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"I’m not getting any faster and she is faster than me."  These two phrases are widely spoken and way too often believed by young pitchers today.

Teaching pitching is 10 percent fundamentals and 90 percent psych training on pitchers who believe speed is the only ticket to success. No one will argue that speed is a valuable asset for a young pitcher, and it is most certainly impressive to watch pitch after pitch smoke past a batter. Speed alone, without any additional pitch selection, can be just as much a liability as it is an asset.

There are a couple guarantees when it comes to pitching, but one in particular stands out:  You will get older, and getting older means moving on to more competitive leagues.  If you relied on that good old fastball, then do worry; you have been blowing it by the batters for years, it will see me through another year, or will it?

Batters have the same obvious guarantee; they also move on to more advanced competition.  Just like pitchers, batters have coaches, and they are teaching them how to hit the fastball.  The over-powering fastball that put a pitcher in the limelight for years now has new competition…better trained hitters.  For every pitcher that works hard on the champion fastball, there are several batters honing their over the fence skills. The famous champion fastball of the past soon finds the champion bat of the future.

The best friend a pitcher can have is named variable speed.  Today’s batters have improved their bat speed, and throwing them constant speed pitches plays directly into their game plan. Variable speed, coupled with a champion fastball, is a starting recipe for maintaining a lead on the improved hitting skills of toady’s batters.  Mixing in variable speed forces the batter to make additional judgments during the trigger and execution of the swing.  This extra step in the decision-making process can delay the swing response time of the batter.

What is variable speed?  Your ability to pitch in your speed range, not just your top speed.  A variable speed pitch can be an off-speed, curve, drop, or any pitch that takes the right amount of speed off to get the ball to break, or get the batter off balance.  Understanding variable speed pitching will improve you movement ball.  Good pitchers know the relationship between speed and spin.

Impairing the judgment of the batter, no matter how slightly is a crucial talent for a pitcher to possess.  Half swings, check swings, or even a slower bat speed are rewards for a pitcher that successfully utilizes variable speed pitching in her game plan.

Control pitchers have leaned to control their pitch selection, not just the strike zone.  Learning to execute variable speed with a good compliment of fastballs takes time to master.  The demanding timing discipline between the various pitching speeds will require additional practice and dedication.

Choosing the most effective pitch speed for reach batter takes a little bit of experience.  Determine the variable speed pitch to throw and always ensure your defense is positioned to defend in the event she hits it.  The overall idea of variable speed is to impair the batter’s judgment.   Use variable speed to set-up that champion fastball, or even take the bat out of the hands of famous “mighty crusher” on the other team.

There will always be batters that can react to the changes in pitch speed, but staying ahead of the game on most requires mastering variable speed.  Learning the drop, rise and change will help complicate matters more for opposing batters. Good movement ball pitchers have learned that controlling speed and spin on a ball produces better movement.  Knowing how to control that speed will bring big benefits to all your movement pitches. It is always better to hear “Strike Three!” instead of “Hey Lady can you get that ball from the parking lot.”