As every coach should know, the best pitchers and catchers are those athletes who are connected mind and body. They can take instruction given visually by example, along with verbal reminders, and mental lessons, and the proprioceptive feedback of their own bodies going through the motions, then combine it all into a seamless performance.

So what we want to do is make sure every player who takes the mound or crouches behind the plate understands this process, so we start by breaking it down.


        •    You can vary speeds so that the hitter is unprepared for what's next.
        •    You can change pitch locations to keep the ball away from the bat.
        •    You can add movement so where the pitch ends up is unexpected.

Without such deception, pure power is predictable. Heat alone will not make a great pitcher. Calling only fastballs will not make a great catcher. And a coach who fails to understand this will not have a winning team.

Simple enough, but why doesn't it always work?


The first challenge to face in getting our heads around the new theories of batter deception is to accept where our thinking has currently stalled. Each of the next few lessons starts with an acknowledgment of the problem ...the way we think now. But how do we know that these misconceptions exist?  Because past survey results tell us so, and because even recent questions to WebBall reflect traditional assumptions that must be undone.


When we surveyed site visitors on the topic of perceived velocity, the graphed results showed only consideration of mechanical factors.

Was that the respondents fault? Not so sure. It might have been more in the way we asked the question — because WebBall was also focused on mechanics back then.

Even when we asked about movement (second graph), our emphasis was on the finer points of mechanics.

[To view the complete survey on "Perennial Pitching Questions", click here.]

Now, as we explain on the site under pitch grips, you really don't get movement without using the forearm, wrist and fingertips to generate ball spin in the right direction. But the bigger question should be...

While most voters who commented had lots to say about the mechanics, only one published response in 2003 addressed movement, and even then the comment was incomplete...

"With our 10, 11 and 12 year olds, the key is to have them throw strikes! Movement would be a plus if it was movement which was in the strike zone or was perceived to have been at some point, by the batter."

Very insightful, but as you'll discover in this series, there are other factors, other circumstances, which play into effective deception.