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Tracking Faster Relief Pitcher


LittleBlue
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I was working a men's league game where the pitching is usually pretty good and it was no different this game. Both starters were living in the mid 70's, hitting their spots and well on their way to completing the 7 inning game. Top 7 HT starter gave up back to back base hits with the score 3-2 and was pulled for their "closer." The closer was touching 90 with his fastball and all of his breaking pitches were much sharper than the other two pitchers.

As I usually do when there is a new pitcher, I watched a few pitches from behind the catcher, but I noticed that I was noticeably late on my tracking. I knew he was throwing much harder than both pitchers and that I hard to watch the ball extra carefully, but I was just a fraction of a second behind. I was mad at myself because I knew a missed pitch could cost one team the game.

My question to you guys is how do you adjust to a pitcher who throws much harder and has much sharper breaking pitches than the previous pitchers, especially when it's both starters who throw about the same stuff? Am I getting too comfortable with the two starters and settling into a rythem?

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Your eyes move much, much faster than any fastball. So the idea of "adjusting" your eyes doesn't have much application.

This is about timing, and processing the information you need to get the call right. For a slower pitch, the information arrives in a certain time frame (a few hundred milliseconds). For a faster pitch, the same information arrives in a briefer time.

Your eyes have seen everything you need to see; the rest is processing and takes time. Your brain, oddly, needs longer to unpack the information from the faster data stream. So proper timing requires actually slowing down for the faster pitch. So slow down, give yourself time to process the data, and you'll be fine.

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totally agree w/ @maven 

Also ....... When I have a guy screaming at me (fastballs) ....I make sure I take a breath (exhale) as he's winding up, and just put his motion and pitch into "slow motion" with your eyes. You'll be surprised at how 'normal' the faster pitcher will appear.

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About a month ago I adopted doing what @maven and @thunderheads said, and I've found a huge improvement.  I slow down my timing, which kind of makes some players antsy, but I'd rather be slower than they like and get the calls right.  And when I settle in to my stance, I make a nice slow exhale and get patient.  Specifically focusing on my breathing has helped a lot.  It's tough going from a 13U game one day and a men's game the next, but the adjustment is easier for me to manage than it's been.

Edited by ElkOil
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I find that if I use the same routine every time, that includes - behind catcher, ready position, exhale on windup and into stance - watch the pitch, see the pitch, inhale, call the pitch (stay down on a ball - and stand on a strike) - then I notice the change in speed, but it doesn't effect timing. Timing is the issue here - the ball gets there faster, so your mind tells you to speed up. If I follow the same routine all of the time, then my mind and muscle memory keeps my timing correct.

My timing issues always seem to happen on the first 1 or 2 batters of the game, then the routine kicks in and I seem to be good for the rest of the game.

Edited by maineump
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I find that if I use the same routine every time, that includes - behind catcher, ready position, exhale on windup and into stance - watch the pitch, see the pitch, inhale, call the pitch (stay down on a ball - and stand on a strike) - then I notice the change in speed, but it doesn't effect timing. Timing is the issue here - the ball gets there faster, so your mind tells you to speed up. If I follow the same routine all of the time, then my mind and muscle memory keeps my timing correct.

My timing issues always seem to happen on the first 1 or 2 batters of the game, then the routine kicks in and I seem to be good for the rest of the game.

​Interesting ........

I had about 5 different pitchers on Saturday of all varying speeds .......it crossed me up a little .....now I think @maineump explained it :wave:

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the ball goes faster and you get amped up. And when you get amped up, the adrenaline gets pumping and your fight or flight instincts take over, especially when someone's shooting a small object at you from not-too-far-away. That's why you may flinch or bail. It's also why you want to keep up the pace and call the pitch quickly.

I agree with the breathing exercises. If you exhale, you're less jumpy.  

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The faster they go, the slower we go.  And, vice versa.

 

It applies when F1 / F2 are working too quickly (the extreme is a quick pitch, but it doesn't need to progress that far), and it works when the team is lollygagging, as we had in some "pace of play" thread recently.  It applies to our physical actions and to our mental processes.

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I was working a men's league game where the pitching is usually pretty good and it was no different this game. Both starters were living in the mid 70's, hitting their spots and well on their way to completing the 7 inning game. Top 7 HT starter gave up back to back base hits with the score 3-2 and was pulled for their "closer." The closer was touching 90 with his fastball and all of his breaking pitches were much sharper than the other two pitchers.

As I usually do when there is a new pitcher, I watched a few pitches from behind the catcher, but I noticed that I was noticeably late on my tracking. I knew he was throwing much harder than both pitchers and that I hard to watch the ball extra carefully, but I was just a fraction of a second behind. I was mad at myself because I knew a missed pitch could cost one team the game.

My question to you guys is how do you adjust to a pitcher who throws much harder and has much sharper breaking pitches than the previous pitchers, especially when it's both starters who throw about the same stuff? Am I getting too comfortable with the two starters and settling into a rythem?

​I was having the same problem, iI honestly chucked it up to seeing the zone but not yet owning it because I'm still newish. After reading this thread, tried out the exhale thing, totally worked for me last night on some pretty fast relief pitchers. I'll get a chance to try it out again tonight. Thanks for posting this. 

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Thanks for the exhale suggestion, I can't wait to try it out, unfortunately I have no games for the next few days as a few friends are graduating college. I'll try them out this weekend!

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The other key here is track it! Some guys blink or flinch when they see the heat coming and get quick. Relax your body and let your eyes follow it all the way to the glove.

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Today was my first plate since reading this thread. I always thought I was tracking the ball fine with any speed pitcher. never paid attention to breathing until today...HOLY COW!!

I don't know why, but tracking seemed to be so much better when exhaling on the windup. I literally saw every pitch hit the bat. Somehow it seems to give me a better "picture" of the ball crossing the plate also. Not to mention the unavoidable timing benefit from watching the pitch on the exhale, and inhaling before make the call. I never felt better behind the dish!! 

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Your eyes move much, much faster than any fastball. So the idea of "adjusting" your eyes doesn't have much application.

I was surprised by all of my umpire training, because as I recalled the science, hitters let the ball move through their field of vision rather than moving their eyes smoothly with the ball. 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3596397/#pone.0058289-Bahill1

​Read the discussion at the end of this paper.  Learned today from wikipedia:  A saccade (/sɨˈkɑːd/ sə-KAHD, French for jerk) is quick, simultaneous movement of both eyes between two phases of fixation in the same direction. 

----

Predictive saccades seem to play an important role in batting, though it is not immediately clear what that role may be. A number of previous studies have suggested that saccades may be produced because the ball moves too quickly to be tracked by the eyes [4], [6], [7]. Our data suggest that this is unlikely. The elite batters initiated saccades when the gaze-ball angle was low, showing that gaze was accurately aligned with the ball when the saccades were initiated. More importantly, the strikingly low head-ball angle highlights that the head itself was directed towards the ball throughout the majority of ball-flight. As a result, gaze would have been directed towards the ball if only the head were to move and the eyes were simply kept still relative to the head.

---

I suspect that I read a derivative of the linked paper's cited source,  "Why can't batters keep their eyes on the ball? American Scientist 72: 249–253", which suggests that the eyes cannot move fast enough to follow the ball and the eyes or head must jump ahead to where the person predicts the ball will travel. 

 

 

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Today was my first plate since reading this thread. I always thought I was tracking the ball fine with any speed pitcher. never paid attention to breathing until today...HOLY COW!!

I don't know why, but tracking seemed to be so much better when exhaling on the windup. I literally saw every pitch hit the bat. Somehow it seems to give me a better "picture" of the ball crossing the plate also. Not to mention the unavoidable timing benefit from watching the pitch on the exhale, and inhaling before make the call. I never felt better behind the dish!! 

The exhale is exactly to help you relax!  Just like any other athletic or stressful activity, the deep breath and exhale relaxes your body and 'blows the stress out' (scientific jargon there, :lookup) , unless you tighten up your body and/or you let you mind rush things.

 

Good job, hope you saw it better today.    

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Today was my first plate since reading this thread. I always thought I was tracking the ball fine with any speed pitcher. never paid attention to breathing until today...HOLY COW!!

I don't know why, but tracking seemed to be so much better when exhaling on the windup. I literally saw every pitch hit the bat. Somehow it seems to give me a better "picture" of the ball crossing the plate also. Not to mention the unavoidable timing benefit from watching the pitch on the exhale, and inhaling before make the call. I never felt better behind the dish!!

​Nice Rich - the exhale, like stated above helps you to relax. If you can relax your shoulders as well, then you can concentrate on the pitch, and not the cramping you get after a long inning/game. It can be like calling a pitch from your recliner.

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The only thing I would add to any of the above comments is this:

I allow my head to angle away from the batter by about 15-20 degrees. In short, right hand batter my head is looking more inline with "B" than directly at the pitcher...same for a lefty, I am looking more towards "C". This allows my eyes to track more freely from release to glove. Looking straight on sometimes your eyes don't want to follow as easily to the glove which if F1 is throwing in the 90's, some guys may start to drift to keep pace with the pitch. I have found this little adjustment allows me to track and not drift when the speed ramps up.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I will try exhale inhale concept next game. I was taught by a veteran umpire that one of his tricks to work on his timing is when the pitcher is warming up get behind the catcher and for the first 2 pitches pick the ball up out of his hand then close your eyes and (hope)

the catcher catches the ball then open your eyes see when the ball is this seems to slow me down on timing.

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