Hey guys, I'm Coach Madden, official trainer of YouGoProBaseball.com and today we've got
the Top 10 Pitching Drills to develop the perfect pitching mechanics.
The first pitching drill we're going to do is the wall drill.
I'm sure you guys have all seen this one before but it's a great one because it works on the
beginning of the pitching delivery and if you get this right, alot of things later in
your pitching delivery are going to happen correctly.
So working on the beginning of the pitching delivery is very very important and that's
what this pitching drill helps you with.
All you're going to do is get up against a wall, or a fence, or something that you can
go into.
You're going to get set up nice and close, just like you're going into the stretch.
Like you're pitching straight perpendicular from the way you're set up and you're going
to get into your leg lift.
The only thing you want touching the wall or the fence is going to be the side of your
butt, ok?
You don't want your front knee to touch, you don't want your front foot to touch, you don't
want your shoulder to touch.
One other thing to focus on is to have your head on the target.
So I've got a little dot right here, I'm going to focus on that dot as I'm going through
this drill.
So it looks a little something like this.
So the only thing touching right now is the side of my butt, not my knee, not my foot,
not my shoulder and I can still see my dot.
One more time, it looks a little something like this.
Good.
Now, one other thing you want to pay attention to is your back leg.
When I see a lot of guys do this drill, what I'll see is they stay really tall on their
back leg, really straight.
We really want to sit into that back leg as we're doing this drill.
So having a lot more bend.
No knee, no foot, no shoulder.
That's the wall drill.
The next pitching drill is the Rocker Drill.
I'm sure you guys have all seen this one.
You're going to get set up nice and wide like you've already taken your stride.
You want to be in line heal to heal.
You're going to kind of sit into this.
Now, there's two ways to do this drill.
One way is to rock and turn the back foot with the laces going down and then also to
let this back foot come up and over like as if you were pitching.
So it's going to look a little something like this.
Get nice and wide, sit into it, heal to heal, set the arms where you feel comfortable, rocking
forward and back, hence the reason we call it the rocker drill, and then when you separate
when you're coming back you want to separate these arms closed off.
I'm throwing straight this way, but I'm separating closed off.
Really closed off.
45 degrees or more closed off when I separate my hands.
Then I'm going to go ahead and throw this ball.
I'll show you one of each ways to do this drill.
First one, laces going down to the ground.
Second one, back foot coming up and over.
Rocking, separating closed off, laces to the ground.
Now the second one, I'm going to let the back foot come up and over just like I'm pitching.
Rocking, separating closed off, let that back foot come up and over.
The next pitching drill is going to be Figure Eights.
All we're doing in Figure Eights is we're going to get an athletic stance, keep our
glove right in front of us, and then we're going to turn like we're doing a figure eight.
Really get your hips involved in this one and then when you separate, I really want
you to separate really over exaggerated closed off.
So it looks like this and then we're going to throw.
One thing I really want you guys to focus on is pronating out in front when you do this
drill because a lot of guys have a tendency to do this drill and get around this ball.
Really let their arm get out and around and cut the ball off this way.
So after you do that figure eight, I want you to think about coming back forward and
bringing the chest to the glove and pronating the arm out in front.
So it looks a little something like this.
The next pitching drill is called Pivot Picks.
What we're doing in Pivot Picks is working on our pronation.
Pronation is when our arm turns this way as we throw the ball.
A lot of pitchers get around the ball and they put a lot of stress of that elbow.
So if you're one of those guys, this drill, as well as that figure eight (the last drill)
are great drills for you to work on your arm action.
So for Pivot Picks we're setting up facing away from our target.
I'm actually going to be throwing this way.
All I'm doing is coming up with this ball to my head like I'm making a muscle, then
I'm rotating as far as I can, and then I'm going to go and throw that ball and really
think about pronating and turning down and finishing this way.
So it looks a little something like this.
Arm coming up as a muscle, coming real high and then get the turn.
Pronating as your throw that ball.
The next pitching drill is called Sit Up Throws.
Now this is a great pitching drill to work on that finish, that end, that last linear
motion of the pitching delivery where you've really got to bring that chest to that glove
and finish out in front.
What we're going to do on this drill is actually lay down on the ground.
You can have your knees bent a little bit and you're going to go like you're doing a
sit up and as you come up stay closed off, make that throw, and really bring that chest
out in front as you do it.
So it looks like this.
This pitching drill is called the Reverse Wall Drill.
In the beginning we did the Wall Drill going into the wall.
This drill we're going to be going away from the wall.
Hence, the Reverse Wall Drill.
All we're going to do is get set up with our back shoulder close to the wall, or fence,
or pad, or whatever we're working with.
We're going to get set up here and all we want to work on is not touching this pad with
our arm path.
So if we're separating too early, separating our hands too early, we're going to hit this
mat or this wall.
Also, if we're separating too straight back, we're going to hit this pad or this wall.
So how do we really want to work on this?
In the pitching delivery we should start moving this way down the mound before we start to
separate our hands.
Also, our hands should be separated at a 45 degree angle or more closed off.
So we should never hit this wall with our hands if we're doing this drill correctly.
So we're going to get here, get set up, start down the mound, 45 degrees or more, and go.
I didn't even come close to this.
I'll go through it and actually finish the throw here.
So, I'm about maybe 6 inches or so away with my back shoulder to the wall.
Didn't touch it.
The next pitching drill is called Reverse Throws.
Now for this one I'm going to use a little bit heavier ball.
It's a weighted ball, a plyoball, a plyo med ball, and all we're going to do is get down
on our knee, we're going to block off with our glove side, we're going to put this ball
down out in front, and then turn and throw this ball backwards.
Obviously you're going to need a wall or a net or a fence or something to throw into,
but one thing you want to focus on when you're doing this drill is not to get too spinny
and out to the side.
You really want to throw this ball with the same arm angle that you throw with.
So if you're a 3/4 arm slot guy when you pitch, you want to be 3/4 going back.
You also want to follow this ball with your head and open your shoulders as you throw
it.
So it looks a little something like this.
The next pitching drill is called the Toe Tap Drill.
This is a great drill for anyone who opens up too early because this drill is going to
help us stay closed with our front side and start moving down the mound in the proper
fashion.
So all we're going to do is set up an empty bottle.
If it's a windy day out like today, you can fill the bottle up with some clay or if you
have some water whatever you can fill it up that way so it doesn't fall over.
All you're going to do is get set up.
You want this bottle in line with your back foot, maybe slightly back, and then you're
just going to come up to your leg lift and then come back down, set your toe on this
bottle.
You're not really going to put a lot of pressure, but then you want to start moving down the
mound with your hips first and then you're going to explode that front leg open which
is going to help your hips open and get more hip to shoulder separation, in return helping
you pitch faster.
So let me demonstrate this drill again in full speed to show you what it looks like.
The next pitching drill we are going to do is called Sit Drives.
You're going to need a bucket for this one, or a chair, something about this height, obviously
a pitching mound.
We're going to get set up, we're going to sit on this bucket.
Now, one thing you want to really focus on in this drill is that you want to keep your
knee inside of your ankle.
You don't want to stacked over or have the bucket too far over this way that your foot
is stacked.
You want to keep that knee inside of your back foot.
All you're going to do in this drill is really rock back from this bucket and then drive
out of this position.
Hence, why it's called Sit Drives.
Now this drill is great for guys who need to work on using this back leg and create
energy with this back leg and get stronger with this back leg.
So it looks a little something like this.
Sit on the edge of the bucket, kind of get a rock to it so you can get that stand up,
but when you do stand up don't let that knee get over the back foot, stay inside that ankle.
Let me show you one more time.
The last pitching drill is called the Broomstick Drill, or in this case, the PVC Stick Drill
and this is to work on your breaking balls.
What you're going to do in this pitching drill is be on your pitching mound or if you're
working off flat ground that's fine as well but your partner is going to hold up the PVC
or the broomstick about the height of your release point and what you're focusing on
when you're throwing your breaking balls is getting over that PVC and then following it
down as the coach drops it.
The reason this is a great drill is because I see a lot of guys when they start to throw
their breaking balls they get real short and kind of cut that thing off.
So you really want to think about getting over it first and then following it down.
So it looks a little something like this.
Thinking about having the right grip on that, getting over that PVC or broomstick, and then
pulling it down.
If you guys like this video, give me that thumbs up real quick, don't forget to subscribe
and hit that little notification button right next to it too so you're notified every time
I upload a new video.
I've got a bunch of great ones coming soon that you're going to want to see so go ahead
and do that real quick for me.
Also, leave me a comment below and let me know which one of these 10 pitching drills
were your favorite.
Alright, I'll see you in the comments below!