Baseball League Development

Great defense, pitching, catching, and fielding starts with a championship throwing program executed to perfection.

We are building a culture where great pitchers and defenders can easily thrive.  Improvement and learning happen every day. 

  • 12 weeks x 3 practices per week = 36 throwing program practices.
  • 15 min x 36 days = 540 minutes of intense defensive practice or 9 Hours.

Both the thrower and the receiver take 100% responsibility for good throws and catches during the throwing program.

  • The thrower must give the receiver a good throw.
  • The receiver must be ready for and move to stop the ball.   

Don’t waste a single minute of the throwing program by letting them play catch to “warm up”. 

The Throwing Program will teach players almost all skills needed to be successful on the defensive side of the game.

  • Assume they know nothing about throwing and catching.  
  • All players need you to cover the basics, even the advanced players.  Major leaguers work on these basics every day.
  • Try to teach and drill all of the skills in one week, not one practice.  
  • Demonstrate the skills you want them to work on that day. 
  • Talk about the skill. Give them repetitions working on the skill.
  • Repeat

If they fail to demonstrate the skill in a game, assume it’s because you need to teach that skill better, and give them more good repetitions in practice.  

If they are performing the throwing program correctly, they WILL need to stop, rest and catch their breath. 

Rather than letting technique get worse, we want them to rest for 20-30 seconds when fatigued.  

If you teach championship catch every day, you will play championship defense every day. 

Develop at least 5 competent catchers on your team.

Make all players on your team practice pitching and catching when doing flat ground bullpens.

Encourage all players to try new positions. They should do at least one from all the following groups.

  1. pitcher or catcher
  2. infield 
  3. outfield

The basics of a good Throwing Program

  1. the throwing program is not a warm up, its the “real” practice.
    • a warm up is athletic movements designed to get joints moving through a full range of motion and get the athlete sweating.

Throwing Program Skills  

  1. the receiver is in an athletic position with the glove up.
  2. talk about and teach the athletic position many times during each practice
  3. step toward your partner on crow hop throws.  get you feet moving
  4. Square your body up to the thrower, turn your whole body when throwing
  5. Fielding position (athletic position)
  6. Catching (fingers up, fingers down)
  7. receiving – have soft but strong hands
  8. when possible, catch the ball with the elbow at 90 degrees
  9. footwork  (moving to get the ball)  feet move first so receiver can center the ball with their body
  10. feet are active and moving quickly
  11. receiver getting into a ready position before the throw
  12. How to hold the ball
    • 4 seam
    • 2 seam
    • curve
    • slider
    • change
  13. when to use each grip
  14. where to catch the ball in your glove
  15. Long Toss. Pull Downs Air It Out
  16. One Hoppers
  17. Throwing on the run
  18. Quick throw footwork
  19. Underhand Toss
  20. Backhand toss
  21. Catchers Footwork
    • L throw
    • Y footwork
    • Backhand
  22. teach the 4 ground ball hops and how to get a good hop.
    • Short
    • In-between
    • High
    • Down
  23. Training Arm Strength
    • With concern for accuracy
    • Without concern for accuracy
  24. transfer to arm path
  25. front arm action
  26. shuffle toward partner rhythm catch
  27. no step throw
  28. blocking a ball in the dirt   knocking it down
  29. Moving feet to get a good hop or to catch it in the air
  30. Responsibilities of the thrower and receiver
  31. Throw balls of different weights to develop speed and strength
  32. Bringing out arm speed they are already capable of, just not using yet
  33. Learning to catch a faster ball teach the athlete to be comfortable catching a faster ball tennis balls
  34. glove up in front of the face
  35. Pitching Flat Ground Bullpens
    • Have 10 home plates so the pitchers and catchers can practice throwing strikes
    • teach all players the 3 catching stances 
    • coach calls out specific pitch. Example: 4 seam fastball down the middle, catcher in the secondary stance, runner on 2nd
  36. Athletic position, back and forth rhythm throws
  37. smooth athletic rhythmic throwing action
  38. teach the 4 ground ball hops and how to get a good hop

Drills

  • long toss every practice.  let the kids air it out.  throw long and far for arm strength.
    • get all throwers out to their maximum distance throw
  • Uncomfortable catching drill with receivers
    • start with tennis balls and mix in baseballs as they improve   
    • athletes need to get more comfortable with velocity
    • attack the ball with the glove, go get the ball
    • look for and avoid flinching and getting on the heels
  • Count the balls that get by the receiver in a given throwing program
    • recruit an assistant coach or parent to count the number of past balls
    • count only the balls that get by the receiver.  we want them to catch the ball or keep it in front.
    • as the season progresses reduce the number
    • the first practice the whole team might have 60 ball that get by the receiver. get that number down to 10 by the last game of the season
    • when you talk about taking care of the ball, kids will try to improve, challenge them. They will respond to challenges
    • make sure they are not holding back on velocity to gain command. We want velocity and control
  • 4 player Square throwing drill
    • underhand toss
    • backhand toss
    • no step overhand throw
    • ground balls
    • pop flys 
    • creativity have them make crazy throws that require creativity.  behind the back, between the legs, glove flips, Jeter throws and anything they can come up with