Rapsodo – Painting Corners Blog

The 80% Rule

As a pitcher, it’s hard to make mechanical adjustments in a game, especially with the increase in stress that comes with competition. The game moves fast for those that don’t know how to slow it down, so you end up trying to make adjustments at a faster pace than you are used to. The only way to reset yourself is to slow the game down, but what does that actually look like?

The rule that I emphasize to pitchers is to lower their intensity to 80%. I believe 80% is the perfect balance of establishing your pace while keeping a competitive edge. Lowering your intensity does not mean you are losing focus or throwing 20% slower. For most players, the difference in velocity from their perceived relaxed 80% and tensed 100% might be a mile or two. The goal is to regain a consistent flow and rhythm in your mechanics.

By lowering your intensity to 80%, you give your body time to feel fluidity through each point in your mechanics, from your leg kick to release. Instead of rushing to throw the ball, you can feel more relaxed in the load phase. The looser you are when you load, the more energy you can build up. Once you are able to regain a full range of motion, you can start gradually kicking up the intensity gradually to 100%.

The 80% rule is applicable when a new stress is presented that pushes you out of rhythm. It’s when you have that “the game is moving too fast” feeling. If your solution is to try to catch up to the speed of the game at 110% or 120%, you will lose consistency. Your body will start to tense at points in your mechanics that do not require tension to match the quicker pace you think you need. This opens up flaws –shortening your delivery, rushing down the mound, or putting more stress on the arm – because you are working at a pace that your body can’t handle.

A common time pitchers need to use the 80% rule is in the middle of a strenuous inning. However, one situation that doesn’t get enough attention where the 80% rule is applicable is the start of a game. The first inning is one of the toughest innings for a pitcher, as they are entering a completely new environment.

No matter what your bullpen or warm-up pitches look like, once those first batters step into the box it’s totally different. Too many pitchers feel good in their bullpen, then jump into the game at 110% and walk the first two batters. Rather, they should treat the first batter like the new stress it is and utilize the 80% rule right from the beginning. Focus on finding your pace, feeling loose and smooth through your mechanics. Find the rhythm that works for you to settle into the game as early as possible. It might take a few pitches or even a batter to make this happen, but that first batter presents the lowest stakes of your entire outing to settle yourself in.

The 80% rule is even more important to a relief pitcher, whether they have a clean inning or are coming in during the middle of an inning. Treat that first pitch or two as your chance to find your rhythm. Obviously, as a reliever, you want to execute right away. The best chance you have to execute is in a familiar, comfortable rhythm. Once you find your rhythm and feel confident at 80%, you can start kicking up your pace to 100%.

The 80% rule is all about taking control of something you can control: your own pace and your mechanics. Instead of trying to think through complicated changes in a game, get your head out of the way. Take a deep breath, relax your mind, and let your body do what it knows how to do.

Utilizing Technology in Recruiting

As a high school baseball player with aspirations to play at the next level, you need to go through the process of getting yourself on the radar of colleges. While the means of getting recruited have changed, the concept is still very simple: you are trying to sell yourself to a coach that you fit their program. Consider yourself a sales person selling yourself to the buyer, which is a coach.

You want to provide information to the coach that answers their questions of why you should be in their program. There are many different markets to sell yourself to, which are the different programs that are looking for certain metrics/data in order to find their players. The more relevant and in-depth data you provide, the more likely you are to hear back and move forward with the recruiting process.

When I was trying to sell myself back in 2015, there were very limited resources I could utilize but I used every single one. As a pitcher, my emails to coaches consisted of my pitching velocity, height, weight and an iMovie quality recruiting video. At that time, I was using the same tools everyone else provided to coaches in order to be competitive with other baseball players trying to sell themselves in the same market.

Jumping ahead to 2021, sales techniques have evolved dramatically. The evolution in sales techniques for recruiting is due to the emergence and mass availability of data-collecting technology, such as Rapsodo, Hitrax, Blast, Pocket Radars, etc. You can now find these tools at training facilities and colleges across the country, so why not utilize them for your recruiting? Chances are other athletes fighting for that recruiting spot are doing the same thing.

There are many benefits to adding data gathered by these tools to both your recruiting messages and emails. Primarily, it gives the coaches a ton of your data at their fingertips without having to gather it themselves. As a pitcher, you can provide your pitch velocity, spin rate, spin efficiency, vertical and horizontal movement all attached to a video referencing the pitch. As a hitter, you can provide your exit velocity, max distance, bat speed, and so many more metrics. Now, without even having to watch you play, they have a feel for your base metrics.

This leads into the second benefit – the coaches’ familiarity with all of these metrics and technology. Coaches have a lot of experience utilizing these tools within their own program. As a result, they know the metrics and qualities that they are looking for when recruiting. While sending a coach your pitching velocity with a video of the three pitches you throw can be okay, sending a Rapsodo report of multiple bullpen sessions provides a lot more useful information for that coach to utilize. By comparing these qualities to the data they’ve seen from players in their conference or in their program, they can determine if you are fit for their team.

Overall, providing relevant data from these credible tools will grab the attention of coaches. While they will still need to watch you play in person and contact your current coaches to get a feel for the type of player you are, utilizing these tools is the most effective first step in reaching out to a program you’re interested in. Recruiting continues to evolve with the increase in technology, so in order to maximize your chances to play at the next level, your recruiting strategy must evolve too.