Help a pitcher

Unless you have been on a throwing program all winter the wordt thing you can do is start throwing as hard as you can this early.


You need to build on the distance you throw and the intensity to which you throw.

Take your time in doing this '

Seadog

The choices we make dictate the lives we lead.

You'll be an effective pitcher if you can hit your spots. Location is more important then velocity. To increase your velocity improve your mechanics; that will also improve your ability to hit your spots. Concentrait on improveing your mechanics.

Remember the best pitch in baseball is strike one. I will take an 82 mph strike one before a 4 pitch 92 mph walk. The three things you want in the following order. Location movement and velocity. Notice velocity is last. Have all three and it is great. Have velocity and no clue where the ball is going there is a real problem.

EG,

The movement and location etc... are very important, however velocity is right up there with them. Once your arm is in good shape you should not be underthrowing just to try and save your arm. The best way to develop your arm strength is long toss number 1, but throwing fastballs number 2.

You also must teach your body to work at game speed. That's great that you can hit spots at 70 percent but when you crank it up during season, your body will be working at a much faster rate. From that perspective alone you should be teaching your body to work at "game speed."

Just remember to have your arm in good shape before you crank it up. No need to hurt yourself!

"Forget the curveball Ricky, give em the heater."

Talk to your coach a bit more. Generally, the coach isn't looking for full effort on every single pitch. Usually, a coach will want you to work on your control and off speed pitches to begin a bullpen session and then only after you are completely loose have you let it go and try to throw full speed. The full speed pitches are necessary to teach your body to throw harder. The result will be a little better velocity on all your pitches and just as important the ability to bring the high heat when the situation calls for it. If you've been hitting the corners at 72 mph and you go high and tight at 76 mph you have a pretty good chance of fooling most hitters. If you throw all your pitches at 76 mph you have a pretty good chance of watching balls go over the fence.

My son is younger so the number of pitches might not be the same for an older kid but once he's loose we have him throw 4 pitches about a foot off the outside corner, then 4 pitches about a foot inside, 4 pitches on the outside corner, and 4 pitches on the inside corner. He then throws from 5 to 10 off speed pitches. Next he throws a couple medium speed fastballs and then from 5 to 10 fastballs (depending on how the arm feels) trying for max velocity without throwing a wild pitch. After that if his arm is OK we'll throw to 1 or 2 simulated batters, mixing in each type of pitch.