THROWING

Positional Clinics – Throwing Clinic

• Warm-up and stretches
• Before starting a throwing routine, it is important to make sure that blood is flowing to your muscles
• Warm-up jog, power skips, sprints
• Stretches
• Lat/tricep
• Forearm/wrist
• Rotator cuff
• Torso
• Important things to remember
• Throwing involves the entire body:  head, arms, torso, hips and legs
• In order to develop accuracy and velocity, it is critical to practice throwing as often as possible
• Physical differences lead to differences in throwing form (e.g., arm slot)
• Game situation (e.g., speed of runner or placement/pace of hit) will dictate whether “appropriate throwing form” can be used
• IN ALL CASES, THE THROWER’S MOTION SHOULD BE LOOSE
• Rotation
• Goal:  a 6 o’clock to 12 o’clock rotation
• Use a four-seam grip
• Practice finding the correct grip in your glove
• Keep fingers “behind” the ball through release
• Downward snap with the wrist on the release
• IMPORTANT:  always follow through and never stop your motion upon release of the ball

DRILL #1:  Cross-legged drill, isolating arm action and wrist snap

• Proper arm motion
• Throwing elbow should remain at the height of, or above, the throwing shoulder
• Take the ball back in an oval/circular motion, being careful not to bring the arm behind the back
• Glove-side shoulder should point at the target, and eyes should remain on the target throughout the motion
• Discuss pointing glove-side elbow at the target
• As the ball is brought back, keep fingers in front of the ball and extend the arm backwards (“taking the ball off the shelf”)
• Forward motion should start with the torso, with the throwing arm following
• Glove should tuck into the chest to create torque and balance
• Throwing arm should reach for glove-side leg (i.e., follow-through), with throwing-side shoulder pointing towards the target

DRILL #2:  One-knee throw, with throwing-arm knee on the ground, focusing on upper-body mechanics

• Lower body
• Key to developing velocity on the throw
• Step towards target with glove-hand foot, with toes pointing towards the target
• Body should be perpendicular to the target before beginning the torso/arm motion
• Front leg should be bent at the knee, and torso should be relatively perpendicular to the ground, with center of gravity above the front thigh
• Throwing leg should come forward as the thrower completes his torso/arm motion

DRILL #3:  Standing throws, focusing on generating velocity with legs

• Throwing in motion
• Infield throws
• When taking the throwing arm back, use more of an oval motion
• Two-step motion to create momentum towards the target
• Outfield throws
• When taking the throwing arm back, use more of a circular motion
• Crow-hop motion to create momentum towards the target
• In each case, the thrower’s body should “follow” the throw (otherwise, the thrower is not creating maximum momentum on the throw)

DRILL #4:  Infield throws and outfield throws, working on footwork and following the ball