Category: Blogs

The MLB postseason is more than just an exhilarating display of talent—it’s a masterclass in the fundamentals of the game. With every pitch, at-bat, and play under a microscope, the smallest details become the biggest difference-makers. Pitchers aren’t just throwing—they’re executing precise game plans, hitting spots, and mixing pitches to outsmart hitters in the highest-pressure moments. For young players looking to elevate their game, watching the postseason is an opportunity to learn firsthand how professionals thrive by doing the basics right. 

In the postseason, management styles shift dramatically compared to the regular season. There’s little room for error, and every pitch is magnified. Starters are on a much shorter leash—managers aren’t afraid to have relievers ready to go as early as the first inning if they sense trouble. It’s not uncommon to see a starting pitcher dominate through five innings only to be pulled for a fresh arm, regardless of their pitch count. This heightened intensity forces pitchers to maintain pinpoint control because something as small as a leadoff walk can end their outing. It’s a relentless, chess-like approach where the best strategy is one that leaves no room for uncertainty.

That’s why it’s important for pitchers to execute the fundamentals. Those who can consistently do so are the ones who stay on the mound longer and give their teams a chance to win. Here are a few fundamentals that I have recognized this postseason as key contributors to doing so:

• Getting ahead of hitters with first-pitch strikes sets the tone, forcing batters into defensive counts and allowing pitchers to expand the zone
• Avoiding walks is crucial; free passes often lead to trouble, especially in games where every base runner is a potential game-changer
• It’s not just about what happens at the plate—holding runners close and disrupting their timing can prevent stolen bases and keep the defense in control

Just watching the first round of Wild Card games, you saw outings from Tarik Skubal, Corbin Burnes and Cole Ragans, who executed over 80% first pitch strikes and walked a combined two batters. Watch highlights from those outings because there is so much to learn from them.

I could go into all three of the pitcher’s outings, but Skubal’s specifically was an absolute masterclass. He executed four pitches for strikes early in counts allowing him to later expand with elevated fastballs or changeups below the zone with two strikes, keeping Astros hitters off balance. He also stood strong to his fundamentals in leverage situations, getting ahead and holding the Astros to only one hit in eight at bats with runners on base. It proves that pitchers who master these fundamentals are the ones who thrive, even in the heightened pressure of October baseball.

You also saw the opposite side of the spectrum hold true, even in smaller sample sizes. The Pete Alonso go-ahead home run against Brewers’ closer Devin Williams was set up by two separate fundamental failures: walking the leadoff hitter, Francisco Lindor, and giving up a two strike hit to Brandon Nimmo. While both of those mistakes would not be dooming by themselves, the Brewers were punished by Alonso’s home run and their season ended after that inning.

The MLB postseason is a showcase of the sport at its highest level, where the difference between winning and losing often comes down to a pitcher’s ability to execute the fundamentals. Watching how professionals handle these situations provides young pitchers with a blueprint for success. The postseason is more than just thrilling baseball—it’s an educational experience that reveals how mastering the fundamentals can lead to dominance on the mound and ultimately, victory for the team.

If you’re a pitcher looking to elevate your game by mastering these fundamentals, I can help you develop the skills necessary to thrive in any situation. Reach out to learn more about my coaching and how we can take your performance to the next level.

Baseball is a challenging game often defined by failure. Needing to master the mechanics of a throw/swing and execute them with high intent during a game makes consistency difficult. While developing tangible skills is demanding, there is a less visible yet equally crucial element: belief and trust in one’s abilities. Regardless of how refined a player’s skills are, a lack of confidence is the skill’s biggest limitation.

Mastering the fundamentals of the game is undeniably important. Understanding the mechanics of the throw, knowing the adjustments you need to make when something feels off and possessing situational knowledge of the game. Learning these comes from countless hours and repetitions with the intent to perfect your skills.

However, belief and confidence are the foundation for execution in baseball. Self-confidence and trust in one’s training and preparation can be the difference between success and failure. I’ve seen many pitchers struggle during games when trying to make an adjustment without confidence. The pitcher will make a mechanical error or miss a spot then, in an attempt to correct it, overthink the next pitch and hope what they’re doing works. While they may know the correct fix, their lack of confidence causes other parts of the throw to break down. 

Uncertainty disrupts the timing and flow of mechanics, leading to inconsistencies in areas that were previously fine. Hoping you will execute is not a strong enough belief for your body to move seamlessly. Full confidence and belief are essential for execution. Purely trusting your mechanics will allow you to perform closer to your best whereas performing with minimal trust or mere hope often leads to subpar results.

Utilizing mental training techniques will help address these psychological challenges. Visualization and positive self-talk are the most powerful tools for building confidence. By visualizing positive outcomes and reinforcing a positive mindset, pitchers can navigate their mechanics with fluidity and precision. 

This process doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. In my pitching lessons, I often implement simple yet effective strategies to help players build mental confidence. For example, I encourage players to take a deep breath and say “I’m the best” out loud before a rep. This brief, yet deliberate positive affirmation helps center their focus and alleviate any hesitation. While this may seem overly-simple, it has a profound impact on reducing nervousness and boosting self-belief. 

Another tactic I use is visualizing success, helping the player create a vivid image of performing successfully. For pitchers, this means visualizing the perfect pitch: feeling the ball in their hand with the ideal grip, working through their mechanics with balance and power, and seeing themselves execute the pitch perfectly. By practicing this mental rehearsal, the pitcher’s brain has seen and understood the blueprint for success. So when it comes to translating the mental image to a physical action, the execution feels more natural and less pressured.

By incorporating such straightforward techniques, athletes can significantly enhance their confidence and performance. The simplicity of these techniques is part of the strength, as they can be easily integrated into training sessions and daily practice without requiring extensive time or resources. The key is genuine belief in their effectiveness. 

Players who cultivate mental resilience and self-confidence can better navigate the pressures of the game and unlock their full potential. By nurturing both their physical and mental abilities, players will achieve greater success on the field.

Before the 2024 season, Joanna Hardin, the head coach of the University of Virginia (UVA) softball team, and her coaching staff asked me to help them identify essential Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that would enhance their chances of qualifying for the NCAA tournament. In 2023, UVA finished 59th in the Rating Percentage Index (RPI) and found themselves on the bubble going into the last weekend of the regular season. The highest RPI team to make the tournament last season was ranked 45th, meaning they were very close. My goal was to provide them with quantifiable statistics that they could use as targets to track their progression throughout the regular season and put them into the postseason conversation.

The Process

To start, I compiled data available publicly online, focusing on conferences that included schools ranked within the top 45 in the 2023 RPI. I collected all offensive, defensive and pitching metrics available. I repeated this process for the 2022 season but not for 2020 or 2021 because of COVID and its effect on those seasons. I decided that the two most recent seasons were the most comparable to the upcoming 2024 season.

From there, I ran individual correlation analysis between winning percentage and the statistics I gathered independently. While the goal of the analysis is based around RPI, correlating statistics to a ranking would lead to inconsistent results. The RPI ranking consists of multiple statistical components including a team’s winning percentage, strength of schedule (SOS) and their opponent’s strength of schedule. Out of those components, winning percentage is the sole statistic completely within the team’s control. 

I opted to assess winning percentage against per-game statistics to mitigate any imbalances stemming from variations in the schedule. Here were the notable results of the analysis:

Takeaways

Seven different offensive categories and four pitching categories showed a strong correlation during the analysis. Since runs determine who wins or loses, it makes sense that a majority of the highest correlating statistics are based around that. I found another statistic of interest: BB ratio. This statistic consisted of dividing walks taken by walks surrendered. My hypothesis is that teams who won the free bases battle would win more ball games. This statistic proved to have a moderately strong correlation. 

One interesting takeaway is the limited correlation between winning and fielding percentage. The lowest fielding percentage for a NCAA tournament team was .957, which was only .017 higher than Memphis, who was ranked at 226. While this statistic gives a very holistic overview of defense, it does not discredit its importance in any way. There’s more to a defense than “not making errors,” so this should be taken with a grain of salt. If I had access to more advanced fielding metrics, such as Outs Above Average, I believe there would have been a stronger correlation.

Another interesting takeaway is the significance of R/BR: Runs to Base Runners. This calculation divides the total runs scored by hits, walks and hit by pitches. I added this statistic because I wanted to tie getting runners on base and scoring. It’s one thing to get on base (OBP is a very important statistic), but can you score the runners? The best team’s the last two seasons were scoring over 50% of their runners that reached base, showing their ability to string hits together and put pressure on the opposition’s defenses. Struggling teams scored only 40% of their baserunners, making them more susceptible to strikeouts and weak contact. If a team gets 10 base runners per game, that’s the difference of one run each time out.

UVA Softball

After finding the statistics with significant correlations, I analyzed UVA’s 2023 performance against the 33 Power 5 programs in the top 45 RPI. While the correlation analysis was done against the winning percentage, the task was to find KPIs that enhance their ability to get into the NCAA tournament. Notre Dame, with an RPI of 45, was the highest ranked team to receive an at-large bid in 2023, thus setting the ceiling. 

Only using Power 5 schools speaks to the other two components of RPI: SOS and opponent’s SOS. Power 5 schools have a more comparable SOS across the board, primarily due to the strength of their conference schedule. The lowest SOS for a Power 5 school in the top 40 RPI was 46 (Indiana University), compared to a 172 SOS for a mid-major (Boston University).

Through this process, I was able to analyze and devise a set of KPIs for UVA. Using the correlation analysis, the KPIs and statistics provided proved to be consistent with what needs to be accomplished to reach the NCAA tournament. 

I conducted an extra analysis evaluating UVA’s performance against those KPIs from the previous season. This assessment highlighted their primary areas for improvement and outlined strategies for addressing them to align with the objectives set for the 2024 season. For instance, in 2023, UVA lagged behind by 0.5 runs in meeting the runs per game KPI that I had established. They scored around 44% of their base runners with the help of their team’s unselfish offense approach and fearlessness on the basepaths, exemplified by an impressive 99 stolen bases last season.

The primary focus for improving their runs per game lies in their ability to get runners on base. Getting on base consists of either collecting hits or free passes. Although they ranked 4th in walks per game in the ACC, the major potential for improvement lies in increasing their hits. A strategic aim to add just one more hit or walk per game, while maintaining the same efficiency in scoring baserunners, could position them perfectly to meet their KPI targets.

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In conclusion, the correlation analysis provided valuable insights into key factors that correlate to success. As UVA looks to make their push to the 2024 NCAA tournament, defining KPIs offer a roadmap for strategic improvements and targeted training. I want to thank the coaching staff of the University of Virginia for their collaboration and willingness to explore a data-driven approach. Their curiosity and openness to incorporating data into the coaching process demonstrates a commitment to excellence. I look forward to watching them succeed in 2024!

In my blog “The Art of Pitching,” I observed how the art of pitching has been disregarded with the rise in the culture of velocity. Throwing hard is not the end all be all. It reigns true time and again that pitchers who pitch win more than throwers. 

Pitching is a nuanced skill that goes beyond pure strength and velocity. It involves strategy requiring pitchers to learn how to execute their skills within the context of a game. Keeping hitters off balance, picking up the batter’s tendencies, and understanding the situation of the game are all skills that come with learning how to pitch. Here are four crucial steps that can help teach pitchers how to elevate their ability to execute.

1. Assessing the pitcher’s arsenal

Before stepping on the mound, it’s essential for a pitcher to assess their own arsenal of pitches. This involves understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each pitch in their repertoire. Start with the pitcher’s raw stuff: pitch types, velocities, movements, spin rates, and location in the zone. Rapsodo or other technologies are great evaluative tools, as younger pitchers often have misconceptions about the true spin or movement of their pitches. 

Evaluating the pitcher themselves is also important in understanding their arsenal. What is their A, B and C pitch? How confident are they throwing inside? What is their best off-speed pitch? A thorough assessment allows pitchers to play to their strengths and identify areas to improve, to help bolster their pitch arsenal.

2. Sequencing their pitches

Pitching is not just about individual pitches, it’s about the art of sequencing. The basics of sequencing is keeping hitters off balance through a combination of different pitch types, locations and speeds. The goal with each pitch is to make it more challenging for the hitter to anticipate the pitcher’s next move. 

This can be trained in bullpens by practicing different pitch combinations that would be commonly sequenced in games. Practice executing to both sides of the plate, throwing a fastball off of an off-speed pitch, or differentiating a two strike and a no strike off speed pitch. Incorporate pitch tunneling, where multiple pitches look similar initially but break in different directions late, making it harder for the hitter to anticipate. 

3. Start introducing pitching in different counts

Once the pitcher has understood the basics of sequencing their pitches, it’s time to implement additional context that makes the execution more game-like. Adapting a pitcher’s strategy to different counts is crucial for success on the mound. In advantage counts, we want to work on attacking more aggressively to get the strikeout. In hitter’s counts, we want to focus on locating pitches in the zone to avoid free bases. 

With the additional context, pre-set count bullpens are a great way to work on executing pitches that a pitcher might not be comfortable with. In advantage counts, focus on throwing a competitive elevated fastball or off-speed pitch in the dirt. Hitter’s counts are almost always an automatic fastball in high school, so work on building confidence in throwing an off-speed pitch or changeup for a strike. Learning to navigate different counts effectively adds a layer of sophistication to a pitcher’s game.

4. Test with simulated batters or live ABs

The final step is the practical application: testing the skills developed against simulated batters or live at-bats provides important feedback. The pitcher can gauge their progress, make real-time adjustments and build confidence in their ability to execute pitches in competition.  

Learning how to perform after failures and mistakes is the biggest test with live at-bats. Can they make adjustments off of a poorly executed pitch, reset their mind and execute the next pitch? Overall, this step bridges the gap between practice and game situations, preparing pitchers for the dynamic challenges they will face on the field.

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Being a legitimate pitcher goes far beyond having the raw skills. It requires a strategic approach and understanding how to maximize your strengths. Implementing these steps in your off-season and in-season bullpens will help refine your craft and elevate your performance on the mound. 

No two baseball players are the same. Players have different skill sets, come from a variety of cultures, and bring unique personalities to a team. However, there are certain character traits that all successful ballplayers share no matter their background. Ken Ravizza and Tom Hanson breakdown of this concept in Heads-Up Baseball really clicked with me.

They highlight three character traits that all successful ballplayers have:

1. Fun and enjoyment
2. Respect for the game
3. Pride and integrity in their work

I believe that fun and enjoyment is the most important trait because it sets the base. It’s the reason every athlete starts and keeps playing baseball. The younger version of yourself played baseball just because it was fun! You hung out with your friends, played games without a care in the world, and idolized the professionals on television. 

As the definition of fun/enjoyment changes throughout the years as the level of competition intensifies, successful players embrace it. If you don’t enjoy coming to the ballpark and putting the work in everyday, then your chances of excelling in baseball are minimal. There are many activities that are not exactly “fun”: 8am lifts, throwing in the off season when it’s cold outside, and taking the same repetition over and over until you get it perfect. The enjoyment of the game allows you to push yourself through those activities that you don’t want to do, but you need to do to excel. 

The second trait, respect for the game, takes on two definitions. The first is showing respect for the game through how you play. Chances are the player you respect the most is the one that respects the game. Every time they step on the field, they give it their all. They’re locked in for every pitch, at bat, and inning, ready for any opportunity that comes their way. Clayton Keyshawn, Ichiro Suzuki or Joey Votto come to mind when I think of players who respect the game. You don’t have to like them, but you have to respect the way they play.

The second definition of respect is recognizing that the game is difficult and committing to improving your skills. Like many things, having success in baseball does not happen overnight. Players that respect the game don’t waste their time or rely on shortcuts thinking that will get them to the finish line. Relying on quick-fix YouTube videos or “velocity hack” tips is not the way. You have to show up everyday with the intention of committing to the process and stacking days on top of each other.

The third trait that makes a successful ballplayer is pride and integrity in their work. Having pride in your work motivates you to prepare and play above your physical feeling that day. Take pride in your preparation and practice so you’re ready every single day. In Heads-Up Baseball, Pete Rose’s pride is used as an example. He was unbelievably consistent because he took pride in being the hitter he knew he could be everyday, and made sure that his practice was up to the standard he expected. This pride helped him put together a phenomenal 24-year career.

When it comes to the actual game, your pride and integrity goes into always playing hard. You know you worked to get stronger, faster, and develop new skills. And those skills deserve to be utilized to their fullest extent. Players with integrity recognize the hard work they’ve put in everyday and play to the level they’re capable of. If you ask yourself after a game “did I give it my all,” the answer should be a resounding yes, no matter how you feel physically going into the competition.

There are many other traits out there that make a successful ballplayer: leadership, mental toughness, composure, relentlessness just to name a few. Every player is truly different and will show strengths in certain traits over another. However, fun and enjoyment, respect for the game, and pride in your work set the foundation for all traits. Master these and you’ll give yourself the best shot to become the player you want to be.

It’s insane to see how the art of pitching is disregarded with the rise in the culture of velocity. I take in a lot of baseball – I’m a high school/travel coach who talks with other coaches and watches the MLB/college seasons. It’s my observation that the same story remains true year after year — pitchers that can pitch win more often than throwers. And for many younger players, learning how to pitch is not a priority.

Velocity receives so much attention across all levels of baseball, causing it to be singled out as the only way to grab eyes. It’s pervasive on social media. Pitchers just post their top fastball velocities from tournaments and showcases. College coaches recruit pitchers and bring in transfers that can pitch right away at high velocities. The same is true with pro ball where guys only get looks if they throw hard.

Why wouldn’t high school pitchers want to train for high velocity when it’s so glamorized? These pitchers want to throw as hard as possible and spin elite breaking balls because they think it equates to being a great pitcher. Don’t get me wrong, velocity and having good secondary pitches are very important to being a good pitcher. But it is far from enough if you want to be a great pitcher.

Velocity gets attention, but being able to pitch is what actually wins you ball games. Young pitchers need to realize how important it is to actually pitch. The two components of pitching are adapting to the game and working the strike zone. They have to know how to hold runners, pitch in different situations, and limit damage when innings go poorly.

Out of the two, working the zone is the most important component. It provides so many different looks that a hitter has to be prepared for. Reading a hitter’s swings, tunneling pitches, and throwing to all quadrants of the zone helps a pitcher stay in the game longer. Working the zone includes learning how to stay in the zone and pitch without your “A” stuff. Unfortunately, a byproduct of velocity-focused pitchers is a lack of control. Walks are killers. Walks halt momentum, losing the rhythm of the game for both you and the defense. Once a pitcher starts walking multiple hitters, their outings will be cut short.

I am watching a ton of postseason baseball and it’s obvious how important it is for starters to pitch deep into ball games. In 2022, teams were 21-6 when their starter pitched at least 6 innings, with five of those losses coming when the opposing pitcher also threw 6 innings. The same trend is present in the 2023 postseason, as we’ve seen multiple elite outings by starting pitchers in the first two rounds. 

These starting pitchers are working through stress, managing workloads, limiting walks, and collecting more outs for their team to limit the bullpen. Pablo Lopez (Minnesota Twins) is an excellent example with two great starts. In Game 2 of the ALDS, facing one of the most dangerous lineups in the playoffs, he worked all of his pitches throughout the zone. He also limited any opportunities the Astros had by walking only one batter over seven innings. Nathan Eovaldi (Texas Rangers)also had two outstanding starts against the Orioles and Rays, not walking any batters and allowing only three runners to get into scoring position combined across 13.2 innings.

Learning to pitch is the difference between being the pitcher your team just puts out there and a guy your team relies on in high pressure games. Great pitchers – high schoolers that pitch at the next level – want to be the one who takes care of business when called upon. Velocity and secondary stuff is important, but you’re missing out if that’s the extent of your focus on the mound.

If you want to be a competitive pitcher, you have to be able to throw inside to hitters consistently. Too many young pitchers neglect working a full half of the plate, limiting their overall effectiveness. Building confidence and having conviction to execute a pitch inside provides advantages that are necessary to be a stud pitcher.

Why are pitchers scared to throw inside? There’s two main reasons that pitchers are afraid to throw inside: they are afraid of hitting batters and giving up hits. Seeing the catcher set up so close to the hitter causes anxious thoughts to pop up in their head, creating  doubts in their ability to execute the pitch. The reality is if you throw inside, you will hit batters. That’s just an outcome you have to be okay with. There will always be negative consequences to missing a spot and hitting a batter isn’t the worst thing in the world. It hurts to get hit by a pitch, it leaves a bruise, and the hitter may be uncomfortable stepping into the box. 

It’s hard to hit an inside fastball. Reality check….hitters mostly hunt pitches over the plate they can extend on,  leaving the inner half more susceptible to missing their barrels. And even if they react to it and get extended, there’s a good chance they’ll pull it foul. By pitching inside, you’ll end up getting more jam shots off of the hands.

Why pitching inside is important.

Like I’ve alluded to earlier, pitching inside leads to a more uncomfortable at bats for the hitter. The hitter will just sit on pitches on the outer third if they know you’ll keep all of your pitches out there. Just throwing one pitch inside, decreases predictability to which location you might throw. Now the hitter has to respect the entire plate, opening up your ability to pitch outside effectively.

When hitters are aware of your inside pitch, you will have so many more options to sequence pitches by maximizing their effective velocity. Effective velocity is how fast the pitch appears when compared to the pitch that came before it. The location of the pitch changes how fast the pitch appears to the hitter because of how far they need to move their bat to make solid contact. Since a hitter has to meet the ball more out in front, an inside pitch’s effective velocity is higher than an outside pitch.

A fastball in has the highest perceived velocity while an off-speed pitch away has the slowest. If you sequence those two pitches together, the effective velocity will be significantly greater than if you threw them to the same location. This will force the hitter to react to a greater speed difference, throwing off their timing on your pitches. You could also do the same with a fastball inside and outside. Even though both pitches might be the same speed, their effective velocity is different because you could throw inside.

Lastly, consistently pitching inside shows coaches a level of maturity that not many high school or even college pitchers possess. At one point or another, all pitchers feared throwing inside. Learning to throw inside shows your capacity to build mental skills where others would succumb to the fear. It’s not a flashy skill, like increasing your velocity or learning a new off speed pitch…everybody wants to be able to do that. But if I’m watching a pitcher and they are throwing inside with confidence, I know that they have put work into the actual craft of pitching.

Building confidence is the name of the game to get better at throwing inside. Find a mechanical cue or a focal point on the catcher, and rep it out until you are confident when that catcher sets up right underneath the hands of the batter. Getting over that fear is a giant step in changing from a thrower to a pitcher.

Success is an ever changing definition that can be impacted in numerous ways and needs to be continuously reevaluated. I see many players get discouraged when they have a tough start to a game and they ride that disheartened feeling for the rest of the game. If you want to bounce back in those situations, you have to understand how and when to adjust your definition of success.

Baseball has many different levels of battles. In the view of a single day, the game is the war, aka the accumulation of all of the battles you’ll fight throughout the day. Going into a game, you’ll have goals set or definitions of success that you will use to evaluate your performance post game. As a pitcher, it might be throwing five innings or only walking two batters. As a hitter, it might be collecting two hits or not striking out.

To achieve your goals, there will be many smaller battles you have to fight. You will need to plan how you will execute those battles to be successful for that game. 

I see players become disheartened when they start to lose small battles and evaluate their success while the game is still going on. This deters their performance for the rest of the game. In this case, you have to understand that while you are not pacing to achieve your overall goals, it does not mean that you have failed. 

Your next step is to adjust your definition of success to the new situation, and put your focus on achieving your brand new goal. You may have struck out twice, given up three runs on the mound or made an error in the field, but there is nothing you can do about that anymore. You hear coaches and teammates say “forget about it” or “have short term memory.” While it can be annoying to hear, it is valid advice! The only way you are going to move past the mistakes is to create this new plan and commit to it with the full belief you can still be successful.

Let’s say you are a relief pitcher and you want to throw a scoreless inning, but the first three batters reach base and now the bases are loaded with nobody out. Realistically, you are  not likely to complete this inning without giving up a run, and thinking about that will only make you try to pitch outside of your capabilities. In this situation, you need to create an attainable, positive goal such as playing to give up only one run, or maybe even two. Attack that new goal, one pitch and one batter at a time.

If you are a hitter and you are 0 for 3 with three strikeouts, you’re not going to make up for those earlier at bats or your goal of notching two hits. Rather than letting your last at bat get away from you, adjust your goal so you have something realistic to fight for. Success in this at bat might be as simple as working a walk or catching a barrel. 

Re-locking yourself in, even when the game has been stacked against you, gives your team the best chance to win. At the end of the day, baseball is a team sport and whether or not you achieve your goals for the game doesn’t directly correlate to your team winning. If you mentally check out of the rest of your opportunities, it will negatively impact your team. If you save the evaluation of your goals for after the game, you might find something from your extra effort that you’ll be happy with.