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PITCH THROUGH ADVERSITY
EXPECT IT, PREPARE FOR IT, EMBRACE IT
by Coach Rob Hippi,
Pitching Coach
Lower Columbia College, Longview, WA
WHAT DEFINES SUCCESS AS A PITCHER?
Nolan Ryan, unarguably one of the greatest pitchers of the modern era, won 324 games and lost 292. Here is a guy with all the characteristics that we look for in a dominant major league pitcher, yet he failed almost as much as he succeeded at the ultimate goal of winning. He is an extremely successful pitcher, Hall of Fame caliber, but 292 times he had to overcome the pitcher’s ultimate adversity, losing. Success is not all about winning. The longer you are in the game, the more you grow to understand that the road traveled means just as much, if not more, than the getting there.
HOW DOES THE PITCHER ACHIEVE SUCCESS?
The most important factor in becoming an accomplished pitcher, at any level, is the capacity to overcome adversity. It is a large part of any sport, but a pitcher will confront it more frequently than most other athletes. To be successful as a pitcher, you must have the ability to consistently overcome hardship—on and off the field.
WHAT KIND OF ADVERSITY CAN I EXPECT?
Look at a few examples of the misfortunes that a pitcher is likely to confront before he can walk off the mound at the conclusion of a game. In that game, walks, errors, hit batsmen, singles, doubles, triples, and home runs occur, not to mention bad hops. The umpires will make “questionable” decisions. Many times, they will go your way. Any one of these could cost you the game, and then you have to deal with defeat. The calls may vary from ball or strike to safe or out. They can include fair or foul, trap or catch, may involve the balk, and can escalate all the way to ejection. On some occasions, poor mound and field conditions factor in. You have to cope with sore arms, other injuries, illness, grueling workouts, poor catching, and countless issues off the field. There are critical coaches, inflexible coaches, overbearing coaches, just plain tough coaches, and bad coaches to consider. Some days, it is too hot, some days it gets dark too early, and other days it rains. The crowd can be a negative influence, especially when it is your own fans who are unhappy with your performance. The slate of obstacles that a pitcher encounters just getting to the mound are many and rivals those he faces once he is on it.
FAILURE TO PREPARE IS PREPARING TO FAIL
We have all taken a test without doing the adequate preparation. While walking into the room, you are filled with anxiety, dread, and would rather be anywhere else. Compare that reaction to the anxious anticipation felt when you are primed, prepared, and ready to take that same exam. It is no different for the pitcher who faces adversity. If you know ahead of time how to react in a negative situation, if that reaction has already been programmed through preparation, the results may still vary, but you will deal with the situation more thoughtfully, more aggressively, and with a greater level of presence. You will experience a higher degree of success.
LEARN TO EMBRACE MISFORTUNE!
The game throws many curves, so the key to being a successful pitcher is not to fear ill fortune but to anticipate it and actually welcome it. View each difficult situation that occurs as an opportunity-a challenge within and around the game itself. The path toward developing this ability, however, must begin with preparation, the capacity to subjugate self-pity, and the ability to put the game into proper perspective.
CHECK SELF-PITY AT THE WHITE LINES
There is no room for self-pity in pitching; it consumes you because there are so many opportunities to commiserate. Self-pity causes the pitcher to reflect on the past, not on the present and near future. You cannot change history, but you can affect what lies ahead. By preparing for and anticipating adversity, actually embracing those events as they occur, the competitive pitcher greets the situation as a welcome challenge. Your focus is on the next hitter and the predicament at hand. You plan your strategy based on your preparation, in order to avert failure.
COPE WITH CALAMITY THROUGH PERSPECTIVE
Being a successful pitcher is not all about winning and losing, as the Nolan Ryan example indicates. It is more important to keep an even keel, display poise at all times, and be able to anticipate and attack the unfavorable circumstances. Breathe, relax, and let your shoulders drop. It is, after all, just a game.
In using history to lend perspective, consider the adversity facing Roughriders as they prepared to make their famous charge up San Juan Hill to secure an American victory in the Spanish-American war. This was a mounted cavalry unit consisting of Wyoming cowboys and Long Island polo players, hardly professional soldiers. Ill equipped and hastily trained, they did not even have horses. Teddy Roosevelt’s advise to them was, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” Pitching is not war, but the advice is good. After all, what more can you do?
SUCCESS IS THE ABILITY TO PERSEVERE
You really have to want to play this game. There is simply too much failure involved for baseball to be fun for everyone. If the hitter is successful every third time, he is in the Hall of Fame. Considered one of the greatest, Ryan, wins 52% of his decisions. Every level has less “fun,” more work, and brings with it additional adversity. Maybe that is why some of my fondest baseball memories are of my son playing T-ball. The game will test your love for it.
The successful pitcher will be the one who never concedes; you would have to tear the uniform from his back to make him give it up. At the same time, he is also the one who can put the game into perspective, make the mundane enjoyable, and calmly, yet aggressively, confront each negative situation with poise and intelligence. After all, “Without adversity, a man hardly knows if he is honest or not.” H. Fielding
TO INSTILL POISE AND MENTAL TOUGHNESS
1. Read and make available to your pitchers, H.A. Dorfman’s book, The Mental ABC’s of Pitching.
2. Incorporate 10 to 20 “absolutes” that your pitchers must learn to accept. These become the mantra for your staff, and they will repeat them often. (Example: Nobody steals a base while I am pitching, or I always retire the next hitter following a walk, error, or base hit)
3. Place pitchers in adverse situations during scrimmages such as bases loaded with no outs, three balls, and no strikes, etc. Once they deal successfully with these adverse scenarios, they develop the confidence to be able to do it again.
4. Make the roles of your staff clear to narrow the focus of preparation.
5. Continually “brain wash” them into the idea of relishing adversity. Absolutely no meltdowns allowed.
6. Work hard to vary practices. I find this goes a long way toward keeping interest and effort consistent.
7. Make mundane “fun.” Challenge your guys with this one. Repetition is crucial but can be boring. Do not overdo reps-concentrate to a greater degree on fewer, perfect repetitions.
8. Talk about proper breathing techniques, and do not be afraid to borrow from the martial arts-they recognized the value in this for a long time.
9. Eliminate negative self-talk and replace it with the opposite.
10. Attack-attack-attack! Attack hard work (be the best conditioned staff in your league), attack location with all three pitches, and attack the running game.
Compete-compete-compete and do not give up until you drink from the silver cup!
Coach Rob Hippi,
Pitching Coach
Lower Columbia College (WA)
 Rob retired after 31 years as a high school U.S. history teacher/coach and has been head coach in baseball, basketball, and football at that level. He coached pitchers at Lower Columbia for 21 years since 1977 with a 10-year break to coach his son’s baseball teams. Rob played collegiate ball at Central Washington University where he was (TOPPS) All-Pacific Coast (third all-time in K’s), and inducted into the CWU Athletic Hall of Fame (’68 team) as a RHP. Professionally, he pitched in the New York Yankee organization from 1969 to 1972. At one time, Rob held the club record for 16-single game strikeouts at Oneonta of the NYP league. He instructs at camps and clinics throughout the Northwest. Rob also offers private pitching instruction and works at camps and clinics at Lower Columbia.
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