Baseball Pitching Speeds - Important But Not A Deal Breaker

When it comes to being an effective baseball pitcher, there are several points of view on how heavily baseball pitching speeds factor into the equation. And when you carefully consider those arguments, you come to the conclusion that although speed is an
important component, speed differentiation and location can be just as critical.What do I mean by speed differentiation and pitch location?

When I train young pitchers, one of the most difficult lessons for young players to understand is that being an effective pitcher long term is not dependent upon how many strikeouts one records. Pitching, at its core, is about fooling the batter. If that results in a
strikeout, that is great, but more often than not, even if the batter does not swing and miss, they will more than likely hit the ball weakly, allowing one of the infielders or outfielders to record an easy out, which in most cases helps the team just as much as a strikeout.

So how do we take advantage of baseball pitching speeds to fool good hitters. We can do two things; we can change speeds frequently to keep batters off-balance and supplement the changing of speeds with varying locations. Some of the best pitchers of all time, based purely on traditional baseball pitching speeds standards, would be considered slow. However, their ability to effectively vary their pitch speed and location made them virtually unhittable, and established them among the greatest pitchers of all time.

Speed ranges for a fastball, curveball, slider, change-up, or any other pitch will vary from pitcher to pitcher and depend on their level of play and their arm speed. What will not vary and a constant for everyone is that speed variation for anyone who pitches is a function

of their very best fastball. In other words, when assessing a pitcher's effectiveness, one should start with the speed of their very best fastball and then measure the variability in speed and overall effectiveness of their secondary pitches in relation to the best fastball. It
is certainly possible that even someone with an average fastball can be an effective pitcher at any level if their secondary pitches are sufficient to keep good batters off-balance.

Remember, a batters perception is reduced when various pitches are delivered with fastball arm speed without actually being fastballs. Lets take a look at some of the more popular baseball pitches, and the commonly suggested speed differentiations between them. These are the optimal velocity ranges for change-ups, curveballs, and sliders, based on a pitcher's best fastball, without regard for their age or natural ability.

• Best fastball to best change-up - 17-20 mph slower
• Best fastball to best curveball - 13-16 mph slower
• Best fastball to best slider - 9-12 mph slower

The important thing to remember is that pitching is as much of an art as it is a science. For those who are willing to refine their tools, whatever their level, and apply them in a smart and effective way, success is achievable. A final consideration is that the harder the
thrower, the less variation in speed is required. For those who would be considered slow throwers, greater variation in their baseball pitching speeds will unquestionably lead to greater success on the mound.