A New Pitch and Dog Day

As the end of the season is approaching, one of my biggest goals is to maintain my health and arm strength. I have been focusing on my conditioning lately to keep my legs under me for the last part of this season. The conditioning also helps flush out my body and my arm. There is really only one way to keep arm strength up throughout a season, and that is by long tossing. Our pitcher’s throwing program has us throwing out to around 200 feet on the second day after we pitch. Lately, I have been trying to extend that and get out to about 260 feet. Today, my arm enabled me to throw a few from around 280 feet, which I think will be beneficial for the end of this season. I have been trying to really focus on keeping my flexibility and getting a good stretch during my long toss. Tomorrow I will throw shorter and finish off with a light flat ground to get ready for my start on Thursday.
Before I got my work in today, our pitching coach came up to me and told me that I should start working on a cut fastball. For some reason that pitch has been tricky for me to learn. During instructional league last year, Shawn Haviland and I would spend about ten minutes a day throwing it over and over again to try to perfect it. It seems as though he has figured it out lately, while it is still evading me. I can see the success Shawn is starting to have from the cutter and it has inspired me to start working hard on mine again. Pitching is all about missing the barrel of the bat, and a cut fastball is a good way to do that. Mariano Rivera has over 500 saves in his career, and he only throws one pitch- The cutter.
Trying new things to get better is a big part of the grind. Our organization wants to get everybody to the show and has a plan for everyone. If their plan is for me to learn a cut fastball to help me succeed at the higher levels, then I am willing to take on the challenge. As in any job, I have to continue to learn everyday on my grind to the top. “Don’t fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things.” Anonymous
Also, tonight was dog day at the ballpark and we were able to pull out our second straight victory. Dog day is always fun, and the fans were able to see Jake the Diamond Dog in action. Anyways, hopefully things are starting to turn around for the Cougars, and we can start picking up steam for the playoffs