How to Pitch Faster
One of the most common questions I get asked is, how can you get my son to throw faster?
There are a number of things we can do to improve arm strength, although people are
born with a certain amount of God-given ability when it comes to arm strength.
For one, we can long toss, and when we long toss we start out at 50 feet and then we move
back progressively to 200 to 300 feet so that we can strengthen our arms.
When we're long tossing, we should throw the four-seam, the two-seam, and change up grip
to get comfortable with these various grips when holding a baseball.
Another thing we can do to improve our velocity is work on what's called a scapular load.
The scap-load, as we call it, means that we're pinching our shoulders back or thrusting our
chest out when we get into the high cocking position of the pitching delivery.
Rotation is another component that may increase velocity by creating torque.
We can rotate our shoulders 15 to 20 degrees, or in the case of Aroldis Chapman of the Cincinnati
Reds or Madison Bumgarner of the San Francisco Giants, there may be a rotation of 50 to 60
degrees.
While these rotations do increase torque, they may also put extra strain on the arm,
so it's important to keep this in mind.
Another thing that can be done to improve velocity and arm strength would be spot drills.
By developing clean mechanics and a repetitive delivery, pitchers can become more efficient
and ultimately hit their higher levels of velocity throughout the game.
When considering how to throw faster, there are various things that players can do off
the field to generate more velocity.
They can run sprints.
They can go to the weight room and do squats and other strength building activities that
might build their core and torso.
Medicine ball drills can also be done which incorporates the hips into the throwing mechanics.
And, there are therapeutic bands which are long plastic bands that enable pitchers to
go through a variety of core exercise with their pitching including internal, external,
and a variety of other rotations that will enable them to be more flexible and develop
more arm whip and speed.
These are different ways that you can learn to throw faster.