Other lesson series and pages on this webite explain the mechanics of pitching and catching, the training approaches to prepare you for innings on the mound or behind the dish, even the types of pitches there are and how to throw them. But there's another aspect to throwing pitches and catching them that is seldom if ever explained — and it has to do, not only with the strategy of pitching, but the ultimate objective of every confrontation between defense and offense. Your job is to fool the batter.


Until recently there was little understanding of what actually worked — or why. Now we know better — or we have the chance to know better — because recent research into pitcher-batter match-ups has helped us realize some new truths about how batters react to pitches.

What follows is a series of lessons that, first, explains why deception existing, then leads to practical application - what you can do as a pitching-catching battery to take advantage of the batter's perceptions. The lesson list will continue to grow as the series is published in stages.