More throwing

Well, happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

I had a great throwing session last week.  I met some teammates for some drills last Saturday at the covered batting cages at Newport High.  Good thing they were covered because the rain was pretty relentless.

It was great to actually throw with a little purpose.  It felt better to do something with purpose instead of just tossing the ball against the wall.

When I was recovering I kept goofing around with different grips for ideas I had for pitches.  One was a sort of "cut" fastball idea where I grip the single seam near the top of the horseshoe between my index and middle finger.  With the way I throw, I figured that the weight distribution would be uneven and cause the ball to move.  I threw about 10 of those on Sunday and 8 cut into a right handed batter.  Nice thing is, there's no additional torque on my arm and the grip is pretty solid.  I've got a few months to work it out and it could be pretty good.

I overdid it though.  I was pretty sore for a few days.  Lesson learned there.  I don't think it was just the throwing.  Batting takes a toll too.  On a strange note, I'm finally hitting this year.  Lots of positives are going on there including:
-Actually making contact with the ball
-Not popping every single pitch up
-Driving balls the other way.

Threw again today with Katy's sister.  It was pretty good.  I did the customary 60-70 throws at varying lengths.  I can already tell that it's going to take me a lot longer to warm up than it used to.  Maybe that will go away after a while, but right now I feel like I'm stopping just as soon as my arm actually gets loose.

It was fun.  I really forgot how much fun it is to play ball.  May can't come soon enough.

Oh, if you're interested, you can hit up www.sierramariners.org and see some video.