Getting It

Cody Kukuk, Lawrence (KS) Free State High senior pitcher, knows what it takes to be successful on the mound.  I mean REALLY knows, as he told Dean Backes of MaxPreps.com:

This year I've done a better job of not being a thrower, but a pitcher. Pitching is more than just throwing as hard as you can.

He has pitching, not throwing, down in every format of the cliche.  Watch this kid - great future ahead of him.

Madness!

Shawn Armstrong started the CUSA tourney opener for East Carolina against Houston.  According to Kevin Travis, of the Sun-Journal in New Bern, NC, Armstrong has "lifted his game the the right time."  To what did Armstrong attribute this game lifting?

"I've been working on my delivery and really just going out there and not worrying about pitching," said Armstrong, who went 3-1 with a 3.89 ERA during the regular season. "I'm just going out there throwing the baseball like I have my whole life.

"I'm really going out there and not even thinking; just throwing the ball."

"Just throwing the ball."  Wow, we must have found the anti-cliche, the guy who doesn't even need to "worry about pitching."

Armstrong gave up 3 runs in 3 1/3 innings in an ECU loss.

Never mind.

What's better than saying it? SAYING IT!

Mavo, a commenter on the San Jose Mercury News Giants blog "Extra Baggs" (from either Carl Steward, according to the "posted by, or Andrew Baggarly, of the blog title) wants you to know that Tim Lincecum pitched a good game today.  He also wants you to know he did not "throw" a good game today.  But how to get that across to the average reader, who might miss the subtlety of "pitching, not throwing"?  The answer, of course, CAPS, the currency of the commenter:

What a dominating PITCHING performance from Timmy today! And I mean PITCHING … not just throwing!!

And he remembered the cardinal rule of commenting: when in doubt, use exclamation points!  POINTS, not POINT!!

A Prayer for the Children

 MLB Reports (seemingly his full name) just cares.  He's looking at the guys leading the Majors in walks, and he knows what's wrong.  It's what's wrong with every pitcher having trouble.  He just wants them to get it.  And since obviously their pitching coaches, managers, and teammates have all failed to get the message through, he lays it out for them:

The emphasis is on pitching, not throwing: I hope these guys understand that one day.

We all so, MLB Reports, we all do.

A Cliche is Born

I thought I had heard them all.  Pitch, don't throw.  Throw, don't aim.  Yet, much like baseball itself, the well of baseball cliches is deeper than we ever imagined.  Xavier Candela, a pitcher for Cathedral Prep in Erie, PA, told Tom Reisenweber of the Erie Times News:

I just tried to throw and not think

Unfortunately, Xavier did not make clear if he was just skipping "aiming" and going right to "throwing" on his way to the Holy Grail, "pitching," or if thinking comes between aiming and throwing, and he had already stopped aiming and started thinking.  We'll be sure to let you know if we get any updates.

 

Aiming, not Throwing - The Forgotten Cliche

Sometimes we get so caught up in pitching, not throwing, that we forget there's something WORSE than throwing: aiming.  *shudder*  Nick Anderson of St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, MN knows this, as reported by Andy Rennecke in the St. Cloud Times:

I’m just trying to command it and not aim the ball. Just [go] out there and throw it. 

We have hope for Nick, though: at least he's not trying to go straight to pitching.  For those keeping score at home, it's aiming, THEN throwing, then, eventually, if you're lucky and good, pitching.

Turnabout is Fair Play

We learned back on May 9th that most injuries happen when throwing, not pitching.  Or so we thought.  Kyle, Webmaster and Founder of Driveline Baseball, begs to differ:

Throwing – not pitching – more frequently does many good things

See?  You blind proponents of pitching not throwing!  Throwing, NOT pitching does many good things.  Many! Not, like one or two.  MANY!  Eat it!

Even commenters know

Who is Walt?  Walt is an Orioles fan.  Walt is someone who, at 3 in the morning, was struck by the need to share the following piece of information as a comment on Mike Gonzalez, Orioles reliever, on the O's Baltimore Sun blog.  Gonzalez is having a tough time this year, with an 8.53 ERA, well above his career 2.92 mark.  Why?  There are many possibilities.  Could be age catching up with him - he's 32, though that's not really old for a reliever, where the Jesse Oroscos of the world toil into their 70's, seemingly.  Maybe he has an injury he doesn't want to disclose.  No, none of these things.  Walt's got it figured out:

Hard fought game, but once again, Gonzalez forgot to pitch and not THROW.

Thanks, Walt.  We'll be sure to pass that on to Mike.

It can be cured...

Justin Amlung is a former walk-on for the University of Louisville baseball team.  Yet last year he pitched and won the last game of the season for the Cardinals.  Why would someone who could be trusted in such a situation be a walk-on, and not a scholarship player?  You can guess...when Amlung started, according to C.L. Brown of the Louisville Courier-Journal:

He classified himself as a ‘thrower' and not a pitcher.

The implication?  No, not that throwing isn't something real because of the use of quotes.  That he has now, finally, reached the Nirvana of being a true pitcher.  Congratulations, Justin.

It can be learned

You might think that pitching, not throwing, is something you're born with.  Or, as many hacks would have us believe, something you stumble on to as your career progresses and you find that pumping 'em by them is resulting in too many created souvenirs.  But, according to Laura Oberle of the geographically accurately named Columbia Missourian, this is not how Eric Anderson of the Missouri University Tigers found his way there:

Anderson spent this season learning how to pitch a baseball, not just throw one

So for those of you wondering, it takes one (1) season to learn how to pitch, not throw.

The Yahoo answer? You know what it is...

JJ is worried.  JJ wants to know how to pitch a faster fastball.  Deadhead feels his pain.  Deadhead doesn't want him to panic about not having the heater that some of his teenage companions must be chucking.  So Deadhead gives him the advice he took hours crafting, putting into just the right words:

Many great careers have been made out of pitching, not throwing.

Specifically - mine.  He should have just told him to become a left-handed reliever, then he could pitch forever.

Scouts Say it - Must be True

What's lazier than using cliches?  Citing unnamed sources as using cliches.  Yet that's what Razzball.com decided to do in its analysis of Danny Duffy, the Royals' minor league hurler:

 Scouts state that Duffy knows how to pitch, not just throw hard.

I guess I should give them credit for saying "throw hard," instead of "not just throw" - but I won't.

This Stuff is IMPORTANT

I admit, we make light of the whole pitching vs. throwing debate here.  But this is no laughing matter.  According to Kieran J. Fogarty, a researcher at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI, in a study published in the March Pediatrics magazine:

Most of the softball injuries, 68.2 percent, happened during throwing, but not pitching, during practice

 So, kids, c'mon, be a pitcher, not a thrower: it hurts less.

Cole in your Stocking

How do you know you've made it?  Is it when you make the All-Star game?  Win the World Series?  Heck, win the World Series MVP?  Nope.  It's when you make it to the Hall of Fame...the CLICHE Hall of Fame.  Welcome, Mr. Cole Hamels, thanks to your pitching coach, Rich Dubee, and/or Matt Gelb, Philadelphia Enquirer Phillies beat man:

The 24-year-old kid who won a World Series MVP by throwing a fastball and change-up has become, in Dubee's estimation, a pitcher - not a thrower. 

Whether Dubee used those words or not, one way or another, you, Cole Hamels, have made The Big Time.

HERESY!

"I'm a thrower, not a pitcher," Zolk said.

What?  WHAT!?!?  You can't say that!  That's like admitting you wish failure on yourself and your team!  Why not just say you hate your mom!

Oh, wait...he's not a pitcher...he's Mike Zolk, a 2nd baseman for Neumann-Goretti high school outside Philadelphia who had to serve time on the mound due to a lack of arms on the team.  OK...the Baseball Cliche Police will let uo go this time, Zolk...but watch it!