Starting pitchers get the most attention on a baseball team's pitching staff because they are the ones who start the games and throw the most innings in a game. Often a team's success depends on its starting pitcher. If you want to be the starting pitcher on your team, you'll need endurance and a good arsenal of pitches.
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Difficulty:
Moderately Challenging
Instructions
1
Condition yourself to be able to throw many pitches every four or five days. This is often referred to as being "stretched out." The magic number of innings for a starting pitcher is five; if you can successfully get through five innings more often than not, you have the endurance to be a starting pitcher.
2
Develop several different types of pitches. One reason some pitchers are unable to start is because they only have two pitches in their arsenal. Starting pitchers need a minimum of three different pitches they can throw effectively, because they face the same hitters multiple times in a day and need to keep them guessing. The most common three-pitch combination is a fastball, curveball and changeup.
3
Trust your catcher. When you're a starting pitcher, your catcher will know your pitching as well as you do and you and your pitcher need to be on the same page when you are pitching. Have a game plan for attacking each of the hitters multiple times in the lineup.
4
Keep yourself loose in between starts. It is common for a starting pitcher throw on the side in between his last start and his next start. Not doing so may cause you to cramp up on the day of your start when you're throwing at full force again.
Tips & Warnings
Be economical with your pitches. Starting pitchers need to last longer so sometimes you will want to pitch to contact and let your defense make the outs.
