In this episode of Patrick Jones Baseball, I interview Nate Yeskie, Pitching
Coach and Associate Head Coach at the University of Arizona. Nate Yeskie has helped guide
Oregon State to a national championship in 2018, was named Assistant Coach of the Year by
D1 Baseball in 2017, was named 2x National Pitching Coach of the Year by Collegiate Baseball in 2013 and 2017. Nate shares a ton of useful pitching information and ways to prepare pitchers for game time.
Episode Highlights:
- How has it been for Nate Yeskie to transition from Oregon State to the University of Arizona?
- What did Nate Yeskie implement in the fall that maybe was different before he arrived at the University of Arizona?
- Can video work at times get players, especially pitchers, to overthink?
- What would he say to one of his pitchers if he didn’t have any information on the hitters that they were facing?
- Does he ever talk to his players about their individual mental game plan when they are going into a game?
- Does he talk to his guys about pitchers tipping pitches?
- When and why did he implement using weighted balls?
- When he is recruiting pitches, what things must they have going for themselves?
- What drills help pitchers throw harder?
- Does he practice PFPs?
- Is there anything valuable about pitchers fielding the ball?
- Work with a growth mindset.
- Nate talks about how he communicates with players.
- Know when to push and pull with pitchers.
- When pitchers are struggling on the mound, what does he talk about during mound visits?
- Be authentic and who you are. The players know when you are fake.
- What if a pitcher needs to get their arm to align with their release?
- What does he think about pitch count and innings?
- Why has he turned down professional baseball jobs?
3 Key Points:
- Focus on training players with routines of things they can control.
- Batters are going to swing where they like the ball to be. Pitchers should pay attention to what they like to swing at.
- When you release a pitch, you become the 5th infielder, 6th if you consider the bunt game with the catcher coming into play.
Tweetable Quotes:
- “We educate them each day, whether it is video, bullpens, anything that we’re doing to try to get them better. We have to educate them through that process in an effort to empower them.” – Nate Yeskie
- “When it comes to pitching, ‘feel’ is probably the most important thing.” – Nate Yeskie
- “I think a lot of times coaches can fall into a trap of repeating themselves, or coming up with their own terminology, and what you are now doing I think is force-feeding the athlete to look through your eyes.” – Nate Yeskie
Resources Mentioned:
● patrickjonesbaseball.com
● Nate Yeskie’s Social Media: Twitter
● Axe Bat: axebat.com Type in code PJB25 for a 25% off discount
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