The Mound Visit
Stop Trying to “Just Throw a Strike”
November 13, 2026 · 5 min read · Jackson Hicks
I had a high school pitcher in for a bullpen the other day. We started with a velo ladder, where the goal every pitch is to throw harder than the one before. Once he plateaued, the plan was to finish with three or four simulated at-bats.
During the velo ladder he pounded the zone. We didn't say a word about location, and he was just trying to throw hard. Still, the ball ended up in the zone consistently.
Then, right before we started batters, he asked: "At the end, can I get a couple more fastballs to try to throw hard?"
This is a revealing question. It means that in his head there are two modes: throw hard and throw strikes. Once a hitter stands in the box, you switch from the first to the second. So in the at-bats his fastball got slower, and it landed in the zone less often than it had during the ladder. He gave up velocity and didn't even get the strikes he was trading it for.
And it isn't just high school kids. When I was in the Twins organization, I had a teammate who topped out at 98 and warmed up in the bullpen at 95–96. In games he'd sit in the low 90s, sometimes the upper 80s, and always struggled with walks.
Jared, my pitching coach at the time (and now my boss and the other half of the Mound Visit), asked him about it. His answer: "I throw more strikes when I throw slower." Jared had to pull up his data to show him it wasn't true.
That's a professional with a 98 mph arm and a job on the line, with the same belief that you have to dial it back to find the zone. So I wanted to see if the belief holds up at the highest level.
What I looked at
I looked at all 439 pitchers who threw at least 200 fastballs in MLB this season. Then I split each pitcher's fastballs into buckets by his own velocity: slowest 25%, middle 50%, hardest 25%. I'm not comparing a 99 mph reliever to an 89 mph soft-tosser. It's the same guy throwing the same pitch.
For each group I measured strike rate (called strikes, swinging strikes, fouls, and balls in play) and zone rate (the share of pitches in the strike zone).
The big takeaway: most pitchers throw more strikes when they throw harder
310 of the 439 pitchers (71%) threw more strikes with their hardest fastballs than with their slowest. Only 125 went the other way. On average, the hardest quarter's strike rate was about 3 points higher.
It wasn't a few outliers carrying it, either. About 41% of pitchers threw at least 5 points more strikes at their hardest. Only 13% threw 5 or more points fewer.
And there are some big names (including the two newest Cy Young Award winners) who had the biggest differences:
Those are starters throwing 1,200+ fastballs each, and every one threw roughly 11 to 15 percent more strikes when he let it eat.
Raw zone rate is muddier. Only 54% of pitchers threw their hardest fastballs in the zone more often than their slowest. But that's because of when pitchers throw their hardest. 43% of a pitcher's hardest fastballs come with two strikes, compared with 15% of his slowest.
So I controlled for count (a 2-2 fastball against other 2-2 fastballs, a 1-0 against other 1-0s, etc.). Once you do that, 69% of pitchers threw their hardest fastballs in the zone more often.
So the increase in strike rate isn't just caused by hitters chasing higher velo more often. Pitchers are actually finding the zone with their hardest pitches more.
What about the middle?
The middle 50% isn't halfway between the two ends. It sits much closer to the hardest group. Going from a pitcher's slowest quarter to his middle half adds about 2.4 points of strike rate. Going from the middle to the hardest adds only 0.7 more.
Split each pitcher's fastballs into tenths and the shape is clear. His slowest 10% sit about 3 points below average on both strike rate and zone rate. Things climb quickly through the bottom 30%, then level off.
So the takeaway isn't that your hardest fastball is magic. It's that the fastballs where a pitcher takes something off are the ones that miss the zone most often.
To be clear, this is a correlation. Some slow fastballs probably come from a pitcher who's tired or out of sync that day. But I think a lot of it is what happens when guys just try to "throw a strike." They slow everything down, lose their mechanics, and get pushy with the ball. Either way, easing off isn't buying anyone strikes.
What this means for you
When a kid believes he can't throw strikes at full intensity, that belief follows him everywhere. With a hitter in the box, in a big count, in a game that matters, part of him decides it's time to be careful. He dials back his effort thinking it'll help him find the zone.
That's the switch my high schooler flipped in his bullpen and the one my old teammate flipped every time he went from the bullpen to the game mound. And that's how you end up throwing slower and, based on this data, with less command.
What I'd change in training
Stop splitting bullpens into "velo days" and "command days." In a game you need to throw hard in the zone, so practice that. Command work keeps the intent, and velo work still has a target.
Keep the radar on when the hitter steps in. If velo drops as soon as a batter's in the box, the pitcher has shifted into protect mode. That's worth a conversation.
Show players their own numbers. Track strikes during velo work and velo during command work. Most, like my teammate with the Twins, have never seen or internalized that they throw just as many strikes, or more, when they let it go.
Low-intensity work still has its place: recovery days, new grips, isolated drills. Just don't call it command work.
Command isn't something you get by slowing down. It comes from a delivery you can repeat at full speed. So train it that way.
Data: Statcast, 2026 MLB regular season. 439 pitchers with 200+ of their primary fastball (four-seam or sinker). Strike = called, swinging, foul, or in play. Zone = Statcast zones 1–9. Count-adjusted numbers compare each pitch to the league rate for the same ball-strike count.