Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
Friday, July 28, 2006, Washington Post

Making a Pitch for Pitchers

Major League Baseball has a trading deadline on Monday at midnight. After that, it will be harder for teams to trade their players, especially their stars. So teams are scrambling to make deals that might improve their teams.

Just about every team is looking for the same thing: pitchers. Teams are searching for veteran starters, young fireballing prospects, middle relievers and closers. That's because pitchers make up almost half of the players on major league rosters. Eleven of the Nationals' 25 players are pitchers. The Orioles carry 12 pitchers. It's the same in college. The 2006 Maryland Terrapins' roster listed 14 pitchers. Even high school and Little League teams are looking for hurlers.

A team needs only one shortstop or center fielder and someone who can back them up if they get tired or hurt. But as the old baseball saying goes, "You can't have too much pitching."

So if you are a kid who likes baseball, you should try pitching. But what can you do now to become (maybe!) the next Roger Clemens or Dontrelle Willis?

I asked John McCarthy. He's the director of Home Run Baseball Camp in Washington. McCarthy pitched in college and in the minor leagues for the Orioles. Now he teaches baseball to boys and girls ages 4 to 15.

Coach Mac's advice:

• Play catch every day. Stand at different distances and throw the ball back and forth with a buddy. Throw the ball with some zip, but don't throw as hard as you can.
  
  
• Learn the proper throwing motion from someone who knows and then practice your motion. Make the practice mean something by always aiming at a target. Keep track of the number of strikes you throw. Pitchers have to throw strikes.
  
  
• Don't throw a curve or a slider until you are at least 16 years old. You might hurt your arm if you do. Learn to control a fastball and to throw a change-up (a pitch that is slower than a fastball) to trick the hitter.
  
  
• Play baseball in the spring and summer, but play other sports in the fall and winter. That way you will become a better all-around athlete and not get tired of baseball.

Pitching isn't easy. There's pressure on the pitcher to get the ball over the plate. And pitchers have to be smart. Pitching uses the scientific method: The pitcher controls certain variables -- his grip on the ball, the angle of his arm when he throws and how hard he throws -- then observes how the ball moves and whether the batter hits it.

But if you practice hard and become a good pitcher, teams will need you. And, who knows, maybe someday around the trading deadline some pro team will be looking for you.