16 Jan 2 Simple Keys To Pitching Faster
Everyone wants their pitcher to throw faster and yet we make it so difficult and complicated that they actually end up pitching slower.
The concept of how to pitch faster isn’t that hard, or complicated so learn how your pitcher can do it with 2 great drills!
If you want to pitch the ball faster then basically your pitcher must do one very simple thing: Her hand (not her arm) has to move faster when she’s letting go of the ball. Period!
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But, what makes it kind of hard are two things:
- We tend to move our arm instead of our hand. The difference is that your brain considers your arm as either your elbow, your bicep or your shoulder. In either case those are all things that if your brain is trying to move fast, will only tense up and then slow you down. To prove this raise your shoulders up and then try to move your arm around in your pitching circle (with your shoulders staying up) – it’s really hard, isn’t it?! So, to help speed up your hand you need to relax your shoulders, and to do that you need your brain to think about moving your pitching HAND instead of your Arm.
- The second thing to help you get a faster hand at the release point is to move your hand faster at the end of your circle instead of at the beginning. Most pitchers start their circle fast and then run out of speed at the end – and the end is when you’re letting go of the ball. So, your pitcher needs to think about her hand getting faster as it gets closer to letting go. Or, another way to think of it is to have her hand as fast as possible at the release and follow through.
Do the feet help, yes, but only in starting the pitching, not in throwing the pitch. The feet help create the power that the hand will use at the release point. Everything else (hips included) only help the pitcher’s speed at the release point!