Blog

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Albuquerque Isotopes (@abqtopes) on Jul 20, 2019 at 10:42am PDT

I was boiling in the hot sun waiting for it to be my turn. There were only 4 people in front of me. I could hear the “pop” of the ball hitting the catcher’s glove in it’s pocket. I could smell the fresh air that was blowing through.

It was hot but every couple of minutes, there was a cool breeze blowing through. Even though I could feel tons of sweat pouring down my face, I was thrilled to be there.

I bet you are wondering where I was, aren’t you?

I was at the Isotopes Youth Skills Clinic in Albuquerque, NM and my group and I were at the pitching station.

What Are Pitching Dynamics?

Two Isotopes pitcher’s were going through the dynamics of the pitching motion so that kids who hadn’t pitched before could pitch when it was their turn. They were teaching my group how to get the signal, set, wind up, throw, and finish.

The signal is when the catcher puts his fingers low near the ground telling you which pitch your coach wants you to throw.

The set is when you take a second to breath then place yourself in the position you want before you wind up.

The wind up is after the set when you put your leg in the air to wind up your arm before you throw the ball.

Everybody knows this one, the throw is when you throw the ball to the catcher.

The finish is when you just finished your throw and you are letting your arm go to the opposite hip.

Pitching Practice Was Fun!

One of the Isotopes players calmly said, “Line up at a mound.” I chose to go in the line where Phillip Diehl, a lefty pitcher, would be instructing. It was already around 100 degrees and sweat continued to come down my face. Luckily it helped cool me down.

I felt impatient and thought to myself, “When will it ever be my turn?” When I looked up, I could see it was almost my turn because the kid in front of me was finishing up his pitches.

Before I stepped up to the mound, I asked Phillip, “Can the catcher move back?”

Phillip responded, “Sure.”

Finally it was my turn and I couldn’t wait to throw my pitches. The catcher threw the ball to Phillip who then handed it to me.

Phillip asked the catcher to move back a little bit, and the catcher did.  I then threw my first pitch. After the catcher caught my first pitch, Phillip remarked, “Wow!”

With my second pitch, Phillip asked, “Is this Arolis Chapman?”

And after the third pitch, he stated, “Impressive.”

Before we left to move to the next station, Phillip told my mother and my grandparents, “He’s an amazing pitcher.”

Conclusion

I like going to the Albuquerque Isotopes Youth Skills Clinic, because it is fun to learn baseball skills from the professional players. The players are nice and helpful and they help all of us improve our skills.

The pitching station is my favorite because I really like pitching. I like that the pitcher is involved in every single play except when their team is batting.

I want to go back again and highly recommend it.