Reno Baseball Blog

Reno Baseball Blog

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Quickly Developing Pitchers

As a Little League coach at the now AAA level, AA last year, it is extremely hard to develop pitchers in 3 weeks and 6 practices.  Especially when our league rules (all of LL?) only allow for other players to catch for them AND they must have a helmet and catcher's glove.

We only have 1 glove and helmet, so it's hard to give it the dedication pitchers deserve.  And we all know that throwing strikes is the most important thing for this level.  Not speed.  Strikes limit pass balls.  Strikes get weaker kids out.  Strikes produce playable balls in the field.

So there are many drills that can be done without the catcher's gear.

My favorite is simply throwing from one knee.  They can practice arm position, follow through and balance.  Keeping proper form throughout the motion.  Have them throw a bucket of balls at a target or to another player on their knee before throwing bp or a bull pen session.  30-40 softer throws using proper technique prior to getting on the mound helps re-enforce proper form when throwing hard.

Here is a video from youtube.. Even though I hate Expert village..

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