Total Commitment

There are many things that I could talk about that are more specific to the actual act of pitching…i.e. grips, working hitters, etc. However, it soon hit me that without first having total commitment to be a great pitcher those things really don’t matter. In the next few paragraphs, I would like to address what it means to totally commit to becoming the best pitcher that you can be.

I will use words like motivation, desire, performance, price, dedication and failure. In the end, you will be able to better gauge your current commitment level. Perhaps you will rededicate yourself to doing whatever you can to be the best. Perhaps you will find that you are not willing to do what it takes to be the best. Whichever side of the fence you end up on, I hope it will help you make the right decisions moving forward.

Before you can fully commit to being a great pitcher, you have to figure out what exactly it takes to be the best. Great pitchers put forth the effort and go to great lengths to find out what it takes to dominate. How do you find out what it takes to be great? Study great pitchers.

Great pitchers are successful for good reason. They’re determined to find out what it takes to be physically great, to strengthen their body to gain maximum velocity and endurance to last the season and be healthy. Great pitchers also understand that physical prowess is not the only key ingredient to dominance. It is the intellectual, mental and emotional training as well.

That means learning the game of baseball and its strategies, how to control your thoughts in a positive way, finding out what your mental weaknesses are and how to develop them, what your mental strengths are and how to maximize them, etc. It seems at the Little League level there is so much emphasis on gaining velocity that other equally important qualities are left by the wayside. Maximizing velocity while developing sound, injury preventative mechanics are keys to being successful. But they’re not the only keys. Good pitchers know this. Great pitchers do something about it.

Knowing what it takes to dominate and doing it are two different things. This is where the rubber meets the road and what separates the men from the boys. Total commitment means taking this information and putting it into practice. Are you prepared to throw 5 or 6 days a week, and workout 4 or 5 days a week, and spend 5 more hours a week developing your mechanics? Be determined to put it into practice and make it a habit.

Always keep in mind your ultimate goal…dominating in order to have success (however you define it). If you’re totally committed to succeed you will put in the time and effort required to make yourself great and you will want to do it. Eventually you will enjoy doing what it takes to make you better.

As a freshman pitcher in college I was introduced to tubing. I absolutely hated them at first because they were tough and they hurt. However, I knew they would make me stronger and more flexible and that might translate into better performance so I learned to enjoy doing them. I felt the same way about running. You might feel the same way about running or lifting or drills. It doesn’t matter. You must see the big picture and know that by totally committing to the little things, either physically or mentally, you are making yourself stronger.

Becoming stronger and tougher will condition you to be better. Better physical and mental conditioning leads to better performance on the mound. Better performance on the mound leads to more success and more success leads to more fun and achieving what you want to. Your level of performance usually dictates your level of success, your ability to get a scholarship, your ability to win championships, etc. If you’re not willing to be totally committed to doing the big and little things required to dominate, then your performance will suffer and you will not succeed and failure is in your future. Putting it simply…you must do more to be more.

Total commitment means sacrifice. It means being the first one at practice to work on pickoffs. It means staying late to better develop command of your pitches. It means taking a bucket of balls and a jug of water to the field by yourself in the summer in 95 degree heat to long toss to the fence when you don’t have anyone to throw with. It means bundling up when it’s 40 degrees and windy outside to get your throwing in over the holidays. It means running sprints in the summer instead of going swimming with your buddies. Total commitment means sacrificing things that may seem good at the moment to give you the best chance to be great on the mound later.

I suggest you do some soul searching and ask yourself if you’re willing to pay the high price of total commitment. Ask yourself what your true motivation for playing is and be honest with the answer. If you’re not willing to do it, then someone else is and I guarantee you they will be successful.

The goal of every truly competitive pitcher I know is to be successful. People may define that success in many different ways. One thing is for sure though…consistent success will not come without total commitment. Sure, there will be days that your commitment will not be 100%. It is human nature to want to find the easy way to do something and you will want to try and find that easy at some point in your journey. I warn you though not to use human nature as an excuse to ease up.

Fight human nature and do what most will not do…take the hard way. Great pitchers find out what it takes to dominate and more importantly, THEY DO IT. They do more so they can be more. What are you prepared to do? Totally commit to doing the same and you will have more success than you ever thought you could.

1. Understand your true motivation so you can know for sure if you’re willing to totally commit to becoming a great pitcher

2. See the big picture…your commitment on a daily basis to the little things will lead to your desired result of success and domination

3. Read, study, learn, ask questions to find out what it takes to be great

4. Make it a habit to put into practice what you now know is required to be great

5. Learn yourself and what things might distract you from total commitment and eliminate them. Be prepared to make hard decisions to do that

6. Understand that your success depends on your performance, and that your performance is directly related to your commitment level

7. Learn to enjoy doing things that you know are making you better