What you need to know to pitch in amateur baseball for beginners

When you start playing amateur baseball, the position of pitcher is one that almost everyone wants to try at least once.
However, I'm sure there are people who have tried to take on the challenge but have given up due to its difficulty.
This time, I'd like to write about the preparations, mindset, and training methods needed when becoming a pitcher.

Pitcher's qualities

First, I'll write about what kind of person is suited to being a pitcher.
To put it bluntly, in amateur baseball, the most important thing is whether or not you have the desire to be a pitcher.
It's less about whether you have the ability to be a pitcher and more about whether you have the motivation.

The next important thing is mentality.
What's important is having the mental strength not to blame others for runs scored against you, the fighting spirit to face the batter head-on, and the tenacity to try and overcome difficulties.

The most important thing is "don't blame others."
In the end, a pitcher can win if they strike out every batter, so the key is whether they can think, "It's my fault for not being able to strike them out," instead of getting discouraged when someone makes an error.

Unlike professional baseball, amateur baseball has a lot of errors.
There are times when you might think, "If the defense had been decent, they could have gotten the out," but it's not good to say that out loud.
If you keep blaming others, you won't become a pitcher that your teammates love.

Criteria for being able to pitch

After discussing the mindset, let's move on to the technical aspects.
Even with the mentality described above, a certain level of skill is necessary to make a match worthwhile.

What are the criteria for being able to pitch?
My minimum standard is whether you can limit walks to three or fewer while getting three outs in an inning.

The test method involves having the catcher sit down (and the batter stand up if possible) and having the pitcher throw the ball.
Then, after each at-bat, the pitcher takes a count and throws pitches. If three outs are recorded, the inning ends. If a walk is given, a runner gets on base, and the count is reset.

Simply put, it's a test where you finish if you throw nine strikes in a row.
What are they testing?The question is whether a run can be scored without the batter ever taking a swing.
If runs were scored that way, then no matter who you put up to bat, as long as they don't swing, runs would be scored, meaning it wouldn't even be a contest.
Many people want to be pitchers, but it's best to use this test to weed them out first.

How to practice

So, what kind of practice should you actually do?

In my case, I didn't have much access to the pitcher's mound, so I practiced by throwing from a position that was longer than the actual distance.
When practicing on a flat surface, you can't utilize the slope of the mound, so throwing from a slightly longer distance makes for good practice.

Ideally, we'd like to practice with a batter in the batting cage.
It's much easier to pitch with a batter in front of you than without, so I think it's a good idea to have someone stand in front of you.
Let's ask the batters who are standing there to judge whether the pitch is a strike or a ball, so that it can also serve as practice for the batters.

Also, when we couldn't practice on a proper field, it was helpful to practice in a position where there were trees where the batter would normally stand.

Above, I've written down what you need to know to pitch in a game, aimed at beginners.
I hope this will be of some help.

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