Now, we have a hard number to ask our pitchers to complete a play whether it is a bunt coverage, a comebacker, or covering 1B on a groundball to the right side.  Whatever the PFP (pitcher’s fielding practice) drill may be use the stop watch to allow for your pitcher to “feel” how much time he has to complete a play.Let him know how much time the play took to complete and I believe what you will find is that the game will “slow” down and your pitchers will begin to field their position more effectively.

In the bullpen the stopwatch can serve many purposes.  First, when pitching out of the stretch we encourage our pitchers to be 1.3 seconds or less to the plate.  Meaning, that is the time from when they start their delivery to the time the baseball hits the catcher’s glove. This number is very important when asking our catcher to throw out a potential base stealer. 

It is a simple math equation.  The average college catcher throws the baseball to second base in 2.0 seconds.  The average base stealer can reach second base in 3.35-3.45 seconds.  Meaning our pitcher has to be 1.3 seconds or quicker to the plate.  Now I will say, a pitcher’s time to the plate should not affect command or the ability to throw strikes.  However, it is my belief that if you take the stopwatch with you to the bullpen and push your pitcher to be 1.3 seconds or less to the plate he will be able to become quicker and consistent thus enabling to enhance the ability to throw more strikes and throw out more base runners. 

I am always encouraging our pitchers to pitch with more tempo to help keep our infielders more active as well as help “speed up the game.”  The problem is when do our pitchers practice this? We have even seen conferences such as the SEC utilize a pitch clock stipulating that a pitch must be delivered every 20 seconds with nobody on base.  I would like to see a pitch completed within 15 seconds.  For this to become comfortable a pitcher must practice this.  Use a stopwatch in a bullpen session to allow a pitcher to understand how long 15 or 20 seconds actually is.  Let him know how much time he has to deliver the next pitch.  This will then allow for his routine to be within the set guideline allowing for him to be comfortable and not feel rushed. 

A pitcher’s overall conditioning is very important for many reasons.  For a starter his ability to repeat his mechanics and still remain explosive over a long stretch of time depends on his strength and conditioning.  A reliever’s ability to “bounce back” and pitch on back to back days or twice in a weekend depends on his strength and conditioning as well.  As a pitching coach it can be easy to assign running whether it be long distance or short sprints and ask our guys to accomplish that without any time requirements.  Use the stopwatch and time your pitchers sprint work or times distance.  This gives them something to achieve.  For instance, I am a big believer in sprint and explosive work.  Our pitchers typically do some sprint work being 40 second shuttles with 20 second rest or 30 second shuttles with 30 second rest.  Time your guys distance run and let them know what they ran so that they can push themselves to beat what it was they ran previously.  The stopwatch can be very useful in ensuring that conditioning is something measured and concrete as opposed to vague and un-productive. 

As coaches we are always trying to find a tool here or there to help us develop our players and make all that we do game speed.  The stop watch is a great way to create an atmosphere where practice, bullpens, and conditioning are all conducive to performing well in the game. So, take that stopwatch out of your back pocket and begin using it!