Making Adjustments During the Season 

A Four-Part Series 

In-Season Course Correction Part 3: 

Sharpening Your Secondary Weapons - Merging Feel, Feedback, and Tech For Better Off-Speed Stuff 

The following is a short series dedicated to making quick improvements in four of the most common areas of need during the season. 

Let’s be honest… 

You’re in the middle of your season, and things aren’t going quite how you hoped. Maybe your velocity is dipping a bit, your recovery feels slower, or your command and ability to generate swing-and-misses are beginning to fade.  

You’re not broken, but you’re definitely not thriving. 

The good news? There’s still time to turn the ship around. You don’t need to wait until the off-season to make meaningful progress. At the Texas Baseball Ranch®, we’ve worked with thousands of pitchers just like you—guys who felt like their season was slipping and needed real answers, fast. 

This four-part series will focus on four common areas you can improve immediately: 

This week, we take a look at #3… 

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Let’s face it, if you want to compete at the next level, a decent fastball won’t be enough for long. 

You need ways to disrupt a hitter’s rhythm and timing, and challenge his ability to predict when—and where—the ball will enter the hitting zone. Too many young pitchers report having multiple off-speed pitches, but they fall short of being effective. 

At the Texas Baseball Ranch®, we have worked with hundreds of pitchers on developing truly elite secondary stuff. In our experience, the future of pitch development lies in blending “feel” and feedback, married with the right technology for objective assessment. 

Here’s how we suggest a young pitcher begin building a complete arsenal: 

Step 1: Know What You’re Trying to Build 

Before you ever throw a breaking ball in front of a data collection equipment (ie Rapsodo®, Trackman, Yakkertech), ask yourself two foundational questions: 

At the Ranch, we refer to this as a Pitch Utility Audit. With dozens of breaking balls and off-speed variations cataloged, matching the pitch to your mechanics, intent, and overall profile is essential. 

To put it simply: 

You can’t develop a pitch you don’t fully understand. 

A great secondary pitch should fit your movement pattern, release metrics, postural orientation, and your existing repertoire. 

Step 2: Use Technology to Confirm Shape Objectively 

Tools like Rapsodo®, Trackman, Yakkertech, and pitchLogic give you real-time objective data on: 

But here’s the key: Use the data as a guidepost—not a verdict. 

Too many young pitchers chase “ideal” numbers they’ve seen online, instead of finding the pitch that fits their body and delivery. At the Ranch, we emphasize building pitches you can command and trust, not just ones that “look good on paper.” 

Step 3: Use Feel to Build Repeatability 

We’re big fans of constraint-based throwing. Here are a few of the tools and methods we use to reinforce “feel” without unnecessary stress: 

We also integrate variability and overload/underload training—throwing from unstable surfaces, alternating tempos, and sequencing intent levels—to help athletes “own” the shape, rather than chase it once. 

The goal? Make repeatability feel automatic so the pitch is yours, not a one-off result. 

Step 4: Drill, Test, Adjust, Repeat 

This is the feedback loop that separates throwers from true developers. 

Finding the right grip or movement cue may take 50-100 targeted reps over several days or weeks, but once it clicks, you’ll know it. 

Step 5: Make It Game-Ready 

Once the shape is dialed in, it must work under pressure. This is where competitive bullpens and game-speed rehearsals become essential. 

At the Ranch, we chart command zones and run 5-10 pitch challenges, targeting multiple quadrants with precise intent. We encourage pitchers to simulate fatigue, sequence secondaries under pressure, and compete in live ABs with real-time tech-tracking performance. 

This reveals not only which pitches look good, but which ones hold up when things get tough. 

Bonus Tip: Train the Arm, Not Just the Pitch 

Elite secondary stuff doesn’t come from simply “flipping one in for a strike.” It comes from throwing with conviction and from an arm that’s prepared to handle the stress those movements demand. 

That means: 

As our friend Lee Fiocchi often says: 

“Stability is the anchor that allows strength to express itself in game-like chaos.” 

That includes your secondary pitches. 

Final Word: Build Your Pitch, Not Someone Else’s 

Every pitcher has a unique fingerprint—unique release, unique posture, unique mobility profile. That means your ideal slider or changeup probably won’t look like the one you saw on Instagram. 

Build your own pitch. Own your own weapon. 

Let data inform you. Let feel guide you. Let repetition refine you. 

The future belongs to pitchers who know their stuff. Let’s build it. 

Coming Next: “Part 4 - Keys to Enhancing Consistency Outing to Outing”