Q&A for How to Pitch a Baseball

Doing front raises and side raises with resistance bands can help increase your pitching power.

Any breaking pitch -- such as a slider -- changes its trajectory because of the spin the pitcher puts on the ball as he releases it. It is literally the friction with air and the "lift" it creates that causes the ball to move left, right, up or down as it approaches home plate.

You just have to practice. Once you keep throwing over and over, you'll get used to releasing the ball at the right time.

Youth leagues have rules governing how many pitches young pitchers are allowed to throw in a day and how many days of rest he must take between outings.

It's a fastball that behaves a little like a curveball. See wikiHow's article, "How to Throw a Cut Fastball."

You're letting the presence of the batter distract you. Concentrate on the strike zone. If you know that a particular batter has trouble hitting a pitch to a particular part of the strike zone, aim for that part. When in doubt, aim for the lower-outside corner of the zone.

No, the softball is bigger than the baseball and is pitched differently.

Aim for the strike zone. That's the area immediately above home plate between the batter's knees and armpits. That's the usual definition of the strike zone, but umpires have complete discretion in interpreting that rule. As you get better at pitching, you'll want to concentrate on keeping the ball away from the batter and at knee level.

Use a longer than usual stride to make the pitch go higher and a shorter stride to make it go lower.

No. However, the more English or "spin" that you put on the ball, the more curve you will get. Be cautious about how you spin your wrist, because you can do more harm by twisting at a break away point. I would suggest that you try the snap back method at the peak break away point, which will cause a much more effective spin on the ball, thus making a strong curvature on the travel of your pitch.

Players are usually restricted to wearing only what is included in a team uniform. If you mean something like a sweat band, it might be allowed unless the umpire believes it is distracting to the hitters or otherwise constitutes an unfair advantage to the pitcher.

One. A pitcher stands with one foot on the pitching rubber and takes one long stride toward the plate while throwing a pitch.

You usually take signals from your catcher. Your catcher will usually get them from the coach or make them up himself. If you do not like a particular signal, you can shake it off, and the catcher will choose something else.

If you're asking about a pitch that hits home plate, that would be a pitch below the strike zone. Assuming the batter does not swing at it, the pitch would be called a "ball," and the batter would not be out. If the batter swings at and misses the pitch, assuming the catcher catches the pitch and tags the batter (or throws him out at first base), the batter is out.

"Running" refers to a pitch's sliding movement toward the batter near the end of its trip to the strike zone.