WebBall.com - Pitch Sequence & Selection

Pitch Sequence & Selection

John Bagonzi Know everywhere as the Pitching Professor, Dr. Bagonzi is a coach, instructor, and the author of one of the most complete instructional guides to pitching ever published: The Act of Pitching. He has given Webball permission to reprint a number of his most important essays, but we highly recommend the book and the blog on his own website. While his main success has been as a coach, he was a very successful high school player and propect. He turned down the Boston Braves for New Hampshire where he was a standout both in basketball and baseball. Many of the pitching records he set at UNH --including five no-hitters - still stand today. In 1953 Coach Bagonzi signed a bonus contract with the Red Sox, as a pitcher. However, an ROTC obligation waylaid his baseball career. During two years in the army, he pitched many games at Fort Jackson against professional and major league players. He had a curveball that many said was the best in baseball, and after serving he resumed his career with both Red Sox and Cubs organizations, but injuries and family obligations ended his playing days - though they have given everyone a great, great coach. (Click to close.)

By Dr. John Bagonzi (edited for WebBall by Richard Todd)

Key Thoughts

Pitch selection is an art and a science. When pitch selection is right, the batter is being controlled.
Being careless with the inside pitch can be dangerous. Pitch inside when the batter's ahead and pitch inside when behind in the count, but the absolute essence is to get ahead in the count.
A poor pitch thrown in the correct location can often still get a batter out.
The count always has to be considered. Batting averages go up when pitchers are behind in the count. The first strike drops batting averages drastically.
The maxim should be 'THROW FEWER PITCHES'. The most important pitch is 'STRIKE ONE!'

Effective Approaches

There can be as many as twelve (12) approaches to effective pitching, possibly more. Follow a sequence that fortifies your particular style. Obviously the choice of a knuckleball pitcher's first pitch will be totally different than that of a power pitcher's first pitch.

For example...

North-South pitchers (those with a great breaking pitch) might start fastball inside, then fastball or curveball outside, curve away, the fastball up and in (assuming good control). Uses your breaking pitch (curve, splitter) to intensify and set up your fastball. Don't be coerced by the catcher into a location, location type approach, or everything low.
East-west pitchers start with a fastball low inside and a slider away on the second pitch is a viable way of establishing a useful pitch sequence.
Change of pace pitchers need to take away the rhythm of good hitters by establishing a change-up in the sequence of pitches early to make batters aware of difference in speeds early in the count.
Low ball pitchers can establish a sequence where successive pitches are thrown lower.

The twelve likely styles of pitching basically emanate from the three hard core approaches:

Power
Moverment & Location
Changing Speed

A sample sequence

A pitcher with conventional pitchers such as a fastball, curveball, and change-up could conceivably employ the following pitch sequences and selection in getting hitters out. These sequences are based on ideal control and are four-pitch oriented. Obviously this is utopian, but it is a style that pitchers should strive for. Obviously, it involves good control and being able to fulfill the corresponding locations.Getting the first pitch over for a strike facilitates these approaches.

FIRST SEQUENCE Pure Location	Fastball low Fastball high Fastball out of strike zone Fastball down
2ND SEQUENCE Challenge and Fade	Fastball in Repeat fastball in Fastball up and in Curveball outer part
3RD SEQUENCE See-Saw	Fastball up and in Change-up down Fastball up and in Curveball down
4TH SEQUENCE Away, away and in	Fastball lower outer half Repeat fastball lower outer half Curveball away Fastball up and in
5TH SEQUENCE Living on the outside	Fastball outer half Curveball low and away Fastball in Change-up low and away
6th SEQUENCE Down and out	Curveball low Fastball outside Fastball in Change-up low outside

[Editor's Note: This chart designed for a pitcher with a typcal mix of fastball, curveball and change-up. Obviously the better each pitch in power, control and location, the better the results. Also, each pitch itself must be managed - velocity, amount of rotation, tailing action, etc. Dr. Bagonzi explains all this in greater detail in his book. Sequence names added by WebBall.]

Other thoughts

Some pitchers should call their own game because they are quite cerebral about the pitching process. Pitch selection is creative and while many pitchers entrust pitch selection to their catchers - this probably is facilitated by a veteran catcher. For some it is more about location that it is selection.

Pitching should be as simple as it can be. Keeping batters from sitting on a 2-0 and 3-1 count or seeing first pitch fastballs going down the middle should be an obvious event. The average hitter will be out 2 of 3 times and throwing strikes makes positive things happen. The control pitcher should master a change-up so that when behind in the count they can throw a change-up or throw the fastball low.

Reader Commentary: WebBall members are invited to comment.