The good rising fastball is the best pitch in baseball.
Cleaning up that lack of the definition between the two, and then leaning on the four-seam, having it become my primary fastball over my two-seam, it's just benefited me as a whole.
There's no easier pitch to hit than a splitter that doesn't do anything.
When you're spinning a two-seam, getting on the side of the ball to get more run or sink can be good, but it can really be detrimental to your four-seam.
I genuinely enjoy watching the full-back run up the pitch and going across to fill in.
I use fast curves, pitched overhand and sidearm, fastballs, high and inside, and an underhand fade away pitch with the hand almost down to the level of the knees.
I consciously memorized the speed at which every pitcher in the league threw his fastball, curve, and slider. Then, I'd pick up the speed of the ball in the first 30 feet of its flight and knew how it would move once it has crossed the plate.
The reason I think I'm a good pitcher is I locate my fastball and I change speeds. Period. That's what you do to pitch. That's what pitchers have to do to win games.
If you can't see the rotation and tell if it's a sink - a fastball, then you have to be able to tell whether that fastball is a two-seamer or a four-seamer. You have to be able to recognize if it's a slider or a curveball. You have to be able to recognize if it's a changeup or a split-finger.
You continue to try to hammer out fastball command the best you can.
I was short with my fastball and breaking ball.
I threw a good fastball and changeup, but a below-average curveball.
My changeup looks like a fastball, but one goes straight and the other goes away from the righthanded hitter. Sometimes it cuts by itself, and I don't know where it's going.
I've got some good movement on my sinking fastball, and I rely on that.
If I can execute pitches and keep the ball out of the middle of the plate, I know I can have success.
Because I have so much life on my pitches, I can get away with getting too much of the plate every now and then.
If you pick up that information, the first metre or two, the ball coming out of the hand, you can analyse what's coming.
The zip on the pitch is very zippy
My pitching philosophy is simple - keep the ball way from the bat.
