Starting 'Em Young

Whether or not Matt Lawson, senior pitcher for Glen Rock (NJ), goes on to a successful career in the majors is not something on which I will speculate.  I will, say, however, that he is ready for the bigs right now, interview-wise.  When NorthJersey.com wanted to talk about his stellar control, Lawson went right to his pro stuff:

Baseball, pitching, is so much more than just going out there and throwing.

Darn tooting, Matt.

Turning It On Its Head

Every reporter knows to look out for that Man Bites Dog story out there, that to reel in your reader you need to turn a cliche on its head.  Obviously, BraveTiger of the OperationSports.com blog message boards knew this maxim, as he took our beloved old chestnut and flipped it on us when discussing how to throw a curveball...in MLB The Show:

Anyways, start off throwing not pitching, otherwords don't think just do.

Granted, he's talking about a VIDEO GAME, but hey, points for originality.

Mystery Cliche

What happened here?  After he threw a no-hitter against Southern Academy, did Pickens Academy (AL) senior Chase Davidson switch into auto-pilot and go to the cliche well when interviewed by Adam Minichino of The Dispatch?  Or did Davidson give a long, in-depth answer to a question, about how he has worked on really understanding his craft, which Minichino lazily boiled down to the bane of my existence?  We'll never know, thanks to this implied, but not directly attributed quote:

He said he now feels more like a pitcher and not a thrower.

I'm giving the kid the benefit of the doubt. This one's on you, Minichino.

Cliche Averted

For once, the cliche...is not a cliche but just a fact.  It's true: throwing is not pitching.  However, it has been generally treated as a lazy way of saying that a pitcher is not working his craft, but merely throwing the ball as hard as he can.  But Ashley Burnett, coach of Gilbert High in South Carolina, actually used the phrase to differentiate between two radically different activities performed by Austin LaBounty, as reported at TheState.com:

For the last few weeks, he was able to start throwing. We put out of a bucket of balls for him, but that’s not the same as pitching.

Thanks you, Mr. Burnett, thank you.

Over the Hurdle

When you're managing the worst team in baseball over the last decade+, why not break out the worst cliche in baseball?  Pirates manager Clint Hurdle on James McDonald:

He needs to pitch. I don't think he's been pitching. There's been more throwing going on.

Double bonus for Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writer Colin Dunlap throwing (not pitching) it into his headline:

Pirates Notebook: McDonald must pitch, not throw, says Hurdle

If at first you don't cliche...

Travis Swachik, of the Charleston Post and Courier, wasn't sure if you'd understand that throwing hard wasn't as useful as throwing accurately and well, so he went to the well, though throwing "synonymous" definitely took the old saw up a level in sophistication describing a Clemson pitcher.

Still, to prove velocity isn’t everything, to prove pitching is not synonymous with throwing is exhibit A: Jonathan Meyer

Going South

As old school as Rays Manager Joe Maddon's glasses are, so are his cliches, this time to the St. Pete's Times about Wade Davis:

So as of right now, I'm liking what he's doing. I like the feel. He's using all of his pitches. He's pitching. He's not just out there throwing.

The Kids Aren't Alright

Like a kid on the playground imitating his favorite player's stance, Sheffield, AL coach Chuck Smith obviously takes his cues from the pros, as he told the Florence, AL Times Daily:

The main thing now is that they have learned how to pitch. A lot of high school kids know how to throw, but not how to pitch.

Yahoo and the Yanks

Yahoo's Joba Chamberlain fantasy advice (through Rotowire) features our favorite chestnut:

Recommendation: Unlike fellow Yankee Phil Hughes, however, there's no real reason to be concerned about Chamberlain's velocity, as he's reached 96 mph multiple times this season. He believes he's become more of a "pitcher" and less of the throw-as-hard-as-possible "thrower" he was when he was first called up. He has pitched very well at times this year, and although he's also had three shaky outings, he remains the Yankees' first choice in the seventh inning.

Was WFNY listening?

Following up on the PD's lead, Tribe blog Wait For Next Year threw this out on their 4.17.11 post:

 What separates Tomlin from others though is his ability to “pitch”, not simply throw as some pitchers do.

(Nod, again, to Nikhil Rao on the notification)

Leading Off: The Plain Dealer

Cleveland Plain Dealer headline from 4.4.11:

Pitching, not throwing, at the heart of Cleveland Indians starter Josh Tomlin's formula for success

(Thanks to Nikhil Rao for the heads up)