WILTON LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL

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