Teaching Kids How to Pitch

I want to start by letting anyone know that I can teach pitching at the 101 and 202 levels, so if you're looking for someone to show you multiple change-up grips or how to properly throw a slider, I'm not your guy. However, within that basic understanding I have of pitching and fundamentals, there are a few things that I really think youth coaches need to work on and develop with their young players. All of what I'm about to share is done with the understanding and belief that a coach is prioritizing arm care and focusing on the fundamentals of pitching, and not having kids overthrow or get constant live reps versus batters in the offseason to work through this.

Pitching all starts and ends with the fastball. If a kid cannot consistently throw a fastball for a strike, their career on the mound is likely to be very short and/or very frustrating. At the younger levels from 9-12, throwing strikes is key and the top priority. However, as the kids age and mature, throwing strikes becomes more of an art and a craft. Unfortunately we are now living in an era where kids and coaches are obsessed with velocity, and less focused on effectiveness. A kid could give up 3 hits and 2 walks in an inning and the first thing they want to know when they get back to the dugout is how hard they were throwing. Velocity gives a kid extended opportunities to continue pitching and on the radar of colleges as you get older, but if you cannot consistently throw strikes or locate your fastball most coaches will give up on you or hitters will tee off on you.

So how do you help kids throw more strikes? At the youth level, we always had our kids pitch with someone standing in the batters box. The kids weren't in the box to swing, but they were there for pitchers to get comfortable with someone standing in the batters box. A couple of things are common among very young pitchers when they throw off a mound during the offseason with no batter in the box.

1. They tend to just go through the motions and throw their pitches rather quickly without focus. What good is it to have a kid throw a 35 pitch bullpen if they're not working on something? If you want to build up arm strength and stamina without a goal in mind, just have them throw 35 balls into a net. 9-10 year olds will do what a coach tells them, but they rarely understand why they are being told to do it unless it is explained or they are properly coached.

2. They tend to develop different mechanics when they are suddenly put into a situation with a live batter if they're not used to throwing with a kid standing in the batters box. Some kids will throw 5-8 MPH slower when there is a kid in the box because they're afraid of hitting someone or their so focused on just trying to throw a strike. How many coaches complain about a kid that throws hard and nothing but strikes in the winter, but can't throw strikes in a game? Did you ever think about making an adjustment in practices to help the kid out, or do you just send them back out there after following the same routine each week and expecting different results? If a kid can't throw strikes in a game, have them pitch with someone in the batter's box off to the side at practice that isn't going to swing and let them build up confidence.

The next step once you have kids that can consistently throw strikes when they're facing hitters is to work with them on location. There are so many kids I see on PBR with fastball velocities that excite college coaches, but when they face good hitters they get knocked around. They have all of the measurables in terms of size and velocity, but they have mediocre numbers in game competition. I attribute this to kids not being able to locate their fastball or understanding the importance of being able to locate their fastball. Throwing strikes is one thing, but are you throwing quality strikes? Another thing I have noticed is that most kids have no clue how to pitch inside, or they are scared they might hit someone. Hitters today are preached to stand right on top of the plate at the youth levels because they have no fear of being pitched inside. They are essentially taking the outside corner and making it into a center cut pitch because pitchers don't know how to pitch and locate inside on hitters. So here are a couple of things that we have done over the years to try and help our pitchers develop the ability to throw quality strikes and pitch inside.

1. When the kids reach the ages of 13-14, they need to understand that often times throwing the ball down the middle of the plate does not typically end well unless you throw in the top 5% of other kids your age in terms of velocity. However, when I observe most off-season bullpens I see catchers setting up down the middle of the plate and never moving around. You are essentially training and repping your pitchers to throw the ball right down the middle of the plate. Once the pitcher is loose, the pitcher should be telling the catcher where to set up so they can practice and rep hitting the corners. The catcher should be setting up right on the corners early to give the pitcher a focused target in the winter.

2. Not all work with locating pitches has to be done off the mound. Pitchers can work on their fastball command while playing catch. When our kids were young, we used to bring them in to pitching distance and tell them to make 5-10 arm side pitches to their throwing partner, and do the same to the glove side. You cannot expect kids to get enough consistent mound time reps, so you need to incorporate this into your sessions of catch.

3. Force your kids to learn how to throw inside. The only way kids can learn how to comfortably pitch inside to hitters is by throwing inside to hitters. Having a kid develop arm side command does no good if they're not able to do it when there is a hitter in the box. Starting at 13, once our pitchers were loose we had a batter put on a helmet, their fielding glove, and stand right on top of the plate like most young hitters do nowadays. The pitchers were then expected to throw right below the batters hands. If the ball was too far inside that the hitter couldn't avoid it, they could catch it with their glove. This allowed our pitchers to feel comfortable throwing a fastball inside without worrying about hurting anyone. They were trained on where to throw inside, so if you hit a batter it wouldn't hurt them. Conversely, when working on throwing to the outside corner we would put a kid in each batters box. They had to learn to hit the corner without just giving away a pitch in the opposing batters box. Quality practice helped develop quality pitches.

4. Teach them that it's ok to hit kids. I am not condoning or endorsing going out and head hunting or trying to injure your opponent, but really good pitchers establish the inside corner, and they do it early in a game. If a pitcher consistently moves kids off the plate or hits a batter that is diving over the plate, the message spreads quickly in the dugout. You never want to injure a player or put a guy on base, but hitting a batter that is diving over the plate will generally make them more susceptible to the off-speed and pitches away as the game progresses.

It takes some kids into their early high school years before they are able to consistently pitch inside. Some kids never feel comfortable and never reach their full potential. As the kids are developing their ability to command the fastball inside, they are learning how to effectively throw off-speed pitches for strikes as well. This comes with the same amount of bullpen reps and controlled environments as above. You can't expect kids to throw curveballs for strikes it if is not repped in a controlled environment and then with a person in a batter's box that is not going to swing a bat.

On top of learning how to throw and locate their off-speed pitches. Kids need to learn that every strike doesn't need to be in the strike zone. As soon as a kid learns how to throw a good curveball and locate it effectively, they should be taught how to locate that pitch out of the strike zone. I cannot tell you how much easier it is for a hitter to hit a curveball when they are down in the count and they A. know it is coming, and B. know it is going to be in the strike zone. I've seen so many pitchers give up hits or solid contact on an 0-2 or 1-2 curveball because they haven't been taught how to pitch or don't know how to locate their curveball outside of the strike zone or they only throw it when they are ahead in the count. If a hitter doesn't have any fear of a pitch being inside off the plate, worry about a breaking pitch that starts in the zone and leaves it, or a pitcher being able to spot a fastball when ahead in the count, they will always have an advantage over the pitcher regardless of the count. Pitchers must be taught how to throw curveballs in the dirt, so here is how we would work on that with our younger guys.

1. The kids that can consistently locate a curveball, now spend part of their bullpen bouncing curveballs. The catcher is told that pitcher is going to bounce the ball. This works in tandem so they can work on and improve their blocking skills. The catchers also learn which way those pitches will tend to bounce when blocked. We would give our pitchers a point to aim or hit just in front of the plate or behind the plate, even going as far as putting a mark down for them. This gives them an idea of where to throw, because most young kids don't watch enough baseball on their own to understand what a coach means or what he expects when he's asking a kid to bounce a pitch.

2. If you're calling pitches, don't stop calling for curveballs because the kid can't locate or bounce it early in a game. The only way kids truly get better is with game reps. Too many coaches will watch a kid throw a few off-speed pitches the early innings and automatically rule out that pitch for the rest of the game or only go to it in very favorable counts. If a kid is struggling with their off-speed command early, a good coach calls for it more frequently to allow them to work through it and trust it. If a team can eliminate a pitch from the start of a game, it is likely not going to be a very successful start for that pitcher anyways.

3. Praise kids in a game when they bounce a pitch for a strike, but it isn't blocked. Every catcher is not going to be able to block every pitch, so it is unavoidable that a pitcher is going to make a great pitch and runners will advance or a kid will reach first on a dropped third strike. That is okay, and all part of the growing and learning process for pitchers and catchers. If you're a coach that calls pitches and suddenly stops calling for a curveball in the dirt with a man on third, then you're not making your catcher any better and you're setting your pitcher up for failure. Trust your kids to execute if they have been taught and prepared, and if they don't then praise them for the right thought process. Giving up a run or losing a game when they're still learning how to pitch properly isn't the end of the world.

4. Don't throw the same breaking pitch two times in a row. Too many times kids or coaches get a swing and a miss on a breaking pitch or watch a kid awkwardly take a breaking pitch, so they come right back to it. There isn't anything wrong with the pitch selection, but chances are a good hitter is expecting that pitch again. Good pitchers know that if they're doubling up on a breaking pitch that the second pitch should not be the same as the first. If the first curveball dropped in for a strike, the second one should be bounced. If a hitter swung and missed at a pitch down and away, throw the next one even further off the plate to see if they'll chase. If they chased one in the dirt the previous pitch, see if you can buckle them with a front door breaker. Too many kids don't understand that if you throw the same breaking pitch back-to-back you help the hitter get a read on your out pitch if it is the same exact pitch.

The last bit of advise I would give to coaches working with younger pitchers is to relinquish the reigns of calling pitches as they approach and enter high school. I never understood why high school and college coaches feel the need to call every pitch. I understand that some pitchers and/or catchers don't know how to think the game and set up hitters, but how will they learn if they're never taught or given the opportunity? What do coaches teach and work on during the offseason? Too many coaches resort to throwing live bullpens with hitters because it is simplistic, but it doesn't do much for the pitchers who should just be trying to get work in and improve in the offseason. Hitters do tee work and hitting drills to get better, so why aren't pitchers allowed that same controlled environment?

The purpose of playing travel baseball is to develop kids, yet I still see some coaches at a high level calling pitches. When we would call pitches as the kids were 13 or 14, after the inning we would walk the pitcher and catcher through the thought process of why we were calling those pitches in that sequence. We worked to teach them in that moment, so they could start processing information and seeing how to set up hitters or read swings. We also allowed them to explain what they thought would work or if there was a pitch they wanted to throw more or less. It didn't mean we always went along with the kid, but we valued their input and explained why we kept calling for a pitch or needed them to trust the sequence we were calling for. Eventually by the end of our 14u season, most of our pitchers and catchers did a great job calling their own game. Now they were set up to succeed in their high school years. They also learned how to trust what was working for them and correct what wasn't during a game.

As a former pitcher, I knew what was working and what I'm comfortable throwing. The last thing I wanted was a coach on the sidelines telling me how to attack a hitter. As a pitcher, you're the one on the mound reading the swings and knowing how your body is feeling. If you haven't been able to consistently locate arm side and your coach is calling for an inside fastball, that internal lack of confidence usually results in a ball being left out over the plate. Too many times I watch a kid struggle to locate their fastball, but a coach keeps calling for the fastball behind in counts. If a kid falls behind 2-0 in a count after missing on 2 fastballs, why would a coach call for a third one? Let the kid on the mound and catcher call their own game.

Their can be some exhausting moments in the dugout going through this process. From a coaching perspective, it is extremely frustrating watching a kid not have the mental awareness to throw another fastball after a kid was late on the first two, or to watch them leave an 0-2 curveball up and out over the plate for a kid to get a base hit. It can be equally as maddening to watch a kid rely solely on his fastball against a good hitting team just because he isn't overly confident in locating his curveball or he thinks because he's throwing really hard he can just blow it by kids and end up getting knocked around. It's aggravating when you see a kid throw a 3-2 curveball and walk a kid when you're up by 3 runs. All of those things make a coach want to take the reigns back and call pitches. Yet, as a coach it is your job to teach the kids when they walk off the field what they could do better. Ask the pitcher and catcher what they were thinking with pitch sequences. Let them explain their thought processes. It is a proven fact that you learn more and have a deeper level of understanding any topic when you are asked to explain things to others. Give your kids the opportunity to fail, and then have them explain why they did things the way they did. As a coach, you might learn a lot more about your players by doing this than by controlling everything. It also teaches you exactly what you need to teach and show them.

Communication is the key as a coach at any level, so why don't coaches visit the mound and talk to their pitchers much during games? So many times I see an opposing kid struggling on the mound and getting into a very predictable pattern, but instead of a mound visit to talk things over the coach simply comes out to remove the kid. When you see a kid struggling with something or you are not on the same page as them with their pitch sequencing, go out there and tell the kid what you think they should do or how they should approach the next batters before things go south on them. You get multiple mound visits in a game, so use them. Teach kids in the moment, so as they grow and develop they can rely on those experiences and moments to make themselves better.

If you still like to call pitches, let kids shake you off. Make it clear to them that they have the ability to do this. Give them that power and then discuss the situation immediately after they come off the field if they are shaking you off. Often times you learn about the mental makeup and guts some of your kids have in those situations. You learn what pitches a kid really has confidence in and how they like to get hitters out. It takes courage for a kid to shake off their coach, and that is the same courage it takes to pitch against a talented lineup. As a coach, I like seeing that confidence and swag in my pitchers.

Another great thing about letting your kids call their own game is trying to play the guessing game along with them in the dugout. As a coach, if you're sitting in the dugout guessing what your pitcher is going to throw in a situation, you know the batter is trying to do the same. Their have been countless times where I have thought that I would throw one pitch in a certain situation and the kid on the mound does something different. And guess what, it usually works out. The reason why? Because the kid felt confident throwing that pitch in that situation. He made that decision with confidence and conviction. He wasn't told to throw a pitch that he might not have wanted to throw or had as much confidence throwing in that situation. It is really fun when you see your kids out think you as a coach and get positive results. It is further affirmation that you've taught them well growing up and that you don't need to hold their hand as much anymore.

So how and when should you start allowing kids to call their own game? For us, we started letting kids do this in spots at the 14u level, but it depended on some circumstances.

1. Do you have a true number 1 catcher that you know understands the game? This is the type of kid that really knows his pitchers and how to read hitters. This is the type of catcher that will go out to the mound and talk to his pitchers without a coach telling them to go out there. This is the type of catcher that knows you have to work kids inside and out. They understand that you have to change eye level and pitch speeds. This is a catcher that pitchers know will block a ball in the dirt. These catchers aren't common, but they essentially become the quarterback. Often times it is the catcher who learns how to call a good game before the pitchers. Those pitchers know they can trust their catcher because they've thrown to them for years.

2. KYP - Know Your Personnel, or in this case, know your pitcher. Kids mature at different times and have a lot of maturing to do in middle school, so don't set up an immature kid to fail. If you know that the game speeds up for a kid on the mound when guys reach base, you probably don't want him calling his own game yet. If a kid gets frustrated when he thinks he's not getting the borderline calls from the umpire, or if he gets easily flustered when mistakes are made behind him, you probably don't want him calling his own game before high school. Also, some kids just do not have the baseball IQ around 14 to call their own game. It's not a knock on them, it just becomes a focus area as a coach to educate them and coach them up.

3. Can a pitcher command multiple pitches? If the answer is yes, then give them the reigns to learn how to use those pitches in the way they want to attack hitters. If you have a kid that is still learning to control their off speed, it might not be the best idea to let them consistently throw 2-1 curveballs and fall further behind in counts, or get kids down 0-2 and then give up a hit on a curveball strike because they only feel comfortable throwing off-speed in predictable counts.

4. What are the game circumstances? At 14u, you still can find yourself in situations where the talent level between teams is somewhat vast. If you are up big, let your catcher get some experience calling his own game. If you feel comfortable that you're better than your opponent, let your pitcher call his game from the start. It is a perfect opportunity as a coach to see how they do without you calling pitches and an opportunity for you to communicate and teach them between innings.

5. How engaged are your kids? If you have kids that love the game of baseball, letting them call their own game only enhances that love of the game and engagement. If your kids love baseball and want to love it even more, give them the power to take more control and ownership over their performance and results. If you're calling pitches as a coach, they'll always have somebody to blame for poor results. If you let them call their own game, the only person responsible for their success or failure is staring at them in the mirror. This will make them reflect on their own pitch selection and sequencing.

Like I said from the start, when it comes to pitching, I think I've got the basics covered and I've learned a lot over the years. I definitely feel more comfortable when it comes to the pitching side of the game than hitting. As someone who has been able to coach a team that plays at some of the highest levels of travel baseball, it is so frustrating seeing kids with really good arms that don't know how to pitch and coaches that struggle to develop them. I understand why college coaches gush over velocity, but I know that any of my guys that pitch will be able to step onto a college mound and compete from Day 1, while some of these other higher rated kids will struggle and be forced to play catch up. We don't have a ton of kids that are going to wow you with the radar gun on our roster, but our kids know how to pitch and will stand out in their high school programs and the next level because of their advanced understanding of knowing how to pitch. As a youth coach, do everything you can to set your kids up for future success on the mound. Having kids that can PITCH at a high level will allow you to compete against any team on your schedule.