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As many of you know, I have been working very hard with the pitchers from C.W. Post over the last month or so. Many girls are very curious about what happens with workouts at a collegiate level. To an extent, certain things are similar to what occurs in private lessons. Conversely, everything is very compressed because of the amount of time spent with the pitchers and the team. I put in a little over nine hours a week with four girls. As you can imagine, that is a great deal of individualized attention with good athletes, producing expedited results. The focus is still on mechanics first. You have to have a solid foundation to work on speed, spin or accuracy. This is true for athletes at every level. It is also true that everyone is anatomically different and will therefore be unique in certain aspects of her motion. Therefore, I thought I would post the unique workouts I provided for the pitchers at Post. These workouts are based on throwing three days a week in addition to strength and conditioning. All pitchers have individualized warm-ups that they do prior to working on the proceeding skills. I have decided not to use their names, but describe them by the things they are working on:
Pitcher One (Lefty): Working on producing a straight circle, better speed, and adding a drop
Day One: Stability
-Circle while balancing on left leg (right leg is up)
-Vest or bands
-Plank and throw
-Rise
Day Two: Straight Circle
-Warm-ups should include at least 10-15 with the circle against the wall
-Freeze at superman (check circle) and throw
-Throwmax
-Ball in the sock
-Drop and change-up
Day Three: Power
-Warm-ups
-Run throw and run
-Hop, hop and pop
-Eleven inch ball
-Vest or bands
Day One: Spin
-Warm-ups with spinner (rise, drop, curve)
-Spins down on the right knee
-All spins with the baseball (using two fingers)
-Run through pitches with the regular ball (rise, drop, curve, change)
Day Two: Timing of Break
-Warm-ups on oversized ball
-Snap and look at your range of motion
-Under one leg with the 12 inch
-Work ropes for positioning of the break on all pitches (ropes go horizontally for rise and drop; vertically for curve)
Day Three: Explosiveness
-Throw and run
-Rapid Fire
-Vest or bands
-Circle snap circle
-Sprinter’s start
She purposely throws after conditioning, so that she can work on her endurance in later innings. She is also required to keep a pitch count.
Day One: Explosiveness
-Drag the towel with back leg (make sure the heel is not dropping)
-Throw and run
-Circle snap circle
-Rise spin with spinner and then from full
Day Two: Spots and Spin
-Work outside corner using the line/rope for reference
-Warm-up drop and curves (inside and outside) with spinner
-Use the ropes to create good timing on the break
Day Three
-Work on the skills you feel still need improvement based on the workouts earlier in the week
Day One: Accuracy (You will probably not need a catcher for this day: a bucket of balls and a net would suffice)
-Use the ropes to create lines to your spots
-Begin with the rope starting with snaps and work all the way to full
Day Two: Looseness and whip
-Pendulum
-Roll your wrist then throw
-Throw and run
-Swinging from full motion
-Sprinter’s start
-Drop (use the rope for break)
-Throw with the eleven-inch ball
Day Three: Break and speed
-Warm-up all spins except curve using either spinner or undersized ball
-Work Positioning and timing of the break
-Throw with the vest or bands pulling forward
I hope that this gives everyone a basic idea of how I have painstakingly crafted and individualized the workouts for these pitchers. Try to think of your goals (both mechanically and otherwise) and ask yourself how to best craft your own workout to meet those goals. Remember, mechanical issues should always precede work on spins and speed. Only once your motion is perfect or near-perfect should you begin working for power and break. Speed is gained most quickly not through power drills, but through correcting mechanical inefficiencies.
