Baseball: Baseball Pitching Grips
Baseball pitching grips are a crucial factor in how a pitch is thrown. If youre not practiced, it can feel like youre putting your fingers in strangely unnatural positions. Like everything with pitching, it takes practice and strength. The muscles in your fingers have to build up, just like the muscles in your pitching arm.
It helps if you have big hands, but it is not a requirement. Ive never seen Randy Johnsons hands close up, but Im sure they are scary. I bet he could palm a medicine ball. Then again, Pedro Martinez is small and slight and hes a mighty fine pitcher. Those two pitchers may be unfair examples as they are the rare breed who can throw 95 miles per hour or above.
For those of us who cannot throw lights-out, it is necessary to master baseball pitching grips and changing speeds. Then you can become a nibbler like Greg Maddux. Speed is not everything. If you have a good curveball, it can throw off the fiercest hitters. Even Maddux says that the hardest baseball pitching grips to master are the curveball and slider.
Mastering Baseball Pitching Grips
A curveball can have as many as nine pitching grips. It is not only a case of how you snap your arm. Using nine different pitching grips is like having nine different pitches! The main thing that can hurt a pitcher is if the batter knows whats coming. He might be thinking curveball, but which curveball? Most beginning pitchers do not know that pitching is about a lot more than throwing a ball over the plate.