Pitching Grips

During tonight's practice, we talked about some things that our players can do over the next few months to improve their pitching:

1- Practice! It's important to keep your arm strong by throwing at least every few days. Try to find someone to play catch with. If you can't find anyone, take some chalk and draw a box on a wall and throw to the box.

2- Work on mastering at least two grips (a fastball and a change-up). When playing catch, throw change-ups at least a third of the time. It will take some time, but you'll want to be just as confident in throwing a strike with your change-up as you will be with your fastball.

There are two common fastball grips: the four-seamer and the two-seamer. CLICK HERE to see some photos of these two fastball grips. Ideally, you'll be able to throw both of them, but be sure to get very comfortable with at least one of them.

You will also need to develop an off-speed (i.e. change-up) pitch. Hitters at this level love fastballs. It's critical to keep them off balance.

For your change-up grips, you can click on the above link to view the three-finger and circle change grips. You can also CLICK HERE to view several other options: the three-finger fastball, the choke fastball, the OK change, the slip pitchfork grip or the split-finger fastball.

Just try some change-up grips to find out which one works best for you. Be sure to give it some time--it takes practice! You don't need to master all of them--one good one will be sufficient.

If you really want to be a good pitcher, you'll need to throw regularly and you'll need to develop an off-speed pitch.

Warriors to Workout on Friday!

The Warriors will be holding its first team workout on Friday, October 24th at 7:00 pm. This workout will be held indoors at the Batter-Up Baseball Academy at 7509 W. 99th Place in Bridgeview. Click here to access the facility's website. The workout will end no later than 9:00 pm.

This workout will be the only practice for the team for the remainder of 2008. The team will meet again for some indoor workouts (closer to home) in January. The workout will give our players an opportunity to meet their coaches and teammates--and provide some initial instruction for those who wish to further develop their skills during the off-season.

Participation in this workout is optional. However, please contact me at 708-349-1467 or at gnagel60@comcast.net if you are unable to attend. We would like to know in advance of the session if we have enough interest to hold our reservation at the facility.

Warriors Announce 2009 Roster

The 13U Warriors completed its second and final tryout on Sunday, October 12th. The Warriors would like to thank our 6 returning players and the 18 players who participated in these tryouts for their interest in the team.

The 2009 team roster is as follows:

• Bresingham, Dennis
• Brucki, C.J.
• Cardinal, Lance
• Carroll, Tim
• Knightly, Ryan
• Lauciello, Anthony
• Lebert, Jack
• Marc, Sam
• Maxfield, Robbie
• Novak, Ryan
• Prendergast, Tim
• Robley, Jim
• Tannebaum, Ryan
• Waner, Jason

Please call me at 708-349-1467 (home) or 708-846-1466 (cell) with any questions or comments.