach your pitchers and catchers to call pitches.

The constraints placed on the hitter with pitchers who can mask pitches in less than :13 second intervals doesn’t have to be perfect.  The game pace and initial ball flight out of the hand holds more weight than calling the perfect pitch.

In conclusion, this is one mask mandate I’ve got no problem promoting.

Come train with me at one of my Core Velocity Training Camps. At camp I hold nothing back, sharing everything I know about pitching.

Trust what you FEEL!

Lantz Wheeler