hello,
I've started throwing to get my speed up and i'm wondering how many pitchs i should be throwing a day if i'm 17 years old.
thanks,
You know your Canadian when you use a hockey net as pitching net. True story.
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Matt you may be a Candian but it also shows you're a true baseball player lol.
To answer your question I need some more information.
How long have you been going at it?
Have you done any mound work or just flat ground throwing (not pitching)?
How in shape are you with conditioning?
Ideally you would like to be able to throw around 85 - 105 pitches for a 7 inning game. That would mean you are throwing 12 - 15 per inning. Obviously you want to keep that total down but a big strong kid who is in shape with good mechanics should be able to have a higher ceiling.
Whatever you do listen to your body. If it's not there then shut it down and that includes games. No sense in pushing it when it could lead to an injury.
To answer your question I need some more information.
How long have you been going at it?
Have you done any mound work or just flat ground throwing (not pitching)?
How in shape are you with conditioning?
Ideally you would like to be able to throw around 85 - 105 pitches for a 7 inning game. That would mean you are throwing 12 - 15 per inning. Obviously you want to keep that total down but a big strong kid who is in shape with good mechanics should be able to have a higher ceiling.
Whatever you do listen to your body. If it's not there then shut it down and that includes games. No sense in pushing it when it could lead to an injury.
Is Matt talking about throwing or pitching ?---the two are not necessarily the same
Well i'm talking about pitching first of all and i haven't done anymound work yet i have a little up hill in my backyard so i use that as a mound if just started throwing all more today i throw maybe 40 pitches today and plan on doing more tomorrow. i'm in good condition. But about 3 to 4 years ago i hurt my should really bad i had to take 3 weeks off playing and throwing periode. i pitched 12 inning in 2 days for my house league team( up here we play houseleague and a travelling team because there aren't enouf travelling team to make a league). and i was the only pitcher on that team because are house league system is stupid the coachs get to pick what ever player they want so i ended on the bad team with no pitchers. so my arm still hurts from time to time and when it does i tell my coach that i'm done for the night and he gives me the night off. But last season are rep team folded so i got alot of time off and i think that i'm good to go for this season with out any injurys. and thanks coach for the complament on the true baseball player.
You know your Canadian when you use a hockey net as pitching net. True story.
You know your Canadian when you use a hockey net as pitching net. True story.
Matt don't let yourself be overworked like that. It's not any good and will never be of any benefit.
Do you have ambition to be a college pitcher or are you just trying to get in shape for the summer season?
Reason I ask is that if you have college aspirations then I'm thinking you need to get some private coaching instruction. While creative and resourceful throwing off an uphill incline is not very good. I understand if it's all you got then it's all you got but if you can get to a place with a private coach then get to it.
As for what you need to throw you need to find a program to build up your number of pitches and effort over time.
I have no idea when you will start playing so I will give you the throwing program I used while I was a head coach in Kentucky. This is based on a six week preseason.
First week - flat ground THROWING (not pitching) just to start getting arms in shape. Throw five days and work on long tossing.
Second week - continue flat ground throwing but step on the mound. Throw 20 - 30 pitches depending on how feel. Throw at around 80% effort and nothing but fastballs. Work on mechanics and location. In this situation we throw off the mound about 3 times a week. Monday Wednesday and Friday
Third week - flat ground because all of our pitchers were position players. Mound work - up it 30 - 40 pitches at about 85% (obviously this is up to the pitcher but we dont' want max effort this early). Start mixing it up with fastballs / changeups. In this situation we throw off the mound 3 times a week. MWF
Fourth week - Mound work up it to 40 - 50 pitches still at 85% (still up to the pitcher but still not max effort). Sticking with fastballs / change ups. Still throw 3 times a week.
Fifth week - Mound work up to 50 - 60 pitches at max effort. Fastballs and change ups but mix in about 10 - 15 curves. Now we throw twice a week. We shoot for Monday and Thursday but if a guy still feels tender we bump it back to Friday
Sixth week - Mound work up to 60 - 70 pitches at max effort. Fastballs, changes and about 20 - 25 curves. This is usually when we have scrimmages against other teams so one of their "bullpens" will be against the other team.
Once the season starts we limit them to around 80 - 90 pitches per game for about the first two starts. After that we just turn them loose and base number of pitches on how they feel, mechanics and effort during games. Once they start losing their mechanics and effort starts going up we get them out. Overall the cap was around 110 pitches regardless.
But we also told our pitchers that if they didn't feel it to let us know and we would shut them down or limit what they did. We were going to push them and push them hard but in order to do that we needed complete honesty as to how they felt and we believed them. Worked great overall.
Hopefully this will help you start to get ready for your season.
Do you have ambition to be a college pitcher or are you just trying to get in shape for the summer season?
Reason I ask is that if you have college aspirations then I'm thinking you need to get some private coaching instruction. While creative and resourceful throwing off an uphill incline is not very good. I understand if it's all you got then it's all you got but if you can get to a place with a private coach then get to it.
As for what you need to throw you need to find a program to build up your number of pitches and effort over time.
I have no idea when you will start playing so I will give you the throwing program I used while I was a head coach in Kentucky. This is based on a six week preseason.
First week - flat ground THROWING (not pitching) just to start getting arms in shape. Throw five days and work on long tossing.
Second week - continue flat ground throwing but step on the mound. Throw 20 - 30 pitches depending on how feel. Throw at around 80% effort and nothing but fastballs. Work on mechanics and location. In this situation we throw off the mound about 3 times a week. Monday Wednesday and Friday
Third week - flat ground because all of our pitchers were position players. Mound work - up it 30 - 40 pitches at about 85% (obviously this is up to the pitcher but we dont' want max effort this early). Start mixing it up with fastballs / changeups. In this situation we throw off the mound 3 times a week. MWF
Fourth week - Mound work up it to 40 - 50 pitches still at 85% (still up to the pitcher but still not max effort). Sticking with fastballs / change ups. Still throw 3 times a week.
Fifth week - Mound work up to 50 - 60 pitches at max effort. Fastballs and change ups but mix in about 10 - 15 curves. Now we throw twice a week. We shoot for Monday and Thursday but if a guy still feels tender we bump it back to Friday
Sixth week - Mound work up to 60 - 70 pitches at max effort. Fastballs, changes and about 20 - 25 curves. This is usually when we have scrimmages against other teams so one of their "bullpens" will be against the other team.
Once the season starts we limit them to around 80 - 90 pitches per game for about the first two starts. After that we just turn them loose and base number of pitches on how they feel, mechanics and effort during games. Once they start losing their mechanics and effort starts going up we get them out. Overall the cap was around 110 pitches regardless.
But we also told our pitchers that if they didn't feel it to let us know and we would shut them down or limit what they did. We were going to push them and push them hard but in order to do that we needed complete honesty as to how they felt and we believed them. Worked great overall.
Hopefully this will help you start to get ready for your season.
Thanks alot,
i'm looking to try and get into university/college ball. but mostly for outfeild but would like to get in shape for the summer. and there not really any private or any pitching coach we just have coachs that do there best so we can just play.
Thanks alot for the scheduale i'll defeniently use it,
dalcma
i'm looking to try and get into university/college ball. but mostly for outfeild but would like to get in shape for the summer. and there not really any private or any pitching coach we just have coachs that do there best so we can just play.
Thanks alot for the scheduale i'll defeniently use it,
dalcma
Great Question! One I get asked everyday. Here is a little article on a throwing program/regimen you may find useful
http://www.thepitchingacademy.com/?page_id=44
http://www.thepitchingacademy.com/?page_id=44
