Total Reading Time: 5 minutes

Happy Monday! Today we’re going to jump right into figuring out your pitcher’s development plan for the fall/season, and steps for setting your standard and getting everyone to uphold it.

So Let’s Go!

How Do We Prioritize Their Development?

Fall’s here and for most of you, bullpens have started. After you’ve given yourself time to watch all your pitchers and probably taken some baseline metrics on where they all are, it’s time to get to work.

But, where exactly do you start, and how do you prioritize the developmental path each pitcher needs to take? First off, let’s define some terms. When people say “pitcher development” or “development” or pitch development” - we’re all just using the cool terms for “growth plan”. As in, how is this pitcher going to “grow” over the period of time...in this case, the fall.

The list of areas that a pitcher needs to grow can be overwhelming. Just some of those things might look like:

And this list is times every pitcher you have - it can be overwhelming. And when we get overwhelmed we tend to lock up and do nothing.

So, let’s look at a couple of things that will help you make the right decisions when it comes to creating a path for the growth of each of your pitchers - aka, for your pitcher development 😂

Let’s take them one-at-a-time:

• Each Pitcher has Different Areas to Develop - Sit down and really give a detailed look at each pitcher individually - like a piece of a 21-out puzzle - and map out what each one needs to improve, add, or overcome in order to make her puzzle piece stronger or bigger. Keep in mind that “get healthy” is an actual development item so if that makes somebody’s list, be sure to be specific on how you’ll make that happen. Each Pitcher is Different.

• Limit the Things to Be Developed to Ensure They Get Developed - This is probably the most important thing. If you have too many things on each pitcher’s list you’ll run out of time and get overwhelmed. Stick to the KEY couple of things that can realistically be accomplished by THIS pitcher THIS year. Limit the List.

• Be Specific to Ensure you Can Target the Path Toward Development - Once you get your limited list, be as specific as possible. For instance, instead of trying to get more velo on her riseball your pitcher might have more success if she can improve the command of her riseball to both the inside and outside quadrants/locations, thus being able to throw it to both RHH and LHH. Get Specific.

• Tie Improvement to Impact - As you evaluate each pitcher and narrow down your list of what needs to grow & develop, be sure to tie those things to impact in a game. What can help this specific pitcher increase her impact this season…Is it being more effective to RHH? Or expanding her outs from 6 to 9? Or improving her changeup to throw when behind in the count? If you can’t tie it to her impact, then don’t waste your time doing it. Tie Her Improvement to Impact.

• More Isn’t Merrier - Keep in mind that the items on the list might sound simple but the work you have to put into each item isn’t. For instance, something as simple as “Add 3 mph to her Riseball” sounds simple and makes you want to add a bunch more things, but the reality and work you’ll both have to put in just to add those mph’s is enormous. Less is More and More isn’t Merrier.

Getting Everyone to The Standard

Your bullpen is back together for the first time and you’ve probably got some new faces. If you’ve heard yourself utter “that isn’t our standard”, or something to that effect, it’s time to ensure everybody knows what your Standard is.

We often get “Standards” confused with performance, but a Standard is actually the behavior that you expect and will accept.

The Standard includes:

• The Behavior You Expect When the P’s & C’s are in the Bullpen

• The Behavior You Expect from your P’s & C’s when they’re at Practice, at Conditioning, in a Meeting, in Class, on Team Travel…

• The Way You Expect Them to Practice:

  • when do you expect them to get to practice?

  • how do they wear their practice gear?

  • do you expect them to setup equipment and put it away?

  • what mindset do you expect them to have during bullpens?

Performance is something different than Standards. Standards are behavior, Performance is execution.

You might also lay out what you and your coaching staff have agreed will be the Expectations of your pitchers during games. Things like:

• Throw Strikes? (pretty general)

• Throw Competitive - or - High Value - or - High Quality Pitches? (and what do those mean - and HOW WILL YOU MEASURE THESE THINGS?)

There are lots of things you can add clarity to during the early fall that will really help calm the anxiety of your new pitchers, as well as reinforce what things matter and how “we’re going to do things here”:

• Reinforce the Value each pitch by each pitcher, not who gets the most volume or who throws the most innings, or against the biggest opponents.

• Reminder that having a “standard” is necessary by everyone (coaches), but what is it to you, to your head coach, to your staff? Get together and make sure you’re all the same.

• Workload won’t be even.

• Roles won’t be even.

• You’re all pieces of the same puzzle (21 outs/game), but all pieces aren’t the same size. All pieces are critical but not all the same size.

• Value each pitch by each pitcher, not who gets the most volume or who throws the most innings, or against the biggest opponents.

Thanks for reading this week’s Curveball Chronicles. I hope it helped give you some insight to help your pitchers, and to give yourself some encouragement, knowledge and grace.

Go make this a Great week!

Missed some previous issues? Don’t worry, I’ve got them all on my website: https://pitchingcoachcentral.com/curveball-newsletter/