Top 5 Pitching Drills You NEED To Be Doing
Here are the top 5 pitching drills that you need to be doing in your training. Pitching drills are key pieces to developing your game, but don’t get caught up in focusing purely on mechanics. Remember, a good approach to enhancing your performance needs to include strength & conditioning geared specifically to your individual needs. Nutrition to build lean muscle mass, recover faster and perform at your highest level. Movement and mobility exercises to improve deficiencies in necessary ranges of motion in the pitching delivery. That being said, these are my favorite and most effective drills to increase velocity, enhance your kinetic chain and reduce your risk of injury.
5. Back Leg Sled Drive
The back leg sled drive is a great way to build power through the back leg drive. The added weight overloads the movement, but also allows the athlete to learn how to properly load the back leg. It is one of the better drills to build a monster back leg drive to accelerate you down the mound, power hip rotation, maximize hip to shoulder separation and increase throwing velocity from the ground up.
Keys:
Don’t swing the front leg to power the movement. Back leg needs to be the accelerator.
Keep shoulders closed to imitate delaying trunk rotation and maximizing hip to shoulder separation.
Start with lightweight or a band and build up slowly.
4. Separation Medicine Ball Throw
Separation medicine ball throw is a great catch all drill to work on all the 6 key components of a high velocity delivery. This drill allows you to work on back leg load, back leg drive, hip to shoulder separation, horizontal abduction/trunk rotation, front leg stabilization/extension and forward trunk tilt. Mastering this drill will do wonders for building power through your kinetic chain and using your entire body to produce velocity.
Keys:
High velocity pitchers tend to throw 2 LB med balls 45+ MPH.
Keep from kicking your front leg and instead focus on creating triple extension from back leg drive.
Focus on driving through the ground to power hip rotation.
When first learning the drills, have a greater emphasis on the mechanics than the velocity.
3. Chest Up Medicine Ball Throw
Chest up med ball throws work on the linear components of the pitching delivery. It is great for working on back leg drive, front leg stabilization/extension and forward trunk tilt. This tends to be major components of the delivery that pitchers struggle with, especially if you are very rotational. If you need to get better at front leg extension and forward trunk tilt this drill is for you.
Keys:
High velocity pitchers tend to throw 2 LB med balls 40+ MPH.
Back leg drive is key to power this drill. Getting full triple extension allows energy to travel up the chain to the ball. Keep from swinging the front leg to create momentum.
Front leg extension is key to launch the trunk forward.
Focus on finishing over your front leg with great forward trunk tilt.
2. Front Leg Extension Drill
Front leg extension drill is designed to purely work on the front leg and forward trunk tilt in the delivery. If you are struggling transferring energy from your back leg drive to your front leg then this is a great drill to develop that feel. Also, if you are having trouble syncing up your front leg extension right into pitch release, this drill helps a lot. Having a monster front leg is incredibly important to high velocity pitching.
Keys:
A rocking motion helps to feel the transfer of your weight from the back leg to the front leg.
As you accelerate forward to release the ball keep your trunk back to keep yourself from early trunk tilting.
Allow your front leg to absorb your weight with good flexion of the hip and knee.
Big emphasis on extension of the front leg to catapult your trunk forward.
1. Side to Side Medicine Ball Throw
Side to side medicine ball throw is my favorite drill to build power, athleticism and feel in the pitching delivery. It allows you to build tons of linear power and helps you get much faster out of your drive leg. A lot of pitchers simply lack the power and speed to power hip rotation. This drill helps you to get dynamic out of your back leg. If your back leg drive needs work, this is one of the best drills to start building massive amounts of energy through the kinetic chain.
Keys:
Focus on keeping a low center of gravity. Do not stand up, be athletic.
Picture the first jump as your drive. Be aggressive! Accelerate your center of mass.
Keep your trunk delayed. Don’t let your hips and shoulders go together.
Conclusion
Those are my top 5 pitching drills. Make sure you are filming reps so you can see what you are doing. Video analysis is key to making biomechanics improvements. Don’t just go through the motions, have a purpose behind each rep. Also, keep in mind that pitching drills are just one piece of the puzzle. A great training approach needs to cover strength & conditioning to build power, movement & mobility to work on joint range of motion, nutrition to fuel body & build lean muscle mass and finally sport specific drills to improve biomechanics.
If you want to learn more please follow us on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube) @stevenguadagni and feel free to send in video of your pitching or hitting mechanics for a free analysis. If you want to train with us we have several options. Come down for long term training at our facility or remote 1 on 1 online training from home. Learn how to optimize your mechanics and perform at the highest level possible! Hope you guys enjoyed the article. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.