How to effectively develop your speed pitch throw

Developing speed in your pitch throw is an important task to undertake. Speed in that sense is something that will help you improve yourself as a player. However, speed alone is not what makes a good pitcher. Even if you increase your speed ability to a maximum, your will still face limitations, due to your genetics, physical characteristics, athletic abilities, psychological make – up and such. But, all is not so grim- you can do wonders with practice, even surprise yourself with the things you will find yourself able to achieve. Developing your speed pitch throw can be a very promising process, and it will definitely improve your game overall. So let’s see how to do it.

What you need

You are gonna need a ball, concentration and a lot of practice.

1.Step One – Warm up

Too many pitchers just throw themselves into the game. Skipping the step of stretching can not only cause injuries but also decrease your speed. You should do leg toe touches, crunches and hamstring stretches at least for a couple of minutes before throwing yourself into hard – core exercises. This will help your muscles to be loose during the game. And stiff muscles are always slow muscles. If your body is tight, you are more prone to losing control and becoming slower.

2.Step Two – Arm whipping

You can practice whipping your arm through the final one- third of the rotation. This will create a faster closing of the shoulder because in that phase your arm will be in its downward movement, and that should increase your speed, making the ball go faster as well.

3.Step Three – Underweighted ball

For basic speed training, use the ball that weighs less than you would normally use. This step is for those who think they need basic training, and who haven’t mastered the pitch throwing very well. By throwing an underweighted ball you will practice good pitching and mechanics of it, which will lead to increasing your speed.

4.Step Four – Weighted ball

When you master the practice with the underweighted ball, try using balls that have more weight. The more weight you add and practice with it, the easier it will be for your arm to get used to the throwing. Of course, don’t burden yourself too much with the weight you can handle at all. This is a gradual process. First add some more weight, and later some more. Having in mind, of course, that you won’t be able to repeat this without limits since there is only so much you can take on.

5.Step Five – One knee drill

The arms are not the only part of your body that’s important when you are increasing your speed pitch throw. This should be clear and not worth mentioning, but pitchers sometimes forget that, focusing their sole attention to their arms. You can kneel facing a catcher with your body straight and throw balls. This exercise will make your legs flexible and improve your posture which is very important for speed development. You can practice this with a catcher or without it, but if you choose to do it without one, make sure you have someone to help you retrieve the balls.

6.Step Six – Wall throws

This is a good exercise for you to increase your speed. in involves practicing arm rotations. While you are standing close to the wall, make sure you are able to do the entire movement freely and properly. This way you increase your speed level, but you also practice the mechanics of the move. For this drill, use a softer ball rather that the regular ball.

Although there are more, just by practicing these drills you can do wonders for your pitch throw improvement. These exercises will not only increase your speed level, but they will also teach you how to do the moves properly, even though you might think you already know them. Doing things right is something that is connected to improving your speed level. If you don’t learn how to do things right, you will probably not become faster. Instead, you may even slow yourself down or get tired when you shouldn’t feel tired because you are not utilizing your body properly.