One of the biggest deterrents to developing quality pitchers for the long haul is emphasizing accuracy over good mechanics in the early years. Yes, it’s tough to watch a young pitcher struggle with control, and it’s really tempting to tell her to just do whatever to get the ball over the plate so she isn’t walking everyone.

But that type of thinking places the emphasis on outcomes instead of the process. And as anyone who has ever taught anyone to be good at anything can you, if you keep your focus on the process the outcomes will take care of themselves.

Still, we’re at the time of the year where accuracy does, in fact, matter a lot. So how do you get your young pitchers to improve their strikes to balls ratio while keeping them focused on the process?

Following are a couple of tricks you can try.

Set up a barrier to block the problem area

This is one of my favorite. In fact, I’ve probably written about it before but it bears repeating here.

Let’s say your pitcher is throwing everything into the dirt in the batter’s box on her throwing side, e.g., a right handed pitcher throwing into the right hand batter’s box consistently.

Set up a hitting screen (or a ball bag or any other solid object) about 20 feet in front of her that allows full access to the plate but nothing more. You want it far enough away that if she hits it the ball won’t bounce right back at her, but close enough that any slight deviations from a good pitch will hit the screen or other object.

Then tell her to throw a pitch without hitting the screen without offering any instruction on how to do it.

At first she may plunk it a few times. She will probably get a little frustrated at first.

But in time (most likely sooner rather than later) her body and her brain will make some tiny adjustments on their own that allow her to get the ball over the plate without putting the object, herself, or her catcher in any danger.

After she does that a couple of times I like to say, “So you can throw the ball over the plate, you just weren’t doing it” or something to that effect as a way of helping them to an “Aha!” moment while keeping it light. But you do you.

Once the pitcher can throw consistently without hitting the screen, remove the screen and let her keep going. I would say 9 times out of 10 she will continue to throw successfully because she has made the adjustments required at a subconscious level.

If she hits one of those 1 out of 10 situations, pull the screen back in and have her work through it again.

I find this method works better than offering external cues such as “step more to your left” or “let go a little later” because the pitcher is able to find what works for her on her own, without a lot of conscious thought. These become internal cues that she can carry with her more easily into a game, and seem to have a more long-lasting effect.

Make sure her dominant/targeting eye can see the target

Each of us has one eye that is more dominant than the other. In ancient days its job was to home in on an enemy or a potential source of food to help the individual with survival.

Today the need isn’t quite so urgent for most of us but the biological reality of it still exists. You can use this fact to your advantage with your pitchers.

You want them to be sure that when they are getting ready to throw the pitch that their dominant eye is hyper-focused on the target. It doesn’t necessarily have to stay there throughout the pitch, but at some point when the brain is making its decision of how to throw the ball you want to use the dominant eye to help the brain understand the target is “here.”

So how do you know which eye is the pitcher’s dominant eye? Here’s a simple method I actually learned when my sons were at a sleepaway camp with the Cub Scouts. The instructors at the BB gun range would check for the dominant/targeting eye to know how the boys should set up to shoot.

Have the pitcher place her hands together in front of her with one overlapping the other to form a small opening in the space between the thumb and first finger on both sides. The opening must be small in order for the rest to work.

Once she has it, have her hold her hands in front of her at arm’s length and look at you through the hole. Whichever eye is looking at you is the dominant eye, I guess because when we can only use one eye we instinctively go to the dominant one.

If the eye is on the glove side there’s very little potential for problems. It will stay in front as the pitcher’s body opens so should have a good view of the target throughout the pitch.

If it’s on the throwing hand side, however, the pitcher will have to take a little more care to make sure that eye can see the target when it’s time to throw since it will be on the back side.

Eventually the pitcher won’t have to look at the target throughout the pitch. Many high-level pitchers look at the ground or the sky as they’re throwing because it helps them do what they need to do, although it’s likely they’ve already set the target with their dominant eye before they even start their motions.

For those who need a little more help, though, reminding the pitcher to use her dominant eye to focus on the target can help her brain and body make the movements that will deliver a better, more accurate pitch.

Keep it natural

Whenever a pitcher struggles to hit her target there will be no lack of suggestions from whoever is around on how to get more accurate. They all mean well, but like the folks who yell “Just throw strikes” as if the pitcher was trying to walk everyone, most of that advice is either unhelpful or can actually stunt that girl’s growth as a pitcher.

Using these two tricks while you’re practicing can help set good habits that carry over into games without interrupting the natural flow of the motion. If you have a pitcher who’s struggling with control, give these ideas a try.

And if you have others, please be sure to share them in the comments.

My good friend Jay Bolden and I have started a new podcast called “From the Coach’s Mouth” where we interview coaches from all areas and levels of fastpitch softball as well as others who may not be fastpitch people but have lots of interesting ideas to contribute.

You can find it here on Spotify, as well as on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you’re searching, be sure to put the name in quotes, i.e., “From the Coach’s Mouth” so it goes directly to it.

Give it a listen and let us know what you think. And be sure to hit the Like button and subscribe to Life in the Fastpitch Lane for more content like this.