The Pitching Clinic: A Handbook For Players and Coaches

John Goodspeed
A thorough, precise, copiously illustrated book on how to pitch baseball

Book Description
A must-have for players and coaches from Little League level and beyond, here is a complete guide to baseball pitching, covering grip, footwork, and other pitching mechanics, fastball technique, and advanced pitches such as curves, sliders, cutters, changeups, knuckleballs, and more.

About the Author
John Stewart pitched professionally at the AAA level and is currently a scout for the Atlanta Braves. The author of The Baseball Clinic, he lives in Granville, New York.

Excerpted from The Pitching Clinic by John Stewart. Copyright © 2002. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Whether you are the occasional baseball fan or a major-league manager, there is one thing that you can certainly agree on: Pitching is the single most important part of baseball. A team cannot win consistently without good pitching. All coaches will tell you they never have enough pitching and are always looking for more. Pitching, although complicated, can be taught. There are some basic mechanics that must be mastered, but any players who have some arm strength and a willingness to listen can become good pitchers. The following pages will explain in detail the do's and don'ts of pitching through pictures and diagrams. After you understand the basics, it is very important to practice the mechanics and master as many as possible. You don't need to master all the mechanics to be a successful pitcher, but the more you can master, the better you will be. I will bring this point up more than once in this book, but I cannot express strongly enough the importance of throwing the fastball. Seventy percent of balls thrown by a pitcher should be fastballs. The young pitcher--age 13 and under--should throw nothing but fastballs. Off-speed pitches are very straining on the arm; young pitchers have a very high probability of arm injury if they attempt off-speed pitches. Let's get started. And the best way to start is at the beginning.


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