Learn the secrets of pitching success from the most dominating and electrifying hurler in the game: Randy Johnson. Randy Johnson, the most overpowering pitcher since Sandy Koufax, has devised a teaching system that reveals the intelligent, methodical approach to pitching that has produced five Cy Young awards, nine strikeout titles, and a co-MVP Award in the 2001 World Series. The secret behind all of Randy’s Hall of Fame credentials has been his ability to transform raw power into controlled precision. In Randy Johnson’s Power Pitching , Randy teaches: •The fundamentals of pitching •Control, control, control—how to benefit from patience and precision •The importance of proper mechanics •Physical conditioning drills for injury prevention and high-performance pitching •The mental side of pitching •How to make the most of your natural talent Fully illustrated with previously unpublished photographs from Randy’s personal archive and enlivened with his reminiscences of a life in baseball, this is today’s most essential instructional guide for players and coaches at every level. crets of pitching success from the most dominating and electrifying hurler in the game: Randy Johnson. Randy Johnson, the most overpowering pitcher since Sandy Koufax, has devised a teaching system that reveals the intelligent, methodical approach to pitching that has produced five Cy Young awards, nine strikeout titles, and a co-MVP Award in the 2001 World Series. The secret behind all of Randy s Hall of Fame credentials has been his ability to transform raw power into controlled precision. In Randy Johnson s Power Pitching , Randy teaches: The fundamentals of pitching Control, control, control how to benefit from patience and precision The importance of proper mechanics Physical conditioning drills for injury prevention and high-performance pitching The mental side of pitching How to make the most of your natural talent Fully illustrated with previously u Randy Johnson is a five-time Cy Young Award winner. He pitches for the Arizona Diamondbacks and lives with his wife and four children in Phoenix. Jim rosenthal is the coauthor of Nolan Ryan’s Pitcher’s Bible . He lives in Los Angeles. Chapter 1 The Education of a power Pitcher The goal of this book is to teach you how to be a complete pitcher. I want to share my experience to help you fulfill your full potential. Many people assume that success came easy to me. After all, I'm a power pitcher with pinpoint control, four Cy Young Awards, and a World Series ring. The plain truth is that I struggled at every level. I was wild and inconsistent for much of my high school, college, and minor-league pitching career. Sure, there were fifteen-strikeout games and one-hit shutouts to keep me going. But I was just as likely to walk seven or eight batters and give up five or six runs. My mechanics were a mess. I was all over the place when I pitched, never landing in the same spot twice. My height and extremely long arms and legs made it very difficult to be compact in my delivery. The odd thing is that no one ever taught me to be consistent with my mechanics until I was a big-league pitcher. Once I corrected a mechanical flaw in my delivery, I suddenly went from an out-of-control thrower to the control pitcher. My whole career has been a progression. I never took success for granted. I've had to work hard for everything. And I took my lumps like everyone else. I'm going to teach you the keys to becoming a complete pitcher-mental toughness, proper mechanics, pitch location, and proper grips and physical conditioning. But it will be up to you to put the advice into practice and turn your potential into the intangibles that make a winning pitcher. Playing to win has always been a way of life for me. My entire career has been an ongoing process of staying focused on maximum performance. But I want to stress right from the beginning that you cannot be successful in baseball unless your interest springs from playing the game just for the fun of it. I've conducted many Little League clinics, and my key message to parents is to let their child enjoy the game. Let him or her progress at a natural and comfortable pace, with help from the coaches along the way. Do not put pressure on kids to take the game too seriously. Pushing kids too hard is not going to ensure success. In fact, that's often the biggest barrier that kids face. I realize that the motives are usually positive. After all, every parent wants the best for his or her kids, but in the earliest stages of a pitcher's life, the bottom line is having fun. My son and daughter play baseball and soccer, and I'm supportive of them in every way. But how I can evaluate whether my six-year-old son will ever play in the major leagues? For that matter, how do I know my son is even going to want to play baseball? It's not my position to push him in that direction. My dad was a police officer, not a professional athlete. He just