Prep Baseball Report

Pitching 101: Pitching Inside


Dan Cevette
President, New York





The column, Pitching 101, was inspired by Pitching and Catching classroom meetings throughout my professional career.  The content is based on my experiences and my journey and these are my opinions.

I tend to get asked a lot of questions about baseball, mainly pitching. I was a Professional Baseball Pitcher for 11 years for three different MLB Organizations where I was able to gain a great deal of knowledge on pitching from some pretty impressive instructors.  Some of those being; John Farrell, Scott Radinsky, Charles Nagy, and Steve Belcher just to name a few. I have also been lucky enough to have the opportunity to sit down with Giants Gold Glove Catcher Kurt Manwaring (1992) a time or two. Now let's get started...

PITCHING 101: Pitching Inside

The 411 to pitching inside.  This is a topic that personally, I feel very passionate about.  It's more than a strategy, its a mindset that every successful pitcher has implemented throughout their career. 

More often than not, pitchers develop a tendency to pitch away from contact.  There's a number of different reasons as to why this occurs and we could debate it all day long.  However, I want to focus on pitching inside and why for pitchers, it's one of the best things you can master.  Pitching inside gives you control, the control you need to be dominant.  Remember, this is not a hitters game, its a pitchers game, and its not their plate, its yours - so take ownership. 

When your effectively pitching inside, you're opening up the outer third of the plate.  Most pitching instructors will tell you the batter can not defend the entire plate and most hitting instructors will teach to get to the inside fastball you need to start slightly early, cheat a little bit (unless you have lightning quick hands, which the majority just do not). Remember the higher level you play both hitters and pitchers develop tendencies, which are studied to gain a competitive advantage. No greater compliment to a pitcher then having the reputation of throwing hard inside. Because of that reputation, hitters will cheat on your inside fastball which opens up the outer half. Simple, you now have the advantage. Now, what to do?

Here's a few pitch combinations that worked well for me throughout my career.

  • HARD IN, IN, AWAY.
  • HARD AWAY, AWAY, IN
  • HARD IN, IN, SOFT AWAY
  • SOFT AWAY, HARD IN, IN
  • SOFT AWAY, AWAY, HARD IN

Professionally, these were some of my go to pitch combinations.  Bottom line, they were effective.

The question I hear more often than not is what happens when you hit a batter? That's a common fear associated with pitching inside, and it's often times why the conviction behind attacking inside can be suspect at best.  First off, you can't be a successful pitcher with fear. If you hit a batter, so what.  Reality is, along the way, you're going to hit a batter or two.  What makes pitching inside so effective is the misses (6-7 inches off the plate inside). This creates a level of discomfort for hitters, and when a hitter is uncomfortable, you have the advantage, again. 

Training that may help you throw more effective inside:

  • Most importantly; it's a mindset. Passion, Commitment, Effort, and Conviction
  • Off-season mound sessions with 'hitting dummies' up on the inside of the plate. Starting 45-feet away and slowly moving back, throw your fastball continuously to the inside of the plate. Get comfortable, develop your feel, gain confidence, and start owning the inside of the plate. 
  • During bullpen sessions, move your catcher 6-10 inches inside (remember to do this on both sides of the plate - LHH, RHH)
  • Practice doing all of the above to live hitters. Nothing ever will replicate live action and this is how you get your best practice.


Be a sponge. Take from this what works for you and squeeze out what doesn't.


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