8 Pitching Drills For Success

There are literally hundreds of drills that have been invented and designed to help with pitching mechanics, and it can be overwhelming deciding which ones are effective. Here are 8 staple drills that should be part of every pitchers routine.

1. Balance Point Drill
The pitcher brings his front knee up and stops at the balance point, holding it for five seconds.

2. Weight-shift Drill
From the first balance point, the pitcher throws his hip, lowers his leg in a controlled fashion and lands in the cocked position.

3. Hand Break Drill
Start with the hands together and practice synchronizing the raising of the glove-hand elbow and the throwing hand into the cocked position.

4. Kneeling Drill
Kneel down and throw to a partner, practicing bending at the waist. Focus on arm position (elbow up, 90 degrees) and following through toward your target.

5. Lead Leg Brace Drill
Kneel down and go through the throwing motion. When the arm is about to release the ball, brace the front leg and stand upright and throw. Bend over the waist with a good follow through.

6. Hand Speed Drill
Start with the stride already taken. Perform the hand break and accelerate the hand after reaching the cocked position.

7. Towel Drill
Use a towel instead of a ball. Have either a coach stand in front of you with a glove, or set up a chair. Wrap the towel so it is tight, get into the stretch position, go through your motion and try to reach out to target (either coaches glove or chair) with the towel, holding on to it all the way through. If you are easily reaching, move target back. The purpose is to work on extension and reaching out toward home plate, getting the most out of your pitches.

8. Back up bases drill
The pitcher stands at the mound, and then breaks to back up either third or home. A coach throws a ball to the appropriate base, the fielder lets it go, and the pitcher has to practice backing up the play.

How to Hit with 2 Strikes

Every hitter has been there. You're down in the count 0-2 and you're feeling defensive, anxious, and most of all scared to become victim of the "s" word. That's right, ever since we were little leaguers, strikeout has been drilled in hitter's heads as a bad word and the biggest failure at the plate. However, there are ways to become a better 2 strike hitter, and overcome the anxiety and fear that comes with hitting with 2 strikes.

The first thing to realize is that everyone strikes out. There is no need to feel like a failure just because you didn't put the ball in play. That should help ease some of the anxiety that goes into hitting with 2 strikes. In fact, you can have a very good at bat, and still strike out. This happens because many good hitters work deep into counts, see a lot of pitches, and eventually will get into counts with 2 strikes. Let me give you an example of a bad strikeout versus a good one. If you are down 0-2 in the count, get anxious and scared, and swing at a ball in the dirt or one up at your eyes, that is a bad strikeout. You gave up on your at bat. However, if you are down 0-2 and battle the count back to 2-2 or 3-2 by taking or fouling off tough pitches, that wouldn't be a bad strikeout because you made the most of your at bat, and made the pitcher work to get you out.

The purpose is to minimize the k's so you can maximize your chances of getting on base. There are a few mental and physical keys that can help you next time you have 2 strikes.

MENTAL APPROACH

1. Step out of the box and take a deep breath. Relax.
2. Try to see the ball as deep as possible. Do not guess, let the ball travel as far as possible before deciding to swing. This approach will stop you from swinging at pitches in the dirt.
3. Look away and adjust in. Give up pulling the ball and try to go up the middle and to the opposite field. Protect outside to in.
4. Foul off any borderline strikes.
5. Fight off inside strikes.

PHYSICAL APPROACH

1. Choke up on the bat slightly. Bat control is important.
2. Move slightly closer to the plate. Take away the outside strike.
3. Spread out slightly to get more balance amd use more hands than body.

4. Slightly crouch down to get in a more athletic and balanced stance.

Why Striking Out Less Can Help the Team Win
As I said earlier, everyone strikes out, and it's possible to do so and still have a good at bat. However, striking out fewer times and putting the ball in play more often will greatly increase your average and also do other things that can help your team win, like:

1. Advancing runners
2. Forcing errors/Putting pressure on the defense
3. Bloop hits
4. Frustrate the pitcher/Cause him to throw more pitches and work harder

Hitting in the Cage
Maximize the benefit of taking swings in the cage with a couple of simple rules...

Notice a couple things about Vito's round of batting practice.

#1 The pace of Vito's swing is smooth and effortless
In the game it is easy to get geared up to take a swing at full speed.
Getting too geared up causes bad habits in practice.
In the cage you aim to take controlled swings.

#2 Vito allows himself plenty of time between swings
Hitting is about preparation and execution. If you never get prepared, you will never be able to execute.
Allow enough time between swings to completely set up your swing for success.

#3 Vito hits until he feels comfortable and then stops
Extra long rounds can cause bad habits as your arms and legs get tired
Depending on how you feel that day a quality round may last 5 or 25 swings. Listen to your body.

Release/back-side knee drive

The throwing arm should optimally be at a high-three-quarter position at release point for pitchers. That is, not straight over the top, not sidearm, but a notch higher than the midway three-quarter point. The hand should smoothly reach out and gain extension at the final moment of contact before the ball is released. The pitcher should also bend at the waist while rotating the hips.

Next, the hand and arm should follow through across the body, going to the outside of the front leg. At the same time, the back knee should pull forward a little, in order to make sure the back hip rotates.

Ellis Pitching Tips - stevenellis.com

Brace up

Once you have landed on the stride foot and reached the cocked position, the hips begin rotating and the front leg stops, that is, braces in place. The front arm tucks the elbow down to the front hip, helping the hips to rotate, helping the throwing arm to come around and release the ball. It is here where the throwing elbow leads and the ball is turned from facing backwards to facing forwards, leading to external rotation. The hips should rotate horizontally and all the while, the front leg is braced and not moving. The head should be still and get to a balanced position over the front leg.

Forward momentum/cocked position

Next, the body begins to fall forward. The first movement is to thrust the hip slightly towards the batter, allowing weight to remain on the back leg as the front leg begins to fall forward in a controlled fashion to the ground. The stride should be about 90-percent of body height, and the stride foot should land and point straight at home plate or closed by no more than 10-15 degrees (as lined up from the heel of the back leg).

At the moment the stride foot lands, it is important to be in the following position:

1. The front elbow raised up to shoulder level and pointing at the target with the forearm vertical to the ground.
2. The throwing elbow shoulder height (but no higher) with the palm facing straight back, between the ball and the head, and the ball farther back than the elbow.

To get the proper arm path, the throwing arm remains flexed when the front leg starts downward, and the hand pushes the ball in a smooth circle straight back and up, bringing the elbow up to the cocked position. It is essential that the arm remain bent and flexed throughout this movement, and it must be done in a controlled fashion. Also, the chest should bow out to retain balance. It is important to note that the pointing of the front elbow works in a corollary action with bringing up the throwing hand to a cocked position. If the front elbow is brought up too high, the throwing hand will be too low, and vice versa. Also, if the front elbow is not directly pointing at the target, the throwing hand will be off-line as well.

When this point is reached, notice that the lower body is opened, while the upper body remains closed. This is key to enact the whip action that ensues.

Leg Lift

With the movement of the front leg upward, the pitcher should move all his weight on to his back leg. When the front knee is at it’s apex, the entire body should be comfortably and entirely balanced on the back leg. The speed in which the pitcher lifts the front leg is a matter of preference. Some pitchers choose to lift the leg quickly, while others lift at a controlled pace.

The most important part of the leg lift is to distribute your body weight over your back leg in order to prepare for an explosive drive.

Correct throwing technique is essential for pitchers. It directly affects good control, maximum speed, and reduced arm injuries. Here are some pointers that illustrate quality technique...

Think about these principles this off-season as you work on your own mechanics. The off-season is the best time to do it. I hope you'll take your training seriously.

Approach

The pitcher should start on the far throwing-hand side of the rubber, unless the stride hole is too far away from where he strides, so he should move slightly towards the center to get a firm base to land on. Start with a controlled step back behind the rubber with the glove-hand-side leg.

If the pitcher has trouble getting a feel for rotating around and getting to the first balance point, his step can be taken to the side of the rubber. Next, the pitcher places his back foot in front of and parallel to the rubber. Next, he brings his glove-hand leg up as high as he feels comfortable. Bringing it up too high is not necessarily better. The key indicator is if the pitcher is able to reach a good point of balance.

Baseball Fact: With 2 outs, if a runner cannot easily make it to 3rd base without sliding he is better off staying at second base. Why?

Because runners can run on contact with two outs, almost every ball hit that would score a runner from 3rd with will also score a runner from 2nd.  Therefore, with two outs, the only real advantage to having a runner on third base over having a runner on second base is that some wild pitches and some infield singles allow the runner on 3rd (and not the runner on 2nd) to score.

Admittedly, some infield singles and infield errors are the exception to this rule, but these scenarios do not occur frequently enough to justify risking a base runner being thrown out at 3rd base with two outs.

For these reasons, the general rule for taking third base with 2 outs is that if a base runner can reach third base without sliding he should take the extra base. If the runner needs to slide to be safe, the risk does not justify the reward of running.  

The best method for insuring maximum coverage for all types of fly balls is to establish policies for catching them...

In general, the center fielder has the right-of-way over the other fielders and all outfielders have the right-of-way over all infielders since cathing a fly ball running in is much easier than catching one running back.

In the infield, the priority from top to bottom is:

1. Shortstop
2. Second base
3. Third base
4. First base
5. Catcher
6. Pitcher

Notice that the first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, and shortstop have the right-of-way over the pitcher and catcher. Infielders should do everything possible to take the responsibility of catching pop flies off the pitcher and the catcher who generally have difficult angles on pop flies and physical hazards like the mound, home plate, and the backstop to deal with.

A few keys to make everyone’s job a little easier are:

• Always pursue pop flies full speed until you hear someone with the right-of-way call you off (This is especially true for infielders going into the outfield to make plays).

• If possible, call the ball at its highest point. Calling a pop fly too early on a windy day will create more problems than it alleviates.

• Use the words, “I got it” over “ball, ball, ball” and don’t say anything if you don’t plan on catching the ball. (the phrases, “you go” or “take it” only cause problems)

Q: Who has priority on an infield pop fly in foul territory between the catcher and the third baseman?

A: 3rd