A few days ago I was lucky enough to get to go and dress for a big league game (often times minor leaguers are sent as back up just in case the scheduled pitchers don't make it through their allotted inning(s)). Although I didn't get into the game it was awesome to get to experience the light at the end of the tunnel for a day.

Going "across the street" as we call it in the A's organization also afforded me the opportunity to see how the big leaguers go about their business. The biggest thing that I will take away from that day is that there is a definite reason why major league pitchers are able to locate the way they do.

The reason for this is the way that they go through their throwing program. Just as a quick aside, the throwing program is basically what we, as pitchers, do every day to get ourselves loose for early work, bullpens, flat grounds etc. The distance and throws vary based on when the last time you pitched and when you are going to pitch again. I didn't really notice that most minor leaguers were not getting the most out of this program, myself included, until I saw the pitchers on the major league staff play catch.

Rather than throwing to get loose, the big league pitchers executed every single throw with a purpose. The key to pitching is repeating your delivery. I know a lot is said about mechanics, arm slots or whatever but you can be very successful repeating a bad delivery from a funky arm slot. What separates the major league pitchers from the minor league pitchers is that they are working on repeating their delivery every single time they throw the baseball while most minor leaguers work on repeating their delivery when they are on a mound.

It makes sense that the more times you throw a baseball the same way the more it is going to be natural to to throw the baseball that way when you are on the mound with the bases loaded and have a full count.

My ultimate goal is to make it to the major leagues, and stay there, so I have made some changes in how I play catch.

1- I don't just throw to the person I am throwing with. I pick a spot on his jersey or pants and try to throw to that small spot. When I am on the mound I am trying to locate to exact spots, why do anything different when I am playing catch?

2- I really focus on keeping my weight back and riding my back leg rather than diving with my shoulder. This has been my major mechanical adjustment as compared to last year. Although I am doing well so far with it, it doesn't help me to have bad habits when I am playing catch.

3- I always stick my landing and get over my front leg. If you want to locate in the bottom of the zone you need to land on a solid base and throw over your front leg. If you play catch every day and don't finish with your head on target over your front leg why are you going to do it when you get on a mound?

HItters are so big, strong and smart today that pitchers really need to have superb command to get outs at the major league level. The only way you are going to accomplish this is to have a delivery that you can repeat.