I agree whole heartily with the statement "good pitching wins ball games." After coaching young players and having the majority of winning successful seasons, the best season going 46 and 5, I have learned a lot about pitching.

Here are some of the great baseball pitching tips:

1. There are 4 basic important factors in pitching. Here they are in alphabetical order:

(1) Change of Speed - different pitches come into the batter at different speeds.

(2) Location - where the ball ends up both inside and outside of the strike zone as well as where the catcher catches of blocks the ball.

(3) Movement - of the pitch coming to the plate.

(4) Velocity - the speed in which the pitcher throws.

Can you (or someone you trust to work with your young pitcher) properly rank them in order of importance to effective pitching?

2. Many are absolutely certain that velocity is the most important factor in pitching. Those that do are absolutely wrong. Pitching is more about deception than speed. There are plenty of pitchers out there that can throw in the high 90s but you'll never see them if they do not have good "off speed stuff." How do you think Greg Maddox lasted so long and has been historically so effective?

3. Here is the order of importance of those 4 pitching factors for effective pitching:

#1 is Location - the pitcher must be able to throw the ball to the catcher both over and around the plate.

#2 is Change of Speed - this is the big factor in deceiving the batter and keeping the batter off balance. The best pitch that achieves this is the "change up."

#3 is Movement - having the pitched ball, with respect to the batter, move "in," "out," and "down." A few good pitches to obtain movement on are fast balls, change ups and curve balls.

#4 is Velocity - nothing like having a good, accurate fastball.

The information listed above is the foundation one must start with when approaching pitching and the coaching of pitching. The following is a list of more in random order:

4. All pitchers must start by learning a 4-seam fast ball. When thrown, four areas of the seam catch the air as it travels to the plate. This helps the ball travel straight and provides the most accurate throw with minimal movement. Some feel it is a rising fast ball but it really just maintains it's straight travel to the plate and does not drop. Your pitcher can grip the "C" looking section of the seams of the ball with the pointer and middle finger relatively close together and delivers it to the plate. The thumb is directly below on the bottom of the ball and leave a gap in between the ball and the palm of the hand. With respect to ball grip and the face of a clock, the pointer and middle finger are at the 11 and 1 o'clock position and the thumb is directly below at the 6 o'clock position (not at 5:30 or at 6:30). A young pitcher, due to small hands may need use the pointer, middle and ring finger to properly grip the ball, insuring that the middle finger is at 12 o'clock and the thumb is at 6 0'clock. Your pitcher must get good command of the 4-seamer before moving on to any additional grips and pitches. If you have access to a radar gun for your pitcher, now it a great time to........avoid it! Remember, velocity is #4.

5. The next pitch to learn is a 2-seam fast ball. This pitch helps give sinking action on the pitch as well as have it move in and out. The grip is performed with the pointer and middle finger over the parallel part of the seams of the ball with the thumb directly below the bottom of the ball in the area in between the pointer and middle finger. The pressure of either finger also help determine the movement of the ball.

6. Your young pitchers should be throwing nothing but fast balls until they are 11 or 12'ish. Can you guess the next pitch they must learn to effectively compete at baseball? The curve ball? Wrong! It is the change-up.

7. The change-up is the most effective pitch against hitters at any age. The reason is because the spinning of the change-up looks just like a fast ball, but the 10 mile reduction in "change of speed" causes the batters to be off balance. Now, you can break out the radar gun if necessary. It takes time to develop a good change up so don't wait until the pitcher is in their high teens for them to start learning it although, better late then never does apply to this pitch. The key to the change up is both the grip and fast arm speed action to the plate. The first grip to learn is accomplished by burying the ball into the palm of the hand with the first three fingers spread out on top of the ball with the thumb and pinkie cradling the bottom area of the ball. In comparing the grip to the face of the clock, the middle finger is at 12 o'clock, the pointer and middle finger are at 10 and 2 o'clock, and the thumb and pinkie are places at or about 8 and 4 o'clock. You can throw it as a 4-seamer and a 2-seamer. The 4-seamer will give you great location and change of speed. The 2-seamer gives you great final location, change of speed, and downward movement. The second key to a great change up, (after proper grip) is that the pitcher must throw it with the same arm speed that the fast ball is thrown with. The pitcher should not use a slower arm speed to slow the ball down because there is not any deception in that. The change up grip slows down the ball after being hurled just as fast as the pitcher hurls the fast ball. In that split second, blink of an eye that the batter has in determining whether or not the swing, the batter sees fast arm speed and "fast ball" rotation of the ball, immediately thinks fastball and the end result is being way out in front of the ball. You throw it at the middle of the plate and you want the batter to swing at it. A good change up causes the batter to slow the swing down which causes the fast ball to appear as if it comes in faster than it really does. That helps in keeping the batter off balance. Instruct the pitcher to throw "fast change ups." These "fast" change ups require the pitcher to still maintain that "fast ball" arm speed. Remember, it's the grip that reduces the speed of the ball not a slower arm speed. All of the different pitches your pitcher uses require the same arm speed. Loose fingertips while gripping andd throwing also helps in throwing the change-up.

8. The next pitch to learn is a curve ball. There is a lot of debate about when a child should learn the curve ball, and rightfully so. Why rightfully so you should ask? Because many coaches and kids do not how to properly teach and/or throw the curve ball. It really does not matter to me at what age they learn the curve ball. It just should be after they have mastered the fast ball, then change up and then the pitcher must be able to throw the curve correctly. It is so important to throw the curve ball correctly to insure a safe and healthy arm, I will not go into great detail in a paragraph to come near to teaching it. After learning the proper curve ball grip, there are two ways to throw and make the ball curve. One is the right way and the other is the wrong way. The right way will not hurt the arm. The wrong way will hurt the arm. The correctly thrown curve ball primarily travels from high to low and if thrown with the same arm action of a fastball results in a safe moving pitch. When correctly thrown, the spinning action is the result of the final flick of the wrist forward just as done with the final wrist flick of the fast ball. You can think of the same arm action as if you were pulling the cord on your window blinds to raise them up using your thumb and side knuckle of your pointer finger. The incorrectly thrown curve ball travels more right to left (if your pitcher is a right-hander) or more left to right (for a left-hander) and the spinning action is generated more so by the twisting action of the wrist and elbow resulting in future arm issues and lead to some serious elbow damage. An example of this incorrect curve ball twisting action is similar the the wrist and elbow arm action while screwing in a light bulb. All kids use the incorrect "light bulb screw in" curve ball when are "screwing" around throwing or warming up with their buddies. And unfortunately it works, but only at the expense of their arms. If you want your child to properly learn a safe curve ball, the safest way is with an experienced pitching instructor and not with this little paragraph, or by blindly trusting a coach, yourself or one of their buddies.

9. There a few reasons a change up can be more effective than a curve ball. A batter can easily recognize a curve ball by the rotation of the ball's seams appearing as a dot on the front middle of the ball. A change-up rotates and looks just like a fast ball. A big breaking curve ball not only fools the batter, but can also fool the umpire into calling a ball even though it traveled through the strike zone.

10. Never let your pitcher learn or throw a screw ball. It's too hard to properly teach and an easy way to screw up a good healthy arm. It involves the same arm action of "screwing out" that same light bulb used in the incorrect curve ball.

11. Never let your pitcher throw a split finger fastball with that 2:30 pointer finger and 9:30 middle finger grip that you sometimes see big league pitchers use because it reduces wrist flexibility and can quickly lead to elbow damage.

12. An effective pitcher requires a good catcher. A catcher target must show an open and early target before the pitcher starts the delivery to the plate.

13. Pitch to the catcher, never to the batter. That way it never matters or affects the pitcher when the batter "crowds" or "stays off" of the plate. If the pitcher is too caught up in pitching to where the batter stands in the box, a batter that crowds the plate can cause the pitcher to inadvertently pitch too many balls off of the plate, causing balls to be called by the umpire. And if the batter lays back off of the plate, the pitcher can pitch too many called balls inside and off of the plate. Both affecting the number one pitching factor, good "location." Pitching to the catcher and the plate results in good command of one's pitches resulting in good "location."

14. Trevor Hoffman, over 40 years of age, is a top "closer" and reigns as the all-time Major League record holder with over 560 total saves and is often referred to as one of the best closers in baseball history. He will most certainly be elected to the Hall of Fame. What is his best pitch? A 90+ mile per hour fastball like most closers? No, his best pitch is his change-up he throws in conjunction with his low to mid 80s fast ball and an occasional slider.

15. Velocity in pitching is not accomplished with a wide "closed" stride to the plate, one's hips and arm strength. The pitching "plate" or "rubber" is used as a starting point and not to be used in a big push off to generate velocity.

16. The best drill used in developing arm strength is the long toss.

17. Prior to a game, when all players line up in two rows for throwing warm ups, each player who also pitches should alternate their fast ball grip and change up grips to help create a good feel for the change up.

18. The worst "pressure statement" a coach, fan or player can relay (or yell out as customarily done) to a pitcher is "throw strikes" because the pitcher is only in control of 1 of the 3 factors that determine a "strike." The pitcher does not have full control as to whether or not the umpire will call a strike and the pitcher has no control over whether or not the batter will swing and miss or swing and hit a foul ball.

19. Coaches need to pay close attention to the number of pitches thrown by the pitcher in a game. The coach must be familiar and adhere to the Little League guidelines for recommended number of pitches based on the age of the pitcher.

20. A great pitch to follow a fastball pulled hard foul or fouled straight back is a change up. A great pitch to follow an outside pitch is an inside pitch. A great pitch to follow a low pitch is a high hard fastball.

21. Do not walk batters. Let the defense do their job. It's still a round ball and a round bat.

22. Learn and practice at least 2 pick off moves to each base.

23. The score alone does not determine the effectiveness of the pitcher. There is nothing worse then when the defense behind the pitcher causes batters to get on and move around the bases due to errors. This greatly reduces the pitcher's confidence and causes over-throwing to the plate resulting in high and way out of the zone pitches.

24. A side-arm pitcher does not cause any more potential damage to the arm as does a regular pitches so long as the side-armer leans down to the throwing side with each pitch. A side-armer, while giving a different look to the batter due to arm slot, does loose some advantage associated with normal pitchers who benefit from throwing the ball from more of a downward angle to the plate.

25. The statement "pitch over the top" is a common incorrect arm slot statement. Righties throwing at the 1 or 2 o'clock arm slot and lefties throwing from the 11 or 10 o'clock arm slot is much healthier to an arm than the 12 o'clock arm slot the "pitch over the top" statement is referring to.

26. A batter that crowds the plate is giving the inside part of the plate to the pitcher, and, a batter that stays off of the plate is giving the pitcher the outside part of the plate.

27. The poor attitude of the pitcher and/or catcher towards the umpire can sometimes shrink the strike zone. The more each sublty "show up" the umpire can reduce the amount of called strikes.

28. Buy a book or CD series to suppliment what you think you know about pitching.

I'll continue adding to this in the future as new baseball pitching tips come to mind.