How to Create a Pitch Book

Pitching has long been recognized as the single-most important factor when it comes to winning and losing baseball games. Fans may love the home run and will react when they see a great fielding play, but pitchers who can throw the ball to the location they want with velocity and movement give their team the best chance of winning. When you coach pitchers, it is important to give them a reference on what each pitch does and have the reference handy so they can refer to it often.

Things You'll Need

  • Loose-leaf-type notebooks
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Create diagrams of the pitches that your pitchers will throw and include explanations on how these pitches are executed. Place these diagrams in a loose-leaf-type notebook. You will explain to your pitchers how to throw each pitch in a group and individually, but you should have a notebook in the dugout so they can refer to it easily. Each pitcher on your team should have his own book to reference.

    • 2

      Present detailed analysis of the curveball when creating your pitch book. This is one of the most difficult pitches to master. Make sure you indicate that the pitcher's index and middle fingers must be thrown with the laces and not across them. According to TheCompletePitcher.com, you must shorten your stride on the curve and lead with your chest; the elbow and back of wrist should face the batter upon release.

    • 3

      Enter a section on mental preparation when it comes to the job. Many pitchers will say that when they are throwing hard and have their good stuff, pitching is easy. However, most pitchers don't often have their best stuff. This is where psychology comes into play, and the pitch book must talk about how to attack the batter on these occasions.

    • 4

      Create a section on game plan preparation. Many young pitchers have no clue as to how to go about their business other than throwing strikes. That's not enough. You have to know when to go up in the strike zone, when to go down, whom to go inside against and whom to stay outside on. Your game plan section will give pitchers an idea on the best way to try to get an opponent out. At the very least, they will learn to think the game.