Rambling On About My Glory Days: From Mariano to A-Rod; World Series Thoughts

It is always sad to see the season end. I love watching the playoffs/World Series and wish they continued all winter. I would not mind if they shortened the regular season and had an extended playoff system, either. Otherwise, here are some random thoughts about this year’s World Series.

Major league hitters, “Pay attention.” Earlier this year I wrote an article on how to hit White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle and it must have worked because he was not as effective post article, after his perfect game. With that in mind, I have figured out how to hit Mariano Rivera. He may be a phenomenon that we have never seen because he basically throws one pitch and everyone, including TV viewers, knows what and where he is going to throw it. Of course, hitters can keep their same approach and wait around hoping he makes a mistake. However, they have been waiting for that to happen for 15 years and it hasn”t happened yet. Because we have never seen this, it is time for hitters to hit in a way that has never been seen. He obviously only has one pitch, the cut fastball. Other pitchers throw one, but what is amazing is that he rarely leaves it in the middle of the plate. He is always on the corners with it or misses off the plate with it.

Choking up on the bat will help because it is almost impossible to get the fat part of the bat on his constant inside pitches, especially to left handed hitters. The other solution is to “jump back” (towards the on-deck circle) four or five inches right when he is about to release the ball. This will make that inside cutter actually right down the middle where it is much more hittable. Of course, hitters can decide occasionally not to jump back so if he decides to pitch on the outside part of the plate the hitter is still in good position. Now it turns into a huge guessing game for Mariano and his catcher so the advantage swings back to hitters. Without that inside pitch boring in on the hitter’s hands, they have a much better chance. If nothing else, this method will save major league teams thousands of dollars on bats because Mariano will not be breaking them at his usual rate.

I believe the reason Derek Jeter rises to every postseason occasion is that he becomes more aggressive at the plate in the postseason. Other players tend to retreat in their approach but Jeter appears to be more aggressive than his in-season approach and this pays off for him. Maybe he has figured out that it is not worth leaving it up to the umpires to put him in a hole.

In defense of umpires, I believe they may be forced to call pitches two or three inches off the plate because pitchers are constantly nibbling at the corners. The games would probably still be going on if they only called strikes. Maybe it is time to go to a 19-inch plate to even out the modern day hitting advantage of small ball parks and physically stronger hitters.

The best story may have been observing the apparent growth of A-Rod from individual to team player. Many stars are coddled form the time they are young, always told how great they are, and in a game where individual numbers are everything. So, it is not a mystery why some stars never learn the value of team. Ultimately, teams win and this maturation of a star was great to see. I hope parents of young players noticed this change and pointed it out to their kids.

I also hope coaches of young ball players noticed how many change-ups were thrown. They seemed more prominent than the breaking ball for many playoff pitchers. That is a great lesson for young players and coaches who insist on throwing curve balls at a young age.

I can’t wait for next season.

Former major leaguer Jack Perconte is the author of The Making of a Hitter ( http://jackperconte.com ) and has a baseball instruction blog that can be found at www.baseballcoachingtips.net . He has recently published his second book Raising an Athlete: How to Instill Confidence, Build Skills and Inspire a Love of Sport