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[This is part of a series exploring the Baseball Tarot. If you would like to prompt for a part of the game or a card from the deck, there's still a little space. Leave a comment with a prompt. All other comments are still welcome, of course.]
Speaking of errors, the wild pitch is one of the things that a pitcher can do when they're out of focus, or when the mechanics slip, or the ball slips out of their hands. Or when they step wrong on one of the stones on the pitching mound. Occasionally, it happens when the pitcher throws the pitch they want to instead of the pitch called (possibly after some shake-offs and a mound conference) and the catcher can't react in time to the realization.
One of my pitching exercises had a hole for stepping into as the delivery point for a pitch. The first pitch I threw, I sank into the hole, off-balance, and the pitch went wild. Thankfully, nobody was on base at the time. Having diagnosed the problem from that throw, the coach called time and filled it in. The next three pitches were strikes, and I didn't like holes to step into after that.
In any case, the hallmarks of a wild pitch are that the ball has to not be easily handled by the catcher, and that there's someone on the base paths to take advantage of it by advancing a base while the defense retrieves the ball (which is still live). If, for whatever reason, the wild pitch hops out of play, all the penalties assessed to the defense for taking a ball out of play still apply. The official scorer has to indicate that it's a wild pitch, compared to other possibilities where the catcher doesn't collect the ball immediately, but most of the things that end up being classified as wild pitches are pretty obviously so.
Balls that actually hit a batter are a different thing (that's an HBP), but headhunters could be considered wild pitches if they get past the catcher...and the scorer doesn't think of them as intentional. Most commonly, though, the wild pitch is one that bounces in the dirt funny, or doesn't actually bounce when it should, keeping a low profile and getting underneath a rising catcher. If a knuckleball pitcher is in the mound, every pitch is potentially wild and only contained through the incredible skill of the catcher, who has to be able to read where the ball is going from pitch to pitch.
There are a lot of cards in the balls suit that aren't very favorable to the defense. Like all errors, the presence of the Wild Pitch indicates a lack of focus. Something has disrupted the routine past the point of being corrected or recovered from, and the pitch reflects this. It may not be something the pitcher can control that has caused this issue. It might be.
Unlike the balk, which is paying too much attention to ultimately extraneous things, the wild pitch has more in common with throwing errors from the defense, which generally result from trying to rush things too quickly. Trying to deliver a ball to the plate fast enough to give the catcher a chance to throw out sometime stealing can mean not making a mechanically sound pitch and watching as the runner advances anyway. Not getting correctly set at the start can result in landing points that are unfamiliar, which changes the delivery and the result. Throwing without getting a firm foundation set is something that happens on highlight reels when it works...or when it doesn't, and in any league other than the Majors, the "nots" are much more likely to appear. Spontaneity is contrived in baseball, as picking one option from a limited set of possibilities. Those pitchers that are truly impulsive about selection and delivery tend not to last long as professionals, because they won't take direction and they get a lot of his and runs recorded against them.
The advice on a wild pitch is also the same for many errors - slow down, re-focus, and examine your surroundings. Are you rushing through something that requires delicate work or patience? Are you setting impossible deadlines for your subordinates or co-workers? (Are you dealing with impossible deadlines?) Are you trying to do too much at once? Are you running on impulse and instinct for things that require more thought, research, and examination? Quality of work is important at this point, so hopefully you can arrange for lower-priority things to wait for a bit while you get back into the routine. Be deliberate.
If you're dealing with a wild pitch, or someone that throws them a lot, you may need to encourage them to slow down and focus, as well. Once the pitch has left their hand, the only thing to do is try to prevent it from causing too much damage. Bring it to the manager's attention if they don't seem to be doing anything about it, but he ready for the manager to tell you that wild pitches are what they want, because they prize speed over accuracy.
And sometimes, there's just something off about that particular delivery. Learn what you can from it, and go forward. Even machines are off sometimes.
Speaking of errors, the wild pitch is one of the things that a pitcher can do when they're out of focus, or when the mechanics slip, or the ball slips out of their hands. Or when they step wrong on one of the stones on the pitching mound. Occasionally, it happens when the pitcher throws the pitch they want to instead of the pitch called (possibly after some shake-offs and a mound conference) and the catcher can't react in time to the realization.
One of my pitching exercises had a hole for stepping into as the delivery point for a pitch. The first pitch I threw, I sank into the hole, off-balance, and the pitch went wild. Thankfully, nobody was on base at the time. Having diagnosed the problem from that throw, the coach called time and filled it in. The next three pitches were strikes, and I didn't like holes to step into after that.
In any case, the hallmarks of a wild pitch are that the ball has to not be easily handled by the catcher, and that there's someone on the base paths to take advantage of it by advancing a base while the defense retrieves the ball (which is still live). If, for whatever reason, the wild pitch hops out of play, all the penalties assessed to the defense for taking a ball out of play still apply. The official scorer has to indicate that it's a wild pitch, compared to other possibilities where the catcher doesn't collect the ball immediately, but most of the things that end up being classified as wild pitches are pretty obviously so.
Balls that actually hit a batter are a different thing (that's an HBP), but headhunters could be considered wild pitches if they get past the catcher...and the scorer doesn't think of them as intentional. Most commonly, though, the wild pitch is one that bounces in the dirt funny, or doesn't actually bounce when it should, keeping a low profile and getting underneath a rising catcher. If a knuckleball pitcher is in the mound, every pitch is potentially wild and only contained through the incredible skill of the catcher, who has to be able to read where the ball is going from pitch to pitch.
There are a lot of cards in the balls suit that aren't very favorable to the defense. Like all errors, the presence of the Wild Pitch indicates a lack of focus. Something has disrupted the routine past the point of being corrected or recovered from, and the pitch reflects this. It may not be something the pitcher can control that has caused this issue. It might be.
Unlike the balk, which is paying too much attention to ultimately extraneous things, the wild pitch has more in common with throwing errors from the defense, which generally result from trying to rush things too quickly. Trying to deliver a ball to the plate fast enough to give the catcher a chance to throw out sometime stealing can mean not making a mechanically sound pitch and watching as the runner advances anyway. Not getting correctly set at the start can result in landing points that are unfamiliar, which changes the delivery and the result. Throwing without getting a firm foundation set is something that happens on highlight reels when it works...or when it doesn't, and in any league other than the Majors, the "nots" are much more likely to appear. Spontaneity is contrived in baseball, as picking one option from a limited set of possibilities. Those pitchers that are truly impulsive about selection and delivery tend not to last long as professionals, because they won't take direction and they get a lot of his and runs recorded against them.
The advice on a wild pitch is also the same for many errors - slow down, re-focus, and examine your surroundings. Are you rushing through something that requires delicate work or patience? Are you setting impossible deadlines for your subordinates or co-workers? (Are you dealing with impossible deadlines?) Are you trying to do too much at once? Are you running on impulse and instinct for things that require more thought, research, and examination? Quality of work is important at this point, so hopefully you can arrange for lower-priority things to wait for a bit while you get back into the routine. Be deliberate.
If you're dealing with a wild pitch, or someone that throws them a lot, you may need to encourage them to slow down and focus, as well. Once the pitch has left their hand, the only thing to do is try to prevent it from causing too much damage. Bring it to the manager's attention if they don't seem to be doing anything about it, but he ready for the manager to tell you that wild pitches are what they want, because they prize speed over accuracy.
And sometimes, there's just something off about that particular delivery. Learn what you can from it, and go forward. Even machines are off sometimes.
