Pitching Articles:

The first thing you must remember when trying to maximize velocity is to stay behind the baseball.  This means that you must keep your fingers behind the baseball at the release point.

Conditioning is the next thing you must work on to gain velocity.  Long toss for conditioning your arm is very important and will help tremendously.  Conditioning your legs is also a good way to gain velocity.  If you have strong legs you will be making the job easier on your arm therefore you may be able to increase velocity.  Also conditioning of the hips and core.  If you have a strong and stable core you will be able to create more power and thus increasing your velocity.  Conditioning all three of these will give you the best chance to make increases on the velocity of your fastball.

Strength training can also help you increase velocity on your fastball.  Some coaches and pitchers don't like to use strength training because it will make the pitcher too tight and they will actually lose velocity.  This is true, but the right amount of strength training will actually help.  Not only could it help increase your velocity but with enough stretching it can prevent injury and help you pitch deeper into games.

Having a consistent delivery can also help you gain a few mphs.  Not all pitchers have the same mechanics but the ones who do well are the ones with consistent deliveries.  This will help you increase velocity because if you have a consistent delivery your body will be familiar with what you are trying to do and therefore make it easier.  Not only will you increase velocity but also control because your body knows where it wants to throw the ball if you do the same thing every time.  Some things that you can do to be more consistent are work on a lot of drills.  (see drills) 

Doing rotator cuff work is another big idea that will help with velocity on the fastball.  There are many drill and conditioning that you can do for the rotater cuff.  You should use very light weight or bands to go throw the rotater cuff exercises.  (see rotator cuff program)  This will help you gain velocity and prevent injury.

Utilizing the wrist is another great way to help increase velocity with the fastball.  The wrist is a lever in the pitching motion.  By maximizing the wrist action and using the fingers to stay on top of the baseball you can add some velocity.  You can also do some wrist exercises in the gym to help with the wrist extension and snap that you will need to put on the baseball to gain velocity.  The force that you can get from the wrist does not only help with velocity but some coaches believe that proper wrist movement can help a pitcher's control and command of pitches.

Check out the picher's manuel for more in depth information and exercises!!  Click Here!!

 
Increase Pitching Control

To increase control for a pitcher their are many things that you can do.  The first and most important factor in making a pitcher more accurate and able to throw to his target is mechanics.  By mechanics I do not mean a certain way that everyone must pitch because I or some other coach said so, but I do mean a consistent pitching delivery.  With a consistent delivery a pitcher knows exactly what his body is doing and understands the adjustments he must make to throw a pitch in a certain spot.  By being consistent and having your mechanics built into your muscle memory it is easier to throw the ball where you want to.  Consistency is the key to control.  Other things that can help a pitcher with control are drills.  Drills are the fundamentals that a pitcher repeats over and over again, thus bringing us back to our first point, having a consistent delivery.  Drills are a good way to accomplish this consistency.  Another way to develope control as a pitcher is to always being working on it.  When a pitcher is warming up before a game or practice he can play a quick game with his throwing partner.  Two points if he hits his partner in the head and one point if he hits his partner in the chest area.  The game can be played up to any number amount.  This is a good game to play to help with control because it is fun and keeps the pitcher working and trying to hit spots.  Throwing bullpens are important because they offer a difference from flat grounds.  Although throwing on the flat ground is a good way to get work done, throwing off of the mound is the best thing a pitcher can do.  It is a great way to increase control because that will be the exact motion you will be going through in a game when pitching.  Even though it is just a slight difference from the flat ground it makes a big difference when you practice it often.  Most professional pitchers throw two bullpens and once in a game every five days.  So that means that they are throwing off of the mound more than they are throwing on the flat ground.  This means that their bodies are remembering them throwing off of the mound more.  This muscle memory along with a consistent delivery are they key to becoming a pitcher that can control the baseball and throw it to any spot he wants to.

 
Increase Pitching Movement

A pitcher's job is to disrupt timing and balance in hitters.  To do this they will need to change speeds with their pitches and change eye levels.  Some pitchers do this by trying to add movement to the baseball.  There are 3 main things that can add movement to a pitch.

Grip - By getting different grips on the baseball a pitcher can throw different pitches that do different things and move different ways.  It is not as simple as just holding the baseball a certain way, it must be thrown how that pitch is supposed to be thrown to work.  Because there are so many different pitches that a pitcher can learn to throw, he must decide which one would work best for him and which ones he feels best throwing.  A pitcher should not try to throw every pitch invented, instead he should pick a couple of pitches that he likes and try to perfect them.

Arm angle - Although arm angle should not be changed in between pitches, certain arm angles can add movement to certain pitches.  If a pitcher is trying to find out his best arm slot or arm angle he must take into consideration the movement he will be getting from the arm angles that he is trying.  Even though most coaches teach to not change arm angles from pitch to pitch, a slight change here and there could help get some extra movement on a baseball that you need to get a big hitter out.

Arm speed - This is another thing that you are not supposed to change as a pitcher.  You want every pitch to have the same arm speed and let the grip do the work for the pitch.  Here's the exception: if you can take off just a little bit of arm speed but still make the pitch look the same.  Arm speed can help with movement alot because if you take some speed off the ball, gravity will take over earlier than it would have and the ball will tend to sink.

All three of these things can add movement to a baseball.  A pitcher must not jeapordize his control for movement however but if he can control these things to give him more movement and throw the ball where he wants to, then he will be a great pitcher.