Do You Have the Skills to be a Starting Pitcher?

[@DanBlewett]

Things I didn't include: strike-throwing ability (crucial!), not being afraid of contact, and more. What else did I leave out?

[@nelsoncruz184]

This was a great video, coach Dan .You cover a lot of ground here . The great Tom Seaver always talked about the worst case scenario that game . Expect the unexpected. May require another video in itself. Thanks for this 👍

[@Dennis29085]

What are you're thoughts on teaching young pitchers (16-19, amateur league in Europe) pitch sequences, to help go through the first time through the order?

[@DanBlewett]

this video might help: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a3uvk6KZbaZgr9E

[@waltnakonechny4548]

Great stuff Dan, I think one important and undersold element that starters have to deal with is how to handle the fatigue that you know will be coming late in the game. This sort of relates to your point about pacing but what I am referring to here is the ability to maintain control (and command) when you know fuel is running low. That is an art in and of itself. Hitters feast off of low-energy body language. Thanks for putting this together.

[@DanBlewett]

Well said! Thanks for watching

[@thelos1331]

Thank you for the video! With a son who sleeps with Nolan Ryan's autobiography and respects how Maddux pitches, you're giving us a better idea of how to fine-tune our game to maximize our success.

[@humanbeing2420]

I fell in love with baseball when I was about 8 years old, and I wanted to pitch. But when I played organized baseball for the first time, I found that my throwing control was awful. No matter what I did I could not throw strikes. I wasn't a bad athlete in general - I could catch and field pretty well, and my hitting was OK - but I had no control over my throws. With pitching ruled out, I played 2nd base, but in my first game I made something like 5 throwing errors, so they put me at first base, which was fine because I almost never had to throw the ball. I never fixed that problem. I eventually gravitated to tennis and hockey and never played organized baseball after junior high school. Looking back on it, I wonder if I was doing something wrong mechanically that was fixable. I don't remember anyone ever giving me any instruction on fundamentals or anything like that (this was in the late 1970's).

[@nofurtherwest3474]

Yeah some instruction I'm sure would have helped.

[@shoeshiner9027]

I'm living in Thailand. Now we have baseball in Olympic. I'm going to teaching kids playing baseball, especially in pitching. THANK YOU coach.

[@DanBlewett]

youre welcome

[@jsmith3259]

My son is an 11 year old LHP. We were just talking about this very thing over the weekend. I didn’t have an answer for what separates the two. Thank you for putting this information out there.

[@nofurtherwest3474]

That seems a little young to be worrying about this.

[@jsmith3259]

@@nofurtherwest3474 Who was worried?

[@f.macmaster2891]

This is another great video. You are a very thoughtful coach.

[@snarsgames703]

Thank you for this video it was really helpfull

[@moo9067]

personally i think that in my league (15u AAA) I just throw hard in the 1st round to see who can keep up with a fastball and who cant then second time ill start mixing between who could keep up and who couldnt

[@Godric_71]

I was never eager to be a pitcher. I hated the outfield because, no one ever hit the ball out there. I was essentially a garden gnome. Then, i played catcher. I LOOOVED it. Even though i was really small at the time and the equipment didnt fit, i felt like i was contributing.

[@LongIslandbaseball55]

I’m a soft throwing amateur and even at men’s amateur level you need 3 pitches. I also am not afraid of contact like some others are and I know my place as a reliever

[@benji614]

Hey Dan, do you know when I should become a PO? Ever since I stepped up on the mound and started pitching, it's become very obvious that I'm a much better pitcher (starter btw) than a hitter, and I've gotten considerably worse at the plate, but better on the mound this summer. I'm going into 14u this spring, but I don't know what would happen to people like me who can't hit and only pitch

[@DanBlewett]

"what would happen to people like me" haha - they don't feed you to the wolves, they just make you a pitcher-only. At some point, coaches will make the decision for you - you'll make a good team as a PO or a lesser team as a full-share player. At that point its up to you which offer you take, and at that point, it'll be decided going forward. Or, if you wanna stop hitting (which, unless they force you to, you might as well keep at it), you can always make that choice too. As long as youre happy, thats all that counts.

[@benji614]

@@DanBlewettThank you so much, this really helped

[@joegeren8099]

Awesome job Coach

[@d1ddyp0p]

For me - don’t make mistakes because you’re behind in the count.

[@reallifeengineer7214]

Relief pitcher only pitch one round/inning? I didn’t realize that. I thought some relief pitcher do like the last 2 innings or so. (But I don’t that much about baseball)

[@DanBlewett]

relief can be any number of innings, most common is 1-3 innings.

[@moneymike7762]

What if both curveball and slider are good

[@DanBlewett]

they arent

[@brandonoliver7624]

@@DanBlewett scherzer? Jus curious ik not everyone is him but him Kershaw and others throw good curves and sliders

[@DanBlewett]

I discussed major leaguers throwing four pitches in the video.

[@brandonoliver7624]

@@DanBlewett my fault I probably shoulda waited til after the video to comment lol what are your thoughts about developing a cutter to help against lefties my fastball curve and change are good but I feel a cutter will help give lefties another thing to look at in terms of spin and movement direction

[@DanBlewett]

if you're in your 3rd year of pro ball sure. Otherwise if you cant get hitters at lower levels out, then your current stuff needs work and isnt very good. College and high school hitters stink.

[@noahdart4389]

Does arm angle matter? I am a lefty stretch-only sidearmer so

[@DanBlewett]

just matters how well you get people out

[@noahdart4389]

@@DanBlewett ok thx

[@nickjohnson3087]

@@noahdart4389 also though as long as you can keep your arm healthy side arming

[@ghostface9702]

I can answer this without watching the video lol. HELL NO. I used to be a starting pitcher in my last 2 seasons of little league and I SUCKED. I don’t have what it takes, I’m a first basemen and a 3rd basemen, nothing else

[@DanBlewett]

sorry.

[@ryanschickmusic]

You need top velo, nobody cares about the rest of your game or stats at the lower levels. Ask Mike Clevinger

[@DanBlewett]

Casey Mize, the first pick in the draft a few years ago, was not even close to being the hardest thrower in his draft class. So, no. You're wrong, not to mention walking too many hitters at any level means you cant go deep enough into games to be an effective starter. Use common sense before blindly accepting other peoples' ideas.

[@ryanschickmusic]

@@DanBlewett Mize was undrafted out of high school and it took dominating the SEC in order for MLB scouts to notice him. You're proving my point.

[@DanBlewett]

um no. You missed the whole point of this video.