This drill teaches pitchers the basic mechanical checkpoints of a proper throwing motion, one position at a time.
Equipment: bucket of balls — Batting T
Do not use a glove as it just gets in the way at first. Line pitchers up 4-5 in a row and mirror them.
Setup: Feet hip width apart, knees bent, hands at chest a couple of inches away from the chest.
1. Have the front leg come up, then stride and land with weight not coming forward — balanced position. This is sometimes referred to as Flex-T where the lead elbow is bent and the throwing elbow also slightly bent with good extension away from the body. Stride is ultimately 70% of body height but to start it can be 40-50% of body height.
2. Have the pitcher squeeze the lead hand into a fist — this just makes a firm front side.
3. Have the pitcher turn the lead arm and turn the back foot. The lead arm rotates 90 degrees so the fist is now lined up with the shoulder. This all sets up a good motion for the throw, and the back foot turns so that the ball of the foot is still on the ground. This sets up what is referred to as late rotation as the hips have turned but the throwing arm hasn’t rotated yet. There will be good tension in the upper body at this point — this can generate good power when it’s released.
4. Now just have the pitcher fall to the glove and throw, bending the back into a superman position — front leg on the ground and rear leg in the air.
5. Have the pitcher land the rear leg parallel to the front leg and settle into a nice fielding position.
Have the pitchers throw to a T with a ball on it and try to knock the ball off the T. When the ball goes high, the pitcher has released too soon; too low and they are releasing too late. Ball left or right and frequently they are stepping off line. Watch what happens with the ball and give some cues as to how to fix it.
Do it a few times, then have players run to a pole and come back just to reset, as this can be boring. Ultimately try to reduce the time between steps so this becomes fluid, but that may take some real time — 3-4 weeks — and it requires players to work this at home so they build up muscle memory.
Players don’t have to change their whole motion because of this drill — they don’t have to be robots — but this builds up some important things that are critical for ALL pitchers: you just have to step on line, you can’t transfer weight before the throw, you have to have good extension. These are just absolutes and this drill can help. Players will find it boring if you do too much so keep it to 10-15 minutes, be happy, and sprinkle in other drills and some random running and jumping as you go.
**Check after each step:**
– After Step 1: Make sure the throwing elbow is above the shoulder. Make sure eyes are on the target.
– After Step 2: Make sure the front side is firm.
– After Step 3: Make sure the hips really turn, the back foot turns, and it ends up on the ball of the back foot.
– After Step 4: Make sure the pitcher bends back as they throw.
If your pitchers are working on the fundamentals, grab the free Quick Start Guide and keep those mechanics moving in the right direction.
