For years, nothing has “wowed” the crowds quite like a fastball coming in at 70mph+. There is no doubt that a pitch thrown that hard (by the likes of Monica Abbott, Rachel Garcia, and Montana Fouts for example) will turn the heads of every Power 5 collegiate program in the nation. If you also have total control over the location of that 70 mph+ pitch, like Abbott, Garcia, and Fouts do, you have the potential to be one of the elite. But there are VERY few pitchers who will ever be able to hit 70+. So the new kid in school that is garnering all of the attention is “the movement pitcher.” And not just any movement pitcher, the one who amasses swings and misses with regularity. And creating true movement on a pitch (that will cause many hitters to swing and miss) is a skill that any pitcher can learn.

I want you to read that last sentence again: “Creating true movement on a pitch (that will cause many hitters to swing and miss) is a skill that any pitcher can learn. “

The episode was released after my last blog, so I broke it down for you below to make it easy to listen to the best parts. A lot of this will seem quite familiar to you, since I borrow most of DePauw University’s material for pitching school :) Guess where I got the idea of “The game of 5?” and “The Hit/Miss game?” Listen to find out!

If you have followed some of my blog articles in the past, you may remember that my cousin Erica, Head Coach at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, is also a former high school and collegiate pitcher like myself. She and I have a lot of great conversations, especially surrounding pitching: development, fundamentals, coaching, training, recruiting. Erica was interviewed by NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) Director of Education, Joanna Lane

Is one of your biggest struggles getting your daughter to practice? Are you having trouble getting yourself to practice with her? Do you want to teach her to be independent and take initiative on working hard? Would it be better if she could sacrifice her current comfort for her future success?

The preseason is the second phase during your training year. If this seems like news to you, you might have missed the first phase: the offseason.

The offseason takes place October through December. Its’ when you add to your pitch repertoire, increase strength, and make big mechanical changes. It’s like gathering the ingredients for a cake, as Cheri Kempf says in her book, The Pitching Edge.

We are currently in the preseason session. It goes from January through March. It’s when we take all the ingredients we’ve gathered and “bake” them, forming them into something edible. A pitcher will work on endurance and accuracy, making minimal changes to her mechanics.

Let’s say your daughter decides she wants to be a pitcher. She’s really going to put the work in this time. Unfortunately, she’s pursuing this position later than all of her teammates. In fact, everyone else has been working hard at pitching for 2 or 3 years. She’s quite far behind in all aspects including accuracy and speed. She doesn’t know any movement pitches.

However, your daughter ends up growing to like it more than you thought she would. She’s doing all the practices, going to every pitching school class, and even getting some innings in her house league.

In fact, she’s so into this softball thing that she’s going to try out for her high school team. She wants to go all-in on softball and quit her other sport. She’s so excited that by the time she gets to high school her “like” for pitching turns into love.

You know something she doesn’t, though.

Three weeks earlier I was teaching a clinic of 8 and 9 year olds in Chicago and I said, “You have to be brave when you pitch and in life.  I am brave because I just quit my job to be a pitching coach and teach you ladies full time.”   “What?!!! You did???!!  Wait.  You get paid for this?”

Tonight at 7 p.m. we’ll be releasing an interview I did with Wright State Head Coach Laura Matthews and DePauw University Head Coach, Erica Hanrahan (yes, we’re related) in a live Zoom meeting. How good does a player need to be if she wants to play in college? How fast? How accurate?

Maybe there’s even a bigger question - why would i want to play softball in college, anyway?

Both stressed the importance of having at least one thing you are exceptionally good at. Coach Erica calls it your “Wow!” factor. Coach Matthews said at the very least, have enough command to work both the inside and outside of the plate. You can’t get stuck on one side.

What’s your WOW factor? When you go to a camp or play in an exposure tournament, what will make you stand out from the crowd? Is it….