Neal Heaton

I had the pleasure of playing for Jim Leyland for three years. Sitting next to him was like going to Harvard for 12 years and studying baseball. I learned a lot from him and he taught me if you don’t hold guys on properly you will run yourself right out of the game. It is very important for pitchers to keep the running game in check and there’s several ways to do it. I will break it down for lefties and righties. Lefties: You have a huge advantage. As we saw from Jon Lester, you don’t even have to throw the ball over in order to prevent runners from stealing. Leyland told me the most important thing is being able to vary how long you hold onto the ball prior to your delivery. Base runners love seeing a pattern with how many looks you give and how many seconds you are in your set position p...

(Editor’s Note: Neal Heaton is a 12-year MLB veteran pitcher. He was the 1st overall pick in the 1979 MLB Draft out of Sachem HS. He opted to attend the University of Miami where he set several program pitching records including most victories in a season (18), most victories in a career (42), most strikeouts in a game (23), most strikeouts in a season (172) and most strikeouts in a career (381). His number is now retired by the school. He was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the 2nd round of the 1981 MLB Draft. He now gives private pitching lessons at Matt Giuliano’s Play Like a Pro in Hauppauge). Recently I’ve had a number of parents call and mention that their son’s velocity is down and not performing as well as they’d hope. It’s frustrating for s...

There was so many tough hitters that I faced in my career. I was lucky enough to face Hall of Famers like Rod Carew, Tony Gwynn, Reggie Jackson and Carl Yastrzemski. Believe it or not, the big power sluggers were not the ones that gave me the most trouble. I did pretty well against Ken Griffey (both of them), Don Mattingly and George Brett. The free swingers with long swings weren’t the problem. It was the guys with good bat control that could foul of tough pitches on two strikes. Here are some that come to mind: Wade Boggs – (Career Line: .328 AVG, 3,010 hits, 118 HRs, 1513 runs) He was the toughest hitter I ever faced. Inside-out hitters are the toughest to get out. I never faced Derek Jeter – but players like him that could take the inside pitch and hit it the other wa...

You only get one shot at this. For me it was in 1979, when I was a senior at Sachem High School. When you have dreams of getting drafted, you have to learn how to make sacrifices. That means staying in when you’re friends are going out. It could mean not going to prom. It means not going to the beach when your friends are. Not many kids now want to make the sacrifices necessary or put in the work. If it’s raining, that’s no excuse not to run outside. In fact, that’s the best time–because most likely nobody else is getting that work in. You need to have the mentality that you’re trying to get a little bit of an edge. That’s really what it takes to have success at the higher levels. It means doing more things that involve the game of baseball–running, fielding, throwing. When it comes to soc...

(Editor’s Note: Neal Heaton is a 12-year MLB Veteran pitcher. He was the No. 1 overall pick in the MLB Draft and is in the University of Miami’s Hall of Fame. He now gives pitching lessons at 365 Athletics in Bellport, NY. The following words are his own.) A pitcher should be treated like a race horse–carefully groomed and you cannot accelerate that process. When a pitcher picks up the ball for the first time in January, they haven’t pitched off a mound for over two months. I tell my pitchers before I see them on the mound they should have done a bit of long-tossing. You should not be going from inactivity to a mound. I took a lot of precautions to stay healthy in my career, and for that reason I landed on the DL only once–and it was a freak accident during BP while running sprints. Here a...

(Editor’s Note: Neal Heaton spent 12 seasons in the Major Leagues as a LHP for several teams. He was named to the National League All-Star Team in 1990 for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1979 MLB Draft out of Sachem HS. He opted to attend college at the University of Miami, where he set several program records and was named to their Hall of Fame in 1993. He is now a Pitching Instructor at 365 Athletics in Bellport, if you’d like to book a pitching lesson with him you can call 631-848-3824 Now that the 2020 season has come to an end. Now what should you do? Now is the time to give your body a much-needed break. When I was in the big leagues, I always took a two-week break after the season to let my body recover. After a long season, your body is feeling drained...

If hitting is timing, then pitching is disrupting timing. There is no better way to do that than to be unpredictable as a pitcher. Hitters are taught to look for fastballs in particular counts–0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1, 3-2. They sit back and look for a pitcher’s fastball. If they have any doubt what type of pitch is coming–they lose a little bit of confidence. That can be just enough to get him off his game. Throwing breaking balls and change ups in these hitter’s counts is called ‘pitching backwards’ and it is a very important for a young pitcher to eventually develop this skill in order to get to college because that’s when hitters will really make you pay for your mistakes. At the lower levels, it’s really not as important to pitch backwards as it is to get ahead in the count. Throwing q...