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These links are all great baseball sites. But remember your way back to learningbaseball.com PopUp Quiz with Quips 'n' Quotes from this site. Below is a link for my convenience, but you're welcome to visit, of course: _______________ | One big thing for Little Leaguers coming up to 90-foot baselines and 60-and-a-half foot pitching distances is pitching when there are runners on base. Now runners can take a lead, and they don't have to wait for your pitch to cross the plate before they move. So often in the beginning of Junior League seasons you'll see runners who are learning to lead get picked off, and pitchers learning to pick off having a balk called on them. Knowledge and concentration are all that are required to make sure you are not the one feeling foolish in those situations. Practice is the way to develop both knowledge and concentration. The
Stretch Position - When you have runners on base
you need to change to the stretch delivery. The quicker you can throw
strikes to the catcher the less time a runner has in stealing. You should
practice from the stretch position to gain confidence for when you need to use
it, and practice your pick-off move from different points of your
delivery. Notice that the mechanics are basically the same for the windup and
stretch positions. Only the first 2 of the 8 listed are changed because by
"mechanics" we mean physics, the physical
laws that determine the most efficient movements in obtaining the greatest
velocity while maintaining control. Pick-off
move to first - As mentioned above, you should
practice your pick-off moves from various points of your delivery. Keep in
mind that your primary objective with any pick-off attempt is not to actually
pick the runner off, to get her out, but to shorten her lead. It's only
that "lead-limiting move" doesn't sound as confident or thrilling as
"pick-off attempt." If you rush the move thinking you're going
to get the runner out, you're more likely to over throw it. Just throw it
to your 1st to keep her closer to the base. Occasionally you may make a
pick-off move just to mess up the batter's rhythm.
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