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  • Hey guys, I'm Coach Madden, official trainer of YouGoProBaseball.com and today we've got

  • the Top 10 Pitching Drills to develop the perfect pitching mechanics.

  • The first pitching drill we're going to do is the wall drill.

  • I'm sure you guys have all seen this one before but it's a great one because it works on the

  • beginning of the pitching delivery and if you get this right, alot of things later in

  • your pitching delivery are going to happen correctly.

  • So working on the beginning of the pitching delivery is very very important and that's

  • what this pitching drill helps you with.

  • All you're going to do is get up against a wall, or a fence, or something that you can

  • go into.

  • You're going to get set up nice and close, just like you're going into the stretch.

  • Like you're pitching straight perpendicular from the way you're set up and you're going

  • to get into your leg lift.

  • The only thing you want touching the wall or the fence is going to be the side of your

  • butt, ok?

  • You don't want your front knee to touch, you don't want your front foot to touch, you don't

  • want your shoulder to touch.

  • One other thing to focus on is to have your head on the target.

  • So I've got a little dot right here, I'm going to focus on that dot as I'm going through

  • this drill.

  • So it looks a little something like this.

  • So the only thing touching right now is the side of my butt, not my knee, not my foot,

  • not my shoulder and I can still see my dot.

  • One more time, it looks a little something like this.

  • Good.

  • Now, one other thing you want to pay attention to is your back leg.

  • When I see a lot of guys do this drill, what I'll see is they stay really tall on their

  • back leg, really straight.

  • We really want to sit into that back leg as we're doing this drill.

  • So having a lot more bend.

  • No knee, no foot, no shoulder.

  • That's the wall drill.

  • The next pitching drill is the Rocker Drill.

  • I'm sure you guys have all seen this one.

  • You're going to get set up nice and wide like you've already taken your stride.

  • You want to be in line heal to heal.

  • You're going to kind of sit into this.

  • Now, there's two ways to do this drill.

  • One way is to rock and turn the back foot with the laces going down and then also to

  • let this back foot come up and over like as if you were pitching.

  • So it's going to look a little something like this.

  • Get nice and wide, sit into it, heal to heal, set the arms where you feel comfortable, rocking

  • forward and back, hence the reason we call it the rocker drill, and then when you separate

  • when you're coming back you want to separate these arms closed off.

  • I'm throwing straight this way, but I'm separating closed off.

  • Really closed off.

  • 45 degrees or more closed off when I separate my hands.

  • Then I'm going to go ahead and throw this ball.

  • I'll show you one of each ways to do this drill.

  • First one, laces going down to the ground.

  • Second one, back foot coming up and over.

  • Rocking, separating closed off, laces to the ground.

  • Now the second one, I'm going to let the back foot come up and over just like I'm pitching.

  • Rocking, separating closed off, let that back foot come up and over.

  • The next pitching drill is going to be Figure Eights.

  • All we're doing in Figure Eights is we're going to get an athletic stance, keep our

  • glove right in front of us, and then we're going to turn like we're doing a figure eight.

  • Really get your hips involved in this one and then when you separate, I really want

  • you to separate really over exaggerated closed off.

  • So it looks like this and then we're going to throw.

  • One thing I really want you guys to focus on is pronating out in front when you do this

  • drill because a lot of guys have a tendency to do this drill and get around this ball.

  • Really let their arm get out and around and cut the ball off this way.

  • So after you do that figure eight, I want you to think about coming back forward and

  • bringing the chest to the glove and pronating the arm out in front.

  • So it looks a little something like this.

  • The next pitching drill is called Pivot Picks.

  • What we're doing in Pivot Picks is working on our pronation.

  • Pronation is when our arm turns this way as we throw the ball.

  • A lot of pitchers get around the ball and they put a lot of stress of that elbow.

  • So if you're one of those guys, this drill, as well as that figure eight (the last drill)

  • are great drills for you to work on your arm action.

  • So for Pivot Picks we're setting up facing away from our target.

  • I'm actually going to be throwing this way.

  • All I'm doing is coming up with this ball to my head like I'm making a muscle, then

  • I'm rotating as far as I can, and then I'm going to go and throw that ball and really

  • think about pronating and turning down and finishing this way.

  • So it looks a little something like this.

  • Arm coming up as a muscle, coming real high and then get the turn.

  • Pronating as your throw that ball.

  • The next pitching drill is called Sit Up Throws.

  • Now this is a great pitching drill to work on that finish, that end, that last linear

  • motion of the pitching delivery where you've really got to bring that chest to that glove

  • and finish out in front.

  • What we're going to do on this drill is actually lay down on the ground.

  • You can have your knees bent a little bit and you're going to go like you're doing a

  • sit up and as you come up stay closed off, make that throw, and really bring that chest

  • out in front as you do it.

  • So it looks like this.

  • This pitching drill is called the Reverse Wall Drill.

  • In the beginning we did the Wall Drill going into the wall.

  • This drill we're going to be going away from the wall.

  • Hence, the Reverse Wall Drill.

  • All we're going to do is get set up with our back shoulder close to the wall, or fence,

  • or pad, or whatever we're working with.

  • We're going to get set up here and all we want to work on is not touching this pad with

  • our arm path.

  • So if we're separating too early, separating our hands too early, we're going to hit this

  • mat or this wall.

  • Also, if we're separating too straight back, we're going to hit this pad or this wall.

  • So how do we really want to work on this?

  • In the pitching delivery we should start moving this way down the mound before we start to

  • separate our hands.

  • Also, our hands should be separated at a 45 degree angle or more closed off.

  • So we should never hit this wall with our hands if we're doing this drill correctly.

  • So we're going to get here, get set up, start down the mound, 45 degrees or more, and go.

  • I didn't even come close to this.

  • I'll go through it and actually finish the throw here.

  • So, I'm about maybe 6 inches or so away with my back shoulder to the wall.

  • Didn't touch it.

  • The next pitching drill is called Reverse Throws.

  • Now for this one I'm going to use a little bit heavier ball.

  • It's a weighted ball, a plyoball, a plyo med ball, and all we're going to do is get down

  • on our knee, we're going to block off with our glove side, we're going to put this ball

  • down out in front, and then turn and throw this ball backwards.

  • Obviously you're going to need a wall or a net or a fence or something to throw into,

  • but one thing you want to focus on when you're doing this drill is not to get too spinny

  • and out to the side.

  • You really want to throw this ball with the same arm angle that you throw with.

  • So if you're a 3/4 arm slot guy when you pitch, you want to be 3/4 going back.

  • You also want to follow this ball with your head and open your shoulders as you throw

  • it.

  • So it looks a little something like this.

  • The next pitching drill is called the Toe Tap Drill.

  • This is a great drill for anyone who opens up too early because this drill is going to

  • help us stay closed with our front side and start moving down the mound in the proper

  • fashion.

  • So all we're going to do is set up an empty bottle.

  • If it's a windy day out like today, you can fill the bottle up with some clay or if you

  • have some water whatever you can fill it up that way so it doesn't fall over.

  • All you're going to do is get set up.

  • You want this bottle in line with your back foot, maybe slightly back, and then you're

  • just going to come up to your leg lift and then come back down, set your toe on this

  • bottle.

  • You're not really going to put a lot of pressure, but then you want to start moving down the

  • mound with your hips first and then you're going to explode that front leg open which

  • is going to help your hips open and get more hip to shoulder separation, in return helping

  • you pitch faster.

  • So let me demonstrate this drill again in full speed to show you what it looks like.

  • The next pitching drill we are going to do is called Sit Drives.

  • You're going to need a bucket for this one, or a chair, something about this height, obviously

  • a pitching mound.

  • We're going to get set up, we're going to sit on this bucket.

  • Now, one thing you want to really focus on in this drill is that you want to keep your

  • knee inside of your ankle.

  • You don't want to stacked over or have the bucket too far over this way that your foot

  • is stacked.

  • You want to keep that knee inside of your back foot.

  • All you're going to do in this drill is really rock back from this bucket and then drive

  • out of this position.

  • Hence, why it's called Sit Drives.

  • Now this drill is great for guys who need to work on using this back leg and create

  • energy with this back leg and get stronger with this back leg.

  • So it looks a little something like this.

  • Sit on the edge of the bucket, kind of get a rock to it so you can get that stand up,

  • but when you do stand up don't let that knee get over the back foot, stay inside that ankle.

  • Let me show you one more time.

  • The last pitching drill is called the Broomstick Drill, or in this case, the PVC Stick Drill

  • and this is to work on your breaking balls.

  • What you're going to do in this pitching drill is be on your pitching mound or if you're

  • working off flat ground that's fine as well but your partner is going to hold up the PVC

  • or the broomstick about the height of your release point and what you're focusing on

  • when you're throwing your breaking balls is getting over that PVC and then following it

  • down as the coach drops it.

  • The reason this is a great drill is because I see a lot of guys when they start to throw

  • their breaking balls they get real short and kind of cut that thing off.

  • So you really want to think about getting over it first and then following it down.

  • So it looks a little something like this.

  • Thinking about having the right grip on that, getting over that PVC or broomstick, and then

  • pulling it down.

  • If you guys like this video, give me that thumbs up real quick, don't forget to subscribe

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  • Also, leave me a comment below and let me know which one of these 10 pitching drills

  • were your favorite.

  • Alright, I'll see you in the comments below!

Hey guys, I'm Coach Madden, official trainer of YouGoProBaseball.com and today we've got

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