Secret behind success of aces like Justin Verlander and Roy Halladay - MLB Feature
Repeating the same excellent performance one season after another is a prerogative of only a few Major League pitchers. Most of the time what happens is that as soon as a player reaches the climax in their career, either motivation for excelling further
dwindles or he starts procrastinating in some areas. That is what defines a difference between a good pitcher and a great one.
Roy Halladay will never relent in fulfilling his duties regardless of significance of game he is playing. Neither does a splendid show in one game will send him in complacency for the next match. For him every game is a new one and as Philadelphia Phillies’
general manager Ruben Amaro believes, that he is one of those players who are always sure of their physical and mental strength before entering into any game.
"The biggest thing that stands out to me is the way he prepares both physically and mentally for each one of his starts and in between each one of his starts and even during his bullpens," Amaro said.
The moment he takes position on the mound, even batters will not know themselves more than he will be aware of them. Thus, he will trick them cheaply. Planning for various situations he thinks he can come across there, he will deliberate beforehand. For
example, if batters get over him for a while he does not need to take a pause on the mound, a mistake most pitchers commit during the game, instead he will outwit them conveniently with something he had already meditated.
When he came up with one of his best performances in 2010, next season he appeared in 2011 and nobody thought he will turn out as good once more. As he went on to prove people wrong even then, he displayed a fact that he never takes laurels on his mind,
continuous improvements in his pitches are more important for him.
In 2010 he threw a staggering number of just over 250 innings and ends up having a best win-loss record from National League of 21-10. In the next season, he follows with another incredible performance, a 19-6 win-loss and an amazing ERA of 2.35.
Almost following footsteps of Halladay, Justin Verlander is another pitcher in line of becoming one of the most organised players in Baseball. Finishing off with an impressive record of 24 wins, ERA of 2.40 with 250 strike-outs in 2011, he is equally upbeat
to replicate those figures in the 2012 regular season. Whether it is an Exhibition game, Spring Training or the regular season, his commitment is affected least.
"No," Verlander said. "I treat every game like a real game."
It is because of his attitude that he has improved enormously over the years. Until the start of the 2011 regular season, he had a mediocre ERA with relatively unimpressive win-loss record. As he kept fine-tuning his skills, he eventually saw his moments
in 2011.
Comparison between his overall career record and last season performance reveals a massive improvement he brought up. While his career ERA stands at 3.54, it is 2.40 in 2011 and similarly his amazing WHIP last season of .92 is way better than his overall
WHIP of 1.19.
Both Halladay and Verlander are adept at adjustments. As soon as someone on the plate they believe will thrash their fastballs, they will immediately prepare for change-ups and breaking balls. Instead of being buried by momentum that batters at times experience,
they will always keep something new in their artillery to startle them.
Keeping in view their preparations in Spring Training and that their commitment with their game, one cannot find any reason why they will not have another great year in the upcoming regular season.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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