Tip For Pitchers

[NYM]

I am on a baseball team. This is basic knowledge for most people but if you dont know this and your a pitcher this will help with velocity. No dont lift 100 lb weights. No steroids are not the snwer either. LONG TOSS!!! For all of you who do not know what long toss is when having a catch one player moves one step back each time he catches it. It will build up the strenth in your arm. Now belive me it works. I started being a cather in late June. I have had the same coach despite moving from LL to Babe Ruth. One thing he always wanted was for me too always do a 15 minute long toss with the pitcher that would be pitching the next game. It not only helped the pitchers but had a great effect on me. I now throw around 63-6565 when last year i threw a mere 54-55. It helps a lot with velocity. And if you have an off speed pitch forget about it.

[gcurrier2004]

I am on a baseball team. This is basic knowledge for most people but if you dont know this and your a pitcher this will help with velocity. No dont lift 100 lb weights. No steroids are not the snwer either. LONG TOSS!!! For all of you who do not know what long toss is when having a catch one player moves one step back each time he catches it. It will build up the strenth in your arm. Now belive me it works. I started being a cather in late June. I have had the same coach despite moving from LL to Babe Ruth. One thing he always wanted was for me too always do a 15 minute long toss with the pitcher that would be pitching the next game. It not only helped the pitchers but had a great effect on me. I now throw around 63-6565 when last year i threw a mere 54-55. It helps a lot with velocity. And if you have an off speed pitch forget about it.

And only throw fastballs till your about 16. Dont mess with breaking stuff or youll throw your arm out. Unless you can afford TJ surgery then your arm will most likly be stronger. I threw my arm out at 15 after throwing a bunch of breaking stuff my coach taught me. Dead arm at 16. I was pitching 84 from a mound at 15. I can barly hit 70 on the speed pitch at the state fair now.

[mvpmodder07]

well...that sucks. But throwing only fastballs until you are 16 will get you cut in HS.

I'm 18, signed to play with William Jewel next year and playing for a couple tournament teams this year (USSSA). At 9 I was throwing fastballs and changeups. By 13 I was throwing fastball, change, knuckle-curve(not the musina type). As an 18 year old I throw multiple variations on certain pitches and all for strikes. Long toss helps but also lifting and doing lots of pushups.

I throw:

4 seam fastball

2 seam with the seams

2 seam across

cutter

splitter

knuckle-curve

regular curve

palmball

straight change

star change

and I'll throw all of those from 3 different arm slots. I have never had arm problems because I have always taken care of my arm which was probably your problem. Don't OVERTHROW pitches like curves and sliders but using them wont hurt you.

The real key to pitching is changing speeds. Keith Foulke doesnt break 90 but he throws a great changeup and is very effective by changing speeds.

[MarkB]

A major one: don't throw yourself off the mound. Stride off it. Don't push off the rubber, it will just mess up your timing.

[gcurrier2004]

well...that sucks. But throwing only fastballs until you are 16 will get you cut in HS.

I'm 18, signed to play with William Jewel next year and playing for a couple tournament teams this year (USSSA). At 9 I was throwing fastballs and changeups. By 13 I was throwing fastball, change, knuckle-curve(not the musina type). As an 18 year old I throw multiple variations on certain pitches and all for strikes. Long toss helps but also lifting and doing lots of pushups.

I throw:

4 seam fastball

2 seam with the seams

2 seam across

cutter

splitter

knuckle-curve

regular curve

palmball

straight change

star change

and I'll throw all of those from 3 different arm slots. I have never had arm problems because I have always taken care of my arm which was probably your problem. Don't OVERTHROW pitches like curves and sliders but using them wont hurt you.

The real key to pitching is changing speeds. Keith Foulke doesnt break 90 but he throws a great changeup and is very effective by changing speeds.

Not just fast balls, but changup's and off speed junk.... I went to the same highschool as Todd Williams (Baltimore) and played in the same section as Jason Grilli, so it was pretty compeitive, and I made the team. There is a difference between 15-18. Your arm cant handle the arm movments of throwing breaking stuff at that age. No offense to you, but you should not throw that many pitches, and just concintrate on just 3 maybe 4 tops when your at the age your at now. If you want to go to the next level, they would rather have a guy with 2 effective pitches than 10 mediocer pitches.

[mvpmodder07]

Who says my pitches are MEDIOCRE? I throw a hard fastball with lots of movement. My changeup moves and is about 10 mph slower than the fstbl. Curve rolls off the table nicely. Splitter breaks late and gets a lot of people chasing. Your arm can handle breaking pitches IF you do it properly. Throwing a curveball should put no stress on your arm. The motion is supposed to be like casting in fishing or doing the tomahawk chop. If you do the motion properly it doesnt hurt at all. You just had bad mechanics

[gcurrier2004]

Im talking about major league quality. If you have 10 quality pitches. God bless you. BTW, can I be your agent....

[mvpmodder07]

I didnt mean to be rude or insulting and I apologize if I was. I already have an "agent" she has basically gotten me tryouts with some good teams. If anyone knows anything about baseball in Kansas City I will be playing some games in the Ban Johnson league. the BJL is basically like the Cape Cod league. A wood bat division for college kids. *Im a senior in HS

[Trues]

Something my grandfather told me....who would have played pro ball if he didnt go to WWII instead...throw every day. Start from a young age and throw every day. Thats why old time pitcher like Walter Johnson and Cy youn could throw 300-400 innings and both games of a double header. And its true...when I was 16 I was playing pickup games 15-20 innings and pitching all of them and never ever having arm problems.

Pitchers today are babied beyond belief.

[mvpmodder07]

Something my grandfather told me....who would have played pro ball if he didnt go to WWII instead...throw every day. Start from a young age and throw every day. Thats why old time pitcher like Walter Johnson and Cy youn could throw 300-400 innings and both games of a double header. And its true...when I was 16 I was playing pickup games 15-20 innings and pitching all of them and never ever having arm problems.

Pitchers today are babied beyond belief.

Amen brother. I never got to see guys like Bob Gibson pitch, but I wish I had. He had more complete games the year he won the Cy Young, than the Marlins did in both years they won the World Series...COMBINED.

Jack McKeon has done a decent job of not babying those fishies this year though

[michaeljjt]

that "guest" was me....didnt realize I wasnt logged in :)

[gcurrier2004]

Amen brother. I never got to see guys like Bob Gibson pitch, but I wish I had. He had more complete games the year he won the Cy Young, than the Marlins did in both years they won the World Series...COMBINED.

Jack McKeon has done a decent job of not babying those fishies this year though

I wish I could have watched those legends also.

[JoeRudi26]

Something my grandfather told me....who would have played pro ball if he didnt go to WWII instead...throw every day. Start from a young age and throw every day. Thats why old time pitcher like Walter Johnson and Cy youn could throw 300-400 innings and both games of a double header. And its true...when I was 16 I was playing pickup games 15-20 innings and pitching all of them and never ever having arm problems.

Pitchers today are babied beyond belief.

Pitch counts sicken me. :?

It's about money now.

[NYM]

threw 13 perfect games in LL and 4 no hitters and 8 no hiitters and a perfect game in highschool....he threw like 75 at LL. he was strong and tall. he was going to go to the majors but went blind in one eye. My uncles (both of them) were great pitchers too. they never made it because they couldnt afford college and never were scouted. now i play 1st base and catcher. maybe its time for one person in this family to make it to the majors.

in Babe Ruth though kids try to throw curves and cutters changeups and knucles. boy do they suck at trying to attempt. and kids who do throw them have them hanging like a beachball. i hit 2 HR off a curveball. they dont break and hang. i love it!!!

[TROR]

I never was a hard thrower and a curveball is my natural throwing motion.

I threw breaking balls since I was 15. Long Tossing, lots of throwing combined with proper weight training is best for an arm. I still pitch now and have better velocity and control than I did back then. I just wish I had this type of control back then.

[Emil]

How hard do you guys throw?

I'm 15 and I throw 68 mph ( :oops: )

[NYM]

I am 13 and i throw around 60-65. Domt be ashamed. Last year at 12 I was throwing 50. Thats really bad for me. LONG TOSS!!!! Long toss will increase your velocity. But when your having long toss dont stress your throws. If you cant throw it father than the distance the other person is stop. Then next time try and go a little father. Do i make sense?? lol??

[TROR]

How hard do you guys throw?

I'm 15 and I throw 68 mph ( :oops: )

Don't be ahamed, I din't break 70 until I was 16.

Now I throw a 4 seamer in the mid 80's

My off speed stuff ranges between 50(knuckle Ball) and 75.

[blizzah]

Haha, I'm not a pitcher, first year in highschool this year, played varsity, batted 5th and played 3rd base/SS. I plan on learning a knukleball this summer and be a straight knukleball pitcher.

Softball is my sport. OASA Select Champs yeah!. Oasa (Ontario Amateur Select Assoc)

[1927yankee]

Always grip ur changup tightly as u can without ruining ur control to slow it down more and have a larger speed difference between ur fastball and changups.

Grip fastballs loosely for the same reason

[mvpmodder07]

Always grip ur changup tightly as u can without ruining ur control to slow it down more and have a larger speed difference between ur fastball and changups.

Grip fastballs loosely for the same reason

Are you kidding? You seriously know nothing about pitching buddy. You hold fastball loosely to get more velocity...that is correct. However, the only changeup you choke is the straight change. Everything else needs to be held loose otherwise you bury it into the dirt. Stop trying to give pitching advice b/c you are really gunna screw these kids up.

[YankeexDev]

Believe me long toss only is for stamina, the only way you will throw harder is throwing off a mound.

[Fastflink2009]

i throw about 75

[YankeexDev]

"What about long toss? Does it really develop velocity? The fact is that professional pitchers do long toss specifically to maintain arm stamina so that the arm can withstand the stresses of throwing. The claims of velocity from long toss have never been proven despite what even experienced coaches think. They must figure that because everybody does it then it must create velocity. Nolan Ryan when he first came up to the big leagues in the early 70's was throwing 105 miles an hour. No long toss - no weight training." D..ick Mills www.pitching.com

[All_Star]

to topic creator:

this article contradicts everything u said (well the long toss part)

http://pitchingrebel.typepad.com/

theres alot of good stuff in there^^^