How to Get Control of a Fastball

To be a successful pitcher, it is imperative that you learn to control your fastball -- and not just during a bullpen session. After you have practiced countless times to ensure that your overall mechanics are correct, you need to learn how to control a fastball in the pressure of a game situation. A coach can only make three trips to the mound to point out where anxiety has eroded your mechanics. You need to learn how to self-correct.

Things You'll Need

  • Baseball
  • Catcher (for practice)
  • Pitching coach (for observation and correction)
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Instructions

    • 1

      Reevaluate the following four aspects of your delivery if you are missing high, as some part of your delivery is causing your pitching hand to be late. Double-check to ensure that you are not rushing or, as Coach "Spanky" McFarland describes it, "running out from under [your] arm." Second, assess your shoulder tilt to ensure you don't look as if you're "throwing uphill." Your third check should be your stride to assure that you are not overstriding. Last, stand tall. Be certain that you are not "collapsing the back side."

    • 2

      Reevaluate the following two aspects of your delivery if you are missing low, as some part of your delivery is setting your pitching hand too early in the delivery. Double-check that you are not understriding. The most common cause of this abbreviated mechanic is a too slow leg lift. Try to speed it up a little. Second, assess you baseball grip. A common reason for missing down is squeezing the baseball too tightly.

    • 3

      Pitching to only one side of the plate is common and requires a bit more evaluation of possible errors. These are usually not the kind of errors that you can spontaneously self-correct on the mound. Instead, correcting these mechanics will require a lot of practice time and some observation and correction from your coach. Pitching to the arm side of the plate only usually results from one, or a combination of, four errors: throwing across the body, spinning the pivot foot, over-rotating the upper body or positioning your head away from the target.