Minnesota Blizzard Baseball

1. Believe in the philosophy and execute your plan.

We are better than you. WE are better than YOU. Everyone's philosophy is different and composed with a combination of things, but it is best described as: Guys who aren’t scared to throw any pitch in any count. Guys who aren't scared to locate a fastball an inch inside of the plate. When we pitch too comfortably, AKA trying to only put your fastball in the middle or outer half of the plate all game, good hitters recognize that, and will jump on it unless you're tunneling all of your pitches perfectly. 

Be completely committed to the pitch that is called or do not pitch. “It is better to throw the wrong pitch with conviction, then the right pitch with doubt.”

Any of you have ever played golf, and before your shot, you tried to imagine where through that blue sky your ball was going to go? Well, I hate to say it, but golf and pitching are two of the only movements in sports where you are stationary up until the moment until the ball leaves. That's what shadow pens are for.  

Shadow bullpens are dry-reps on the mound, where you go through 1-3 innings and visualize 2 things. One inning, or one batter, is going to go exactly to plan. The next inning, or batter, will be some adversity smacking you in the mouth. If you don't practice failure on the mound, how are you supposed to deal with it when it comes? This is how we control our body language as well. Shadow bullpens are tools to help you prepare for your outing, and the possible adversity you might face. Similar to golf, pitching relies heavily on your mentality as you get older. 

 

To summarize my philosophy in 3 points:

 

1. Committed -  The wrong pitch thrown with conviction is ALWAYS better than the right pitch thrown with doubt. 

2. Consistent -  Be repeatable. Know your own body. Be able to throw fastballs to both sides and changeups down, with conviction. You do not have a pitch unless you can consistently throw that pitch for a strike at least 60% of the time. 

3. Aggressive - You dont take it to me. I take it to you.

 

2.  Control the Pace of the game. 

 

Every pitcher must understand that controlling the pace of the game is a huge advantage. We have talked about how to work quickly and steadily when things were going in our favor, and how to slow it down when things started to go astray. 

• AKA: Your RESET 

The importance of holding runners on - time to home: A good to average time to home is 1.25 and below. Anything over a 1.3, and we are losing ground for your catcher to be able to throw a guy out.
 

3. Attack the Strike Zone.

You will throw a bad pitch. And you will occasionally give up a hit, but you must keep going right at the hitters in the strike zone. Once you are ahead in the count, you may throw a put away pitch, trying to strike him out. If you are unsuccessful in getting him to chase, you can go right back to attacking the strike zone.

 

4. Understand that your Routine makes you successful.

Your routine is what you do every day to get ready for your next outing. It is NOT just what you do for your hour before the game starts. Your routine starts when you wake up.

Come up with a pre-game routine, an in-game routine, a pre-pitch routine, and a post-game routine. Routines make one comfortable and confident, and comfort and confidence gives you a better chance for success.

 

5. Always have positive body language.

We talked about how others feed off of your body language. Both your teammates and the other team respond to how you act, so always act like you are in complete control of the situation and that you will get the job done. This demonstrates that you have confidence. It instills faith in your teammates and fear in the competition.

 

6. Learn to Focus.

Focusing is a skill, not something you are born with. Every skill must be learned and practiced to become proficient at that skill. Recognize when you are focused and remember how you got there. Then practice getting to that state of awareness on each throw in practice. Learning how to focus in practice is how you learn how to be focused in games.

 

7. Have the ability to constantly make adjustments.

Adjustments are things that will always be a constant. The only thing that is certain is change. Every mound is different. In fact, every mound changes as the game progresses. Every umpire has a slightly different strike zone and many will, either consciously or unconsciously, adjust it during a game. Adjustments on the pitcher’s part come as a reaction to a missed pitch. You can’t adjust to something if you do not know what to adjust from. So adjustment must be practiced. Which is what I have been preaching to a lot of you over the past year and a half. We have to know what went wrong when we missed a pitch, cause I am not going to be behind you to tell you what happened.

Throw your drills to different targets (AKA taping two or multiple X’s onto parts of the plyo wall and hitting a different X every 2 throws), throw from different distances, and throw off different mounds. This will help you keep developing the ability to make adjustments.

 

8. Demand perfection of yourself on “the 10%.”

Referring to the 10% of the game that is not throwing the ball over the plate. 

Activities such as fielding your position, covering first, picking off runners, backing up bases, putting on plays, catcher’s signs, etc. I have seen many players loaf at these things during practice, and it always comes back to bite them in the rear. Don’t let a mistake in one of these areas cost your team the game. Always give your best in the 10% areas. Make yourself do them right every time.