More has to be said about pitch speed, but consider for a minute that — as with eye line — the speed that matters is what the batter perceives. It's relative, not absolute. That's the point of the previous pages and the thinking behind the new discovery of "effective velocity".

But why should this matter to the pitcher and catcher? Because what you're really trying to do is throw off the batter's timing. And there's more than one way to do that...

        •    Make him swing early or late because he misreads pitch speed.
        •    Move the location so he misinterprets the velocity.
        •    Change the pitch in some way that he hesitates before swinging.
        •    Add late movement so he must change bat direction mid-swing.
        •    Get him off-balance so he puts less body behind the swing.

There is such a thing as an optimal swing of the bat, the one that transfers the most energy through the body to the barrel such that the contact point with the ball imparts the greatest possible rebound velocity to the ball. Every item in the list above is intended to avoid that optimal contact. It's all aboiut messing up the batter's timing.

Remainder of this page - including detailed lesson and illustration - available to paid Team Player members only. Please login or join.