Short Topics

What makes a great pitching coach (Written in May 2025) Great bullpens are valuable, but they aren’t nearly everything. The job of a pitching coach is to help translate practice results into game results. Cool pitch shapes don’t matter if they can’t get outs. I think of the Nationals "I don't care how hard you throw ball four" sign back a few year ago. The name of the game is getting outs not to throw hard or get a lot of movement. They typically correlate but the pitch shap

(Written in March 2025) Clay Holmes in his transition to starter has become one of the many MLB pitchers to begin throwing what's known as a kick change. Why does it work? A kick change is not a new pitch; it's simply become more recognizable, allowing us to better quantify what it is, why it works, and how to teach it to athletes in a practical way. This pitch is particularly effective for supinators who struggle to pronate on a traditional changeup. It tends to move mor

Best metrics that indicate sustainable success for starting pitchers (Written in January 2025) Metrics and advanced analytics are invaluable tools for evaluating player performance, particularly when assessing pitchers. The way we combine and apply these metrics can significantly impact our understanding of a player’s potential for sustainable success. In this analysis, I have compiled a comprehensive list of pitching metrics that I believe best indicate the core components