Pitching Drills

For Increasing upper, trunk, lower extremity power:

For Upper Extremity: with resistance tubing harness.
1. Apply resistance harness around the athlete's waste.
2. Apply other end of harness to athlete's wrist on the throwing arm.
3. Have athlete perform full arm circle pitching drills with this resistance tubing harness.

   This drill will increase arm strength and velocity by always being challenged from the resistance tubing throughout the entire pitching motion. Muscles will respond to the demands that are placed on them and allow the motion to become stronger and faster and be able to handle pitches that require a lot of velocity in order to move in the strike zone. Resistance tubing could changed to a higher resistance tension when the athlete is able to progress. This will also teach the athlete to control arm speed and and keep the arm stable throughout the pitching motion against different types of resistance. This will also result in a stronger deceleration phase to increase wrist snap speed and release the ball. Even as the athlete progresses, the athlete will be able to handle the resistance placed on it and still control where the ball is being released.

For trunk: With resistance tube harness.
1. Harness is placed around the athletes waste.
2. Coach is standing behind athlete holding the other end of the harness.
3. As the athlete performs leg drive/hip close down drills, or full pitching, the coach pulls on the harness as the athlete tried to hold against the front landing foot.

    A lot of times, a pitcher will have mechanical problems because of the inability to stay against that front foot. The resistance tube harness pulls them back as they try to move forward. This will increase landing strength, hip strength and, stand against strength to improve placement of the ball and control of velocity, and also help prevent injury to the lower back due to leaning over the landing foot. Resistance band could be increased if the athlete really has trouble staying against that front foot.

For lower extremity: with resistance tubing/bands
1. Apply resistance tubing around both ankles.
2. Athlete performs leg drive drills or full pitching with resistance bands around ankles.


   This drill results in the athlete increasing leg drive strength and distance using the same principles as the above drills. This drill increases abductor and adductor muscle strength while also increasing hip close down speed and strength which is crucial in the lower extremity part of the pitching motion. Without the transfer of power from the lower extremity, the upper extremity loses a lot of power. The basis of pitching is made from the ground up- lower extremity to upper extremity. This resistance training will help enhance pitching motion power and velocity.

Hitting Drill

For Hand-Eye Coordination-

1. Coach/teammate lobs two or three different colored wiffle balls.

2. Athlete prepares to hit the ball.

3. Coach yells out which color ball to hit.

4. Athlete quickly reacts and hits that color ball.

  This drill allows the athlete to learn new motor patterns in the brain to

allow faster reacting time when the ball is thrown. You can increase the 

speed and distance of the ball thrown to have the athlete react faster.

The athlete will learn to time the ball when it is thrown and react to which

ball is to be hit. This will increase the athlete's ability to also control which 

direction the ball is being hit. The amount of swings taken during this drill

also allow muscle memory to take over when swinging the bat, this way,

when the ball is thrown most of the work is being put into timing and hand-

eye coordination rather than mechanics. 

Bunting Drill

For bunt control:

1. Coach or teammate lobs a softball.
2. Athlete prepares to bunt the ball as it approaches.
3. Coach or teammate calls out which direction to bunt the ball (down 1st, 3rd baselines, or up the middle)
4. Athlete reacts and make the proper adjustments to the bunting position.
5. Athlete bunts the ball in the called out direction.

    This drill can be done at greater distances and greater speeds to increase reaction timing and control. This drill can also be a "rapid fire" type drill so athlete bunts and reacts as a cycle. This drill will help with hand-eye coordination and control over where you want to bunt the ball according to different speeds, distances, and when the direction is being called out. The athlete will create new motor patterns to react quickly and gain control over the direction in which the ball is being bunted more efficiently.