Long toss

younggun, welcome to the hsbbw!

My son is a LHP who has had success with long-toss. He threw year-round, even in winter (indoors) at least 5 times a week with no breaks. He did that since age 11 or 12. I believe long-toss contributed to his eventual velocity.

As he progressed to college the long-toss reps per week have tapered off but not the throwing. For example, he no longer long-tosses prior to a start so as to not have issues with his release point.

As for methods, do a "search" on this website for the Jaeger method, which I recommend. BTW, a properly thrown curveball will not hurt your son's arm. Bum, Jr. has thrown 'em since age 11.
I also believe consistently low pitch counts can be a negative (a player's arm needs to train to go the distance), but that's a discussion for another day.

Good luck to you son.

Bum thanks for your reply. Just for Thea record, I meant that his pitch counts were monitored to the guidelines consistent with the recommendations of Dr. Andrews. I agree with you that pitchers arms must be conditioned to go the distance and am not sure if we aren't being over protective. Guess we just ave to follow our hearts and keep our kids best interest. I know different people have different ideas. If you read about Trevor Bauer I think he threw as far as he could, as hard as he could and as much as he could. One sure can't argue with his results.

My son didn't do a lot of log toss before his Jr/Sr year and did some then, but not a lot. I've talked with Tom House personally am in agreement with much of what he says and teaches. . .or, he agrees with much what I already come to believe. ;-) Now in college, my son does much more long toss as part of his workout program. However, I don't think he does a "lot" of it as he uses it more for stretching out certain muscles rather than as part of a conditioning for strength process. Strength from conditioning for throwing has come from working with weights and routines, which has apparently worked very well for him.

I think one has to be very careful about comparing what one player does vs. another and what they do as there's a lot of physics involved that is different from one player to another.

All I can really say is the players I have coached that long tossed on a regular basis all had the strongest arms. In fact it has never even been close. I have never coached a player that didnt long toss who had a stronger arm than those who did. I believe in long toss.

I try to do long toss with the boy. Of course these days my idea of long toss and his idea of long toss are two different things. I can't throw the ball 100 feet.

So it is now more hit the ball to left field and have him throw it back to me. Not the same but I don't have to ice my shoulder after three throws.

quote:

Originally posted by Coach_May:
All I can really say is the players I have coached that long tossed on a regular basis all had the strongest arms. In fact it has never even been close. I have never coached a player that didnt long toss who had a stronger arm than those who did. I believe in long toss.

This says all that needs to be said on this subject! Thread over! I say what he said..

youggun,

I agree with Coach May and Prime9, and I think you will find many others that believe in long toss without a doubt or hesitation.

My oldest son has been doing long toss since he was 11. He's always had a strong arm, but long toss has helped make it stronger and more durable without a doubt. Now, his college pitching coach has him do Jaeger band work before he throws either long toss or a bullpen session. He's shown my two other pitcher sons and me how to use the bands too. I'm a huge believer in long toss and the bands because it has worked for him AND me (50 years old!). Also, my son would shut down his throwing for 6-8 weeks at the end of the Fall season, so he's never been part of a 12 month program. My two other sons have been doing the same routine as the older brother without issue. It works for us.

My oldest son did not throw a breaking pitch until he was 16. This was a choice he made, and advice was given by professional pitching instructor. It worked for us, and he's had no serious arm issues ever. In addition , his travel coach and high school coach were very aware of pitch counts so overuse wasn't ever an issue.

I think you're doing a smart thing by researching this. Everybody is different, and you need to find what works for you. I think you'll find more info on the topic in the Pitching and Throwing section of HSBBWeb.

quote:

wklink said....I try to do long toss with the boy. Of course these days my idea of long toss and his idea of long toss are two different things. I can't throw the ball 100 feet.

Wklink

There was a time when I couldn't throw either. We used two buckets. One bucket was full and the other empty. When we got to a point where I couldn't throw, I was just put the ball in the empty bucket. I've been doing long toss with my oldest since he's been home from college. My glove hand is a little tender, but it is father/son time that is priceless.

Wklink,

I feel your pain. after 90 feet, I just have him take the ball bucket with him. I just catch them and put them in a pile.

thanks to all of you for your response. i have always felt exactly what coach may stated but was not sure since he is my one and only son. we have never had a pitching instructor mainly because in our area there is no one that i truly trust, so we just read and researched as much as possible and let God's natural gift show. i am keenly aware that he will need instruction to continue to be successful as he progresses. again thanks to all.

I wish my son would do long toss with me. He has finally found someone who would throw with him on a consistent basis who is not his Mom. I miss it even though I was also down to having an empty bucket and just catching balls.

Anyone want to play catch?

You can always count on your Pitch-Back to get you through, when your "jonesing" for a catch.

Unfortunately, we got rid of that a long time ago. Now we just have a nice collection of nets.

I believe in long toss for all players, position and pitchers alike

On a turf field I can reach my son out to over 300ft throwing a baseball with a lacrosse stick. On turf I throw out to 250ft and the the ball rolls the remaining 50ft+. A baseball weighs the same as a lacrosse ball and only a little larger.

I had to check with my son to see if he was still doing long toss, and he is. BTW he is also a LHP. I second and third the posts above; long toss is a great work out and can be used to increase velocity and distance accuracy. At least that was my experience watching my son and others he played with. Even have to agree with TR that it is good for position players too. We had different approaches over time to long toss. Early or younger age we did not do it year round had too many other activities going on. From about 13 or 14 he did start doing baseball year round after losing interest for playing basketball and other sports like s****r and swimming. At 15 and 16 he tried to shut down between fall ball and starting to ramp up for the school season. I recall he told me once that he just could not shut down completely; he had to throw some, just HAD TOO. SO he laid off any pitching during this time. TIme to shut down becomes a problem if you end up going to late fall and/or early winter showcases/camps and such because you want to be in shape to attend anything like that. It becomes a real balancing act.

The biggest thing I feared was for him to TRY to throw his hardest to get higher velocities at an age the he could actually start hurting himself without knowing it. So we sought professional pitching instructions about the time he turned 13. I wanted to make sure his mechanics were right as he started getting the body that allowed him to throw harder. I also recommend you always talk to your son's coach about pitch count limit and such as you deem appropriate. This becomes harder as the kids get older because many people believe the "player" needs to be the one to approach the coach. Well all players are different and you must determine whether your player can handle this or not. I always approach the coach in the fall and asked about his program and other general things and get around to asking about his ideas for use of young arms. Once you understand the coaches position, I would talk with older kids parents to see if they had similar understandings of the coach's story. At this point you will have some idea if you can trust the coach. If your son turns out to be the "go-to-guy" you will most certainly be challenged in this area. I recommend that you never embarrass you or your son and do or say something during a game. If the coach does not do what you understood from your “FALL” discussion, have your son talk to the coach about what he told “dad” versus what he did in the game situation.

Wish you and yours the best and hope your dreams do come true!

You know, I never thought about just sending him out with a bucket of balls and have him throw to me. How simple, how perfect, how moronic of me to not think of this.

I'm going to do that tomorrow. Geez, what an idiot I am.