Proper Pitching Mechanics for Youth Players // 5 Simple Steps for Better Accuracy
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- čas přidán 26. 06. 2024
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When it comes to the game of baseball, the pitcher is the most important position on the field. Even though I see so many young players who want to be pitchers, they don't have access to quality coaching that allows them to have success on the mound. Pitching is not easy, and I'm here to help.
Today's bullpen bulletin is all about proper pitching mechanics. I've laid out my 5 simple steps to having repeatable, effective pitching mechanics that will have you throwing more strikes with greater accuracy. Throwing strikes is the first step to having long-term success on the mound - and you'll be well on your way after you implement these 5 easy steps for pitching mechanics.
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Let me know one thing you learned today about pitching mechanics. Do you have any other questions? Post them here in the comments and I'll be sure to get back to you!
Hey I am pitching tomorrow for high school Jv team I always do really good against Right handed batters but for some reason every time I see a lefty I struggle to hit my spots same thing happens when batters show bunt I’d like to know if you have any tips on that I’m pretty sure it’s mental but I’d figure I’d ask anyway
@@randstokes5048 You're not alone, this is more common than you think! I struggled with this when I was playing too. Two suggestions: 1) Trust your mechanics and do your best to make sure your motion is the exact same every time. When you see a lefty or bunt, you might tense up and change your mechanics, which will change where you throw.
Repeatable Mechanics = Accuracy.
2) The only thing you should be looking at is the catcher's mitt (your target). Nothing else. Block everything else out of your vision and stare at the target like you're Superman with his laser vision lol. When you're eyes are on the mitt, it doesn't matter what else is happening or who's at bat, because you're hitting your target.
Hope this helps! Best of luck today, you're gonna kill it 💪
@@buildingbetterbaseball Thank you
@@buildingbetterbaseball I did pretty good pitching they scored one run but it was unearned because he got on base from a dropped third strike
@@randstokes5048 That's awesome man! Celebrate the great outing you deserve it. Take something you can improve on and try and make that better for next time, you're on your way 👍
This was awesome! I’m a grandpa who coached fast pitch softball for 32 years. I did pitch in baseball a long time ago but can’t remember the steps to pitching. My grandson wants to pitch and is struggling a bit. I love the way you make this so simple for kids. The capital L and W tips are great. Thank you.
Most helpful pitching video I've found, and I have watched A LOT! (Baseball mom trying to help her boy!)
I’m glad you found it helpful, thank you for the kind words!
Great delivery in this video. Well put together. Thank you.
Happy to help! Thank you for the feedback 👍
I’m a new baseball mom and this is really helpful for me. I’m gonna show it to my son. I just wish your video shows your legs’ movements. Thinking that will help on my boy’s understanding better. I’ll look through more your videos if you have one.
Thank you. Very thorough. Best explanation of the set up and leg lift and L-shaped drop/sweep I have seen👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿
Glad you found it helpful Jon!
This video was super helpful I was super off with my throws but this video helped me be able to throw a lot better
That's awesome 👍 - Glad you were able to use the steps to have better throws!
Good stuff.
Very good video! I love the L and W 😊
Really helped
This was good I’m using it this weekend thank you
Best of luck Ryan, glad to help!
This is helpful
Sick video. We need the basics and learned a lot 👏
So glad you found it helpful Chris!
My son is a 10yr old righty and has already picked up on the left leg lift w/o me drilling him on it. Looking forward to your tips on the mound. Thank you.
Good stuff bro
Awesome stuff. I love it. I’m trying to show my nephew how to start pitching so this helps a lot. Thanks for taking the time and making these videos. They really help a lot.
Sure thing Bobby, I'm glad you found it helpful!
@@buildingbetterbaseball yea man. I subbed and gonna watch the rest of them! Thanks again. Big help
It's important to lead with your hip to the plate first and when your hands separate your shoulders are in line but at a slight tilt your glove shoulder is little higher then the back shoulder with all your weight back and when u go forward then you ucoil and let it rip
Best pitcher
If you throw straight overhead like Nolan Ryan then you want to step towards the plate to get the most power from your throw, that however will not work if you throw sidearm or 3 quarter . Then you need to step off center to keep yourself from using all arm. You are using your core and the momentum of your leg to bring your arm over then plant your foot and throw. I was a sidearmer that was taught incorrectly at 10 years old, when I was taught the correct way for my delivery the velocity went up substantially because I was using my body mainly opening up my back hip and chest and allowing the arm to follow through.
Great video, you kinda remind me of Tim Tebow and I love Tebow! I’m not sure if it’s on purpose but it would be nice to see you do the whole thing start to finish so we can see it put together.
Thanks James! I’ll be sure to make that happen in the next pitching video 👍
“Keeping the door closed” is probably the best takeaway. That whole concept includes a lot of other details that I’m sure are gonna help my boy. One issue he has is his hip mobility isn’t exactly where it needs to be. I’ve worked with him a little bit using some stretches and exercises that helped me with flexibility for grappling and wrestling, mainly different types of lunges and third world squats. Have you worked with many kids in the past that had issues getting enough knee lift without losing their balance? And if so, how did you address it?
Hey Wesley, I actually have seen a good number of players who have flexibility / mobility limitations - it's more common than you think! I think it has to do with an underlying issue of players not fully understanding the importance of flexibility/mobility and how much it can impact their performance. They're only thinking about strength (throwing hard and hitting bombs) as the component they need to improve, it's hard to get them to think about the other areas of fitness.
With your son, if he's losing his balance when he does his leg lift, then honestly I would just work on that. Have him stand in his leg lift position/posture for 10 seconds at a time, have him start there. You could also have him lift his leg up and down slowly 10 times with the focus being on having as little movement in his body as possible - basically only moving his leg.
There are tons of things you can do, but I would focus on balance and more hip / leg mobility and flexibility work.
I hope this helps!
@@buildingbetterbaseball it absolutely helps! Thanks for your time and input
So much good stuff here. I was telling my kid to open the door!!! The W is awesome. Glove to knee awesome! what is the path of the arm from glove to forward motion? Don’t some guys drop the ball down?
I'm glad you found value! I think that's a personal comfort - I think as long as you get your hand up into that high five position before coming forward you're good. Some people like to do more of a curvy W motion, some people pull back like they're shooting a bow and arrow, etc. The issue with dropping the ball down like you said is if you don't get the ball back up, then your pitch is going to sail high - if the ball goes down, it can't go down further, the only place it can go is up on the release.
Hope that makes sense!
Inverted W, there goes the rotator cuff, same way I hurt my cuff in 1985 in high school, I've been a HS pitching coach for 23 years and I've never ever taught this
This was awesome! I just saw this fir the first tine last week! It has already helped my 9/10 yr old pitchers.
A couple of them only throw low. Side to side is great, but consistently kinda low.
Any suggestions on what to look for? Thank you!!
I'm glad you liked the video, Lee! To your question, I think when a kid throws low there's three things that could be going on:
1) Their arm slot and release point. I'm thinking their release point might be a bit too late? Like they're holding onto the ball a hair too long and it's going low. Try and examine their release point and see if there's something you can do with that.
2) A more in depth thought is that their upper body is ahead of their lower body and they're out of sync - so their firing their arm forward before they fire their hips, instead of doing them together.
Try and emphasize the "glove attached to knee", that will improve their timing.
3) Last thought is their glove hand. Does it go to their chest, or fly open to the side? If their glove fly's open, that's where the ball is going to go.
I hope this makes sense and is helpful!
@@buildingbetterbaseball great tips! Thank you!
When you are talking about rotating your upper body and lower body at the same time, I was told differently. If you move then at the same time then you will have 0 hip to shoulder separation which is everything for your velo. All mlb players have hip to shoulder separation and their upper half stays closed while their hips rotate first
Thank you for the comment! You’re totally right in what you’re saying. That’s what I was taught at the college level as well, but I wanted to keep it as simple as possible. I consider the hip to shoulder separation as more high level teaching and I think that would be a bit complicated for an 8 yr old to understand. This video is more for the beginners who know nothing about pitching and want something simple to get them started in the right direction. Once they master these mechanics, then they can “graduate” to the more higher level mechanics that you’re talking about. Hope this makes sense, and thanks again!
Glove attached to knee with string was good a good way to present technique.
What would you say to a 9u player who drops his glove hand straight down after separating hands during his pitching delivery?
I would really have him focus on the “W” with the split. It sounds like they’re splitting, but not completing the W.
They should have they’re glove arm pointing to their target - use the glove arm as their aim to the target.
The ball will go where their arm is pointing, they want to point it to the target. I hope this helps!
This is a great video! My 10yo son just started pitching this March so these type of videos are helping him understand what I am trying to show him. Just a question about the shoulder angle. I was taught that the shoulder angle should be elevated (glove side higher) to create more whip as they drive down the mound. Doing this seems to help keep him closed, but could that be negatively effecting his overall velocity?
Hi Stephen, you're completely correct - but I think this is more of an advanced concept. A beginner pitcher is trying to understand the basic fundamentals - I would be worried that this shoulder angle idea might be a little too much to comprehend.
It's almost a "crawl before you walk" situation. You want to first make sure there's a solid foundation of basic fundamentals, and then we can build on that foundation with more in depth / advanced concepts.
Hope this helps!
@@buildingbetterbaseball yes it does! Thank you so much for the reply. I will worry less about his shoulder angle. Def going to use some of this with him. His only real issue left is he opens that door a little too early. Love your videos! Keep up the great work!
The glove/knee connection was the best and easiest to way to explain to my son. Is there any advice for arm angle?
Thanks for the comment! I’m assuming you’re wanting your son to get his arm up higher?
If so, I would focus on the “palm facing away, giving the high five behind you” part of the split. That normally helps them understand that their hand/arm needs to be above the shoulder on the split. Hope this helps!
@@buildingbetterbaseball Thanks for the tip. That makes it easy to explain.
Any advice for kids that "shot put" the ball, or push the ball more than whipping it in?
Hey there, have you seen my “How to throw a baseball: 5 Easy Steps” video?
I talk about putting your throwing palm away from you as if you were giving a high five to someone standing behind you. That usually makes sense for kids.
Another idea I tell my students is to fire (or twist) your torso / core first and have that bring your arm forward. You don’t want to bring your arm forward first - the twisting core brings the arm forward to whip it.
Hopefully this helps!
The How to Throw video is on my channel page and it’s one of the first videos you’ll see on my channel in the “popular uploads” playlist
Is the direction of the landing foot's toe important? Should the toe be pointed directly at the catcher, or is it okay if it's at a slight angle?
I think a slight angle is perfectly fine. I actually prefer this because when you land with your toe at a slight angle, you'll "keep the door closed" and your landing foot will rotate naturally toward the catcher during your throwing motion (think squash the bug). I'm always worried that if a kid is taught to point their toe to the catcher as they're landing, that will "open the door" and cause the hips to open too soon, losing the lower body / core power. Hope this makes sense!
@@buildingbetterbaseball makes perfect sense. Thanks.
Where do they point their toe on their stride? I've heard towards the catcher or at a 45... Which is best?
I think the most important thing is to make sure they don’t “open the door”. Normally, if you tell a kid to point their toe toward the catcher, they’ll emphasize that, which will fly their hips open before the front foot lands.
I believe the foot rotates naturally with the front leg / hips as they fire. I think different pitchers will land with their toe at different angles. As long as they keep their hips closed until the front foot lands, that’s most important. Because once the foot lands, that’s when they fire everything forward with the rotation and torque of the legs, body, and arm. So long answer lol, focus on the keeping the door closed and the front foot will solve itself. I hope this helps!
@@buildingbetterbaseball Thank you!
W
My son is nine and learned how to do the capitol W
That’s awesome!
My son cannot stop short-arming the ball. He also likes to tuck his glove under his arm when he pitches. Any help?
Hi Eric, thanks for the comment. I'm thinking you're saying that he's not extending his arm far enough with the split?
I would emphasize the "high five behind you" in the split.
Without a ball, have him stand in his pitching stance. You stand behind him and hold up your hand like you're ready for a high five. Make sure you're far enough back that he has to extend his arm to you.
Have him do his motion and when he splits, make sure his arm / hand comes back to give you a high five.
Repeat, repeat, repeat. He has to get the muscle memory down for it to sink in.
I hope this helps!
Do you have a video that teaches how to throw 'hard' for a Little Leaguer?
I have 8 year old how many pitches should pitcher throw in a bullpin session
I think it depends on the last time he pitched, and when the next time he will pitch
If it’s at least 3-4 days since or until, then I think 25 - 30 pitches is safe.
If it’s within 3-4 days since or until, I’d cut it to 15 - 20 pitches. Hope this helps!
Glove attached to your knee
I have done all of this and I still can’t throw a strike
Can you give the camera view with your whole body? It’s hard to see the W and the L with your leg.
Sorry for the poor camera view, the next time I do a pitching video I'll definitely make sure my whole body is in frame - thanks for the comment!
This video would be much better if it showed your complete body for each of the drills. Right ow the video does only captures your upper body and not your legs on the ground showing the complete drill. Otherwise the drill would be great.
Thank you for the feedback - I'll be sure to do this the next time I have a video using my whole body. Thanks!
My son wants to throw hard before getting more accurate
😅 he’s not the only one! Many players have that aspiration - the only advice I can give is a friendly reminder that even if you throw 150mph with a crazy good off speed pitch - if you’re not accurate and unable to throw strikes, that means you’re walking everyone, which likely means the coach won’t have you pitching for too long.
In my opinion, learn accuracy first - then spend the rest of your career growing stronger, bigger, and increasing velocity. The accuracy will always be there. The art of Pitching is so much more than velocity. Best of luck, I hope this helps!