Throw Strikes

Especially in life, the best advice is to always get ahead in the count.

Never tell a pitcher:  just throw it down the middle. 

If I had a dollar for every time someone told me this advice, as an amateur fast pitch softball pitcher, I would be a millionaire.  Take it from me, it doesn’t help.  Better, if you must say anything, encourage the hurler to throw strikes. 

 

Now you might think, what’s the difference.  Just getting it over the plate often means those pitches are far too easy to hit and will mean that eventually the hitters will dominate you.  Throwing strikes means throwing pitches your opponent can’t hit solid and gives you a better chance to get them out. 

Here are some other random baseball phrases that coaches, teammates and players shout out to pitchers:

-Throw the dark one.               - Throw something funny here.           - Pull the string. 

  

All three of these sayings mean you want the pitcher to throw an off speed pitch.  Remember, as soon as someone yells these secret code words, the hitter hears it too.  So, I would refrain from helping the opponent. 

-Paint the corner. This is great advice. When you keep the pitch on the corners of the plate it makes it harder on the hitter.  If the pitcher has the ability to do this, he can be quite effective, however if he misses he will walk everyone and their brother.

-Keep it down in the strike zone.  More good advice because this usually causes the hitter to hit ground balls, and if your defense is any good you will throw less pitches.  Less pitches means you can go longer in the game and potentially win the game.

-Hit the mitt.  This is some of the best advice.  When you hit the catcher’s mitt often the umpire will call this a strike, if the catcher is set up in the strike zone.  Take it from me, sometimes when you just throw and stop thinking about it you make out a lot better.

-Let your fielders help you out.  It is always good to let the pitcher know he is not alone and does not have to win the game himself. 

-Some days you get the bear and some days the bear gets you.  This excellent advice came from a fellow pitcher who told me this after I pitched miserably and my team lost by over ten runs.  He simply put into words that sometimes you just don’t have your best stuff, shrug it off and try again next time. How true.

I guess where I am going here is, that like in baseball, the best advice we should give to people is the encouraging kind.  Sometimes, I think a hand on the shoulder, a hang in there, or I’ll be praying for you, is all that is needed.  It is the equivalent of just throwing strikes, when we say just keep doing your best, accompanied with  a simple smile.

To throw strikes in life really just means to work smarter, along with working harder.

Swavel