Dan Cevette
Director, New York

Our column, Pitching 101, was one of the most viewed articles across the Empire State in our first eight months of operation. In 2015, we are bringing a more in-depth column focused solely on everything pitching.

I get asked a lot of questions about baseball; mainly about Pitching. I was a Professional Baseball Pitcher for 11 years in three different MLB Organizations where I was able to fill my knowledge bank on pitching from some very impressive instructors. John Farrell, Scott Radinsky, Charles Nagy, and Steve Belcher just to name a few, and I have also picked the brain of Giants Gold Glove Catcher Kurt Manwaring (1992) a time or two. It's the heart and soul of this beautiful game, let's get to it.

Pitching 101: So you want a stronger arm? You need to throw
Ask any pitching coach or instructor – at nearly any level in baseball – what his No. 1 asked question is. Without any hesitation he would simply say “how can my son throw harder.”

I have been giving pitching lessons for the past decade in Upstate New York. If I had a dollar for every time this question was asked to me, well I would have a lot of dollars. I was doing lessons back when the ‘balance-drill’ was the king - accuracy the bible. Back when it was frowned upon if you were a pitcher and even took a glance at a weight room. Man-oh-man – how the times have changed my friends. No matter the gimmick – no matter ‘old-school’ vs. ‘new-school’ – no matter this philosophy or that philosophy. One thing is for certain, no matter how wide the pitching spectrum continues to grow, it all funnels back to the famous-or infamous question. How can my son throw harder?