Every parent and coach wants to teach pitchers how to pitch a baseball with good mechanics, high velocity and pin-point control. But learning how to pitch a baseball with great skill requires a high volume of practice.
One of the most important things is to first teach your son the mechanics of pitching so he is using his body to produce velocity…not just his arm.
Here are 3 important tips on how every pitcher can pitch a baseball with pin-point control and at the same time with improved velocity and less risk of injury.
Do Not Catch For Your Son – Use a Target Instead
There are a number of reasons for this.
If you catch for him, more than likely his total focus will be on hitting the target in order to please dad, rather than on hitting the target with his best fastball. Make sure that when you are teaching him how to pitch a baseball with good control that he is throwing his maximum effort fastballs, rather than throwing at 75-85% intensity.
If you pitch a baseball during a practice bullpen at less than game intensity, this has proven not to work to help game performance pitching.
Leather Pitching Target
That is why I like targets rather than having the father catch for his son. Plus, the father should be back at the mound offering feedback to his son after every 5 or 6 pitches because the father is smart enough to videotape rather than just eyeball as most instructors do. The pitching delivery is too complex to just eyeball.
Is Your Son’s Body Lined Up to The Target?
This is pretty obvious, however what we often see while doing Video Analysis is pitchers who make a big turn away from the target. Some even sweep their lead leg out and around and then might not land on the mid-line.
How can you expect a pitcher to pitch a baseball and hit the target when he turns away from it? How many pistol shooters do this? Not only does all the turning affect ball control but it reduces velocity too.
Have you ever watched a cricket bowler? These guys get to run up as far as they want before getting ready to land and release the ball. Cricket bowlers can also throw 90-100 mph with a stiff arm.
But one of their biomechanical principles which most fast bowlers follow is to get lined up directly to the target so that the front shoulder it pointed that way when the front foot lands. Makes sense. You will not see a cricket bowler turning into landing as many pitchers do when learning how to pitch a baseball.
One other thing related to having the body lined up. Make sure the pitcher lands on the midline. The midline is an imaginary line you draw from the middle of the back foot right toward the target.
You want a RH pitcher to land within 1-2 inches of that line toward first base. A LH pitcher should land within 1-2 inches on the third base side of the line….but never across the line.
Also make sure that the front foot is directed right at the target or angled slightly no more than 10-15 degrees.
Are You Throwing Enough Volume of Practice Pitches During Each Practice Bullpen?
How on earth do you expect a pitcher to hit the target consistently if he is not doing enough target practice? Pitchers will not have good control or velocity by throwing 25-30 pitches twice a week. That includes professionals.
Do you know that MLB pitchers miss their intended target by on average 12″ and the best still miss by 9’6″? Is that good control? No, it is not.
But why? Because even major league baseball doesn’t understand that pitching a baseball is a skill activity, not a strength activity. Coaches believe that pitchers should save their pitches for the game thus why they do not throw enough pitches during practice bullpens. Makes no sense at all.
If you follow those three tips on how to pitch a baseball with great control you will help any pitcher improve dramatically, plus pitching velocity will improve almost automatically.
Article Source: Pitching.com
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