Thanks in advance for any replies.

My son will be pitching for the first time this next year. He is pumped and I am too - but I never pitched as a kid. I don't have a clue how to work him out and am looking for some resources to help. Plus I know things have changed drastically in recent years regarding philosophies in training youth.

As a side note, I also coach and really enjoy it and need to learn this stuff anyway going forward. So this is not just about my son, and I want to learn as much as possible so that I am ready going forward.

My son is turning 9 if that helps. Any help on resources or tips you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

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Proper throwing motion is by far the most important factor you should be concerned about for your son.

Four things that I would learn and teach to any kid wanting to pitch:

1. Long toss, often

2. Glove tuck (keep the front side from flying open)

3. Towel drill (teach them to reach and finish)

4. Long toss, often

Long toss 4 days a week..30 minutes
Throw off a mound 20-30 pitches twice a week
Rest the other day

When off mound, pitch from stretch and throw only fastballs. Hit inside and outside corner, have a purpose. At this age balance and being able to hit his spots are key. Don't over think anything right now.

Fastballs and change ups to start. Don't mess with the other stuff, the long term damages to the arm aren't worth it.

As mentioned, a lot of long toss(properly) and form are 2 big things to focus on early on.

Good luck to him.

Long toss + poor form = sore arm.

Oh I know not to teach him junk. He has good speed and decent movement on his throws anyway, so I am not worried about that at all. I don't think they should be throwing junk until they are adolescents anyway. We will throw a fastball and a change up and that's it. He is a big boy too, so he has that intimidation factor as well.

As far as form, I have been keeping up with that. He has decent form, just needs a few tweaks. He mainly just needs more consistency on his front foot placement and follow through. We were able to get him throwing with right form early so this will not be a big issue - he just needs practice.

I appreciate you guys input. I am not looking to throw him every day, just a couple times a week at this point. I was mainly looking for "what" to do and how much.

Keep the input coming please!

same situation, I was told 5x age for pitch limit and 1hr rest for every pitch.

Sounds like you are on the right track. Keep in mind that high school varsity is the glory days.

Chiming in with long toss... You dont have to play it forever either...if and when its ever determined that pitching isnt the way to go...a strong arm is never a bad option!

As others said, lots and lots of long toss. Also, as others said, please do not teach him any breaking balls yet. Make him learn how to locate and be effective with his fastball. Also teach him a change up to help him learn the art of pitching. If he can control and locate, he'll be fine. Just don't teach him the breaking stuff yet...

I somewhat disagree with the lots and lots of long toss argument and would still be more concerned with proper mechanics, form, etc at this age.

Have him work on basic delivery mechanics as well. Him being able to smooth it out at a young age will help keep the pressure off his arm in the years to come.

Before throwing at 100% I would get him a knee working his mechanics, pointing the glove, learning to hit the glove, keep the elbow up, etc.

[This message has been edited by Theo is a Touchdown (edited 6/25/2014 8:10a).]

My advice would be make sure it remains fun for him. Developing a pitcher that decides he's sick of pitching (or the game) before he's 10 isn't productive either, which I could see 2+ hours of long toss per week wearing on a 9 year old.

quote:

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2. Glove tuck (keep the front side from flying open)

3. Towel drill (teach them to reach and finish)

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These two drills address most mistakes in form that young players have. Obviously, proper form is a must and is the 1st step in the process.

However, there are a lot of problems that won't show up when doing knee throws. They may do it properly when they are throwing short distances, but change their motion once you get them into long toss.

quote:

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My advice would be make sure it remains fun for him. Developing a pitcher that decides he's sick of pitching (or the game) before he's 10 isn't productive either, which I could see 2+ hours of long toss per week wearing on a 9 year old.

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I'm not one of those dads. No worries here! We are only doing this as much and as long as he wants to. I am just making sure we have a plan if we are going to throw.

All this talk about long toss...

I've been taking my son (turned 10 yesterday) to lessons for 8 months now and his pitching coach hasn't mentioned long toss.

Like the OP, I was never a pitcher.

What's the benefit?

Corp,

You should ask your son's coach about it. I'd be surprised if he didn't recommend him throwing some long toss.

Although there are several benefits outside of pitching, the main purpose is to build arm strength. A lot of arm injuries begin with fatigue that leads to poor form. Building arm strength can help prevent that from happening.

Long tossing 4 days a week for 30 minutes each? I'm sorry but that is terrible advice. The kid is 9. My baseball background...4 years college and 2 years in the MiLB.

As others have mentioned, long toss isn't going to do jack if they have bad form to begin with. Want to know what the biggest issue I see with young kids is? No understanding of mid section torque. What I see is It's all about upper body and arm only throws. Most kids at any young age aren't even close to getting the most out of their fastball because the mechanics are missing crucial steps.

I'm also not a fan of the towel drill. I thought it was pointless when I was forced to do it in college and I still think it is pointless. Why? Because it forces you to A) use something that you don't use when actually pitching (towel) and B) it makes kids once again focus only on their arm and upper body to "reach" out. If you have proper mid section torque, the velocity of your body will have no choice but to finish over and to the left (assuming a RH pitcher). The arm will extend just fine.

With that said, I would focus in proper mechanics...yes that's a tough one because there are a lot of "mechanics" to ensure are right.
Where are you located at? I can recommend some awesome coaches in both Dallas and the CS/Houston area.

Edit to add, I'm 29 so my baseball playing and coaching days are pretty recent.

[This message has been edited by Fc12 (edited 6/25/2014 8:31p).]

I am in Mt Pleasant - NE Texas. Dallas is a little far for me.

There are a couple of guys I played with growing up that pitched in the upper levels that are still atound. Also, my dad was also an excellent pitcher (although he is not physically able to "show" him anymore, he has the knowledge). So I am confident he can get the coaching he will need if he really wants to do it. at this point I was wanting to see what others were doing and what were the new "rules" and techniques (since my baseball experience and my dads was so long ago).


[This message has been edited by Gigemhilo (edited 6/26/2014 6:36a).]

I wish I was closer (OKC) as I would wok with him for free..

One thing to remember is at this age, "pitching" mechanics need to be based around proper throwing mechanics in general. Watch him closely and key in on what he uses the most. My guess is he favors his arm and upper body and lacks strong torso torque. Fix what needs to be fixed on the flat ground and then move to the mound. Proper torque will aide a strong finish. Work on 60' bullets. Long toss does no good when they're rainbows.

The good thing is proper mechanics are proper mechanics whether it is from short stop or the outfield. Too much emphasis is put on "pitching" mechanics when in reality, at a young age, kids need to work on proper throwing mechanics. Want to see a kid fail? Put a timid 9 year old on the mound trying to hope and pray a ball over the strike zone. Get him throwing BB's at 60' (feet shuffle is fine)and then move to the shortened mound.

FC- thanks for the tips! I like that idea a lot. He is still playing right now (state All Star tourney is next weekend). I plan on giving him a break for a while before we start this. I like your approach, though, and that's likely where we will start.

When watching him throw, I've been focusing on the order (ie when does he open his shoulders, etc) and not really focused on what he is using for strength. I'll try to observe that while he warms up in the next couple weeks.

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Glove tuck (keep the front side from flying open)

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one thing about glove tuck is that the pitcher should not be pulling the glove to his body, but instead bringing his chest to the glove.It s subtle difference. When my son was young we all taught them to tuck the glove. Now he is in high school and his coach is working with him to stop the tuck. The reason is that aggressively tucking promotes rotation or spinning of the torso. A lot of this is based on Tom House theories of pitching, which some agree with and some don't.

I am a strong believer that everything in the game of baseball starts from the ground up. I coach my pitchers to work from the toes and through the legs and hips before we ever start throwing for the day. We start by standing in a strong starting position (start of the strectch pitching motion) weight on the balls of the feet, knees slightly bent. We work on this position until I can't push them back with slight force. Then I work with shuffling the feet (think plenty of time on a throw from short). Then its back to the stretch to work on stride length (should be slightly more than twice hip to ground distance) Then we move to trunk rotation. Starting in a strided out position and simply rotating the hips and starting the extention towards the plate (getting the chest out in front of the front knee) Then its on to pushing off the rubber. I attempt to accomplish this by teaching to extend the stride length to almost a jumped out distance (three times the length of the hip to ground). We work on all of this before we even begin throwing. I feel that what your arm does is completely organic and there are only some small things that need to happen to prevent injury as best as possible such as keeping the elbow at should height or slightly above, and making sure the arm takes a "long" route down back up and through. Thats how I work with my twelve and under kids and what I have found has the biggest impact on young throwers. Let the arm almost take care of itself while the feet become trained to be repeatable.

You had the first half correct...
Nothing about the trunk is a simple rotation. If you are going to put them in that position, you better ensure the lower half is open towards home and the upper half is closed at 90degrees or as
Close as they can get it. Go pull up any big leaguer and look at their body position when their foot lands in relation to their upper body. Create the tension, release the torque/power.

The next thing is teaching a kid to push off or jump out immediately and prematurely removes them from power. In order for torque to happen, you need your feet under you. At ball release is when you'll start to see the toe off the ground.

Forgot to add you are correct on the front side elbow height. The reality about injuries is yes, some are completely obvious...as in, you can tell by the way someone pitches they are going to get hurt. Other pitchers like me, after years of throwing, end up with a hook on the end of their acromion and well...shoulder impingement pain sucks...pitching is just a violent arm movement.

[This message has been edited by Fc12 (edited 6/28/2014 3:37p).]

Have him try a number of different motions to see what is most comfortable for him. Most kids start out by copying motions from their favorite major league pitchers. Look for a motion that is smooth and natural. Not any jerky or rough motions.

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Just got this email and thought about this thread. I have not had time to check these videos out, yet.

Be smart and listen to what he says but watch him and his movements more. It is hard, but stick with truths about pitching. Dont get emotional and say 1 more out or 1 more batter. Know the limits and follow them.

My son is playing juco next year as a pitcher and we didnt let him pitch until 11. I don't know your sons age, but if I did it over again, my son wouldn't start pitching until 13 at youngest.

If you have questions , let me know.

OA511 - what is your reasoning behind that? I'm not questioning you, I honestly want to know.

Throwing is an unnatural and damaging to the arm, pitching is even worse. My son at 13 had damage to the tendon. No curves, no sliders, just fb but body was not mature to pitch. Just like I don't believe preteens are ready for tackle, I don't think most are ready to pitch.

2nd is the mental. My son will tell you that when he was younger he pitched for strikeouts, now he wants inf pop or grounder to 2nd.
Also throwing from the stretch and trying to hold runners and such. Instead of worrying about the batter, their mechanics get messed up trying to quick pitch and slide step.

Does that make sense?

Steals and pitching from the stretch don't happen in LL, unless the pitcher chooses to pitch from the stretch. I'm glad our son pitched a ton from 9 - 13. Good fundamentals, and smooth motion with long arms = no pain or arm problems.

On the downside of staying in LL, the jump from LL to U14 is huge. Forty six feet to sixty feet six inches; Drop 12 bats to drop 3 bats. Now I see why everyone else held their kids back to get that extra year of U13 baseball, before high school.

I agree with OA511's advice.

The greatest threat to a young pitcher's arm is a wannabe dad who lacks knowledge.

The wannabe dads almost always go the select rout. That's the biggest plus for LL. Those folks weed themselves out.

Now that LL is over for us, It seems everyone has a plan for our son. I probably had fifty texts about what select team ours needs to join yesterday. Not surprisingly, most of these came from wannabe dads who left LL early for select.

Apparently, the fun is over when LL ends. It's all about making the high school teams after that. We're still looking. The front runner for Fall is a U14 team with a LL like schedule. If you let them, they would have your kid playing/practicing six days a week.

The weirdest thing about baseball so far is that total strangers will come up to you and regurgitate you son's statistics. It won't be only for the current game or season, I've been given game, season and lifetime stats for our twelve year old. Somewhere, someone is recording every pitch and at bat and many people follow that information. In Little League!

[This message has been edited by HECUBUS (edited 7/11/2014 9:43a).]

How do you all determine a good pitching motion for them to stick with? Just go out there and let them wind up and throw some, until they find a comfortable motion? I'm sure it's important to pick a motion that uses your legs more than your arm? To put less stress on the arm, like Nolan Ryan.

The biggest wannabe dads were always from the rec league. They lived in their little world and always talked about how great johnny was and would only pitch and play ss. None of those kids made it through hs baseball bc they were always so far behind and couldn't keep up.

There are some select coaches that would do non stop baseball if you are stupid enough to let them.

I forget who it was... broadcaster... pitcher that did a Rangers game... IIRC, it was Bert Blyleven.

They started talking about pitching at a young age.

He said, "Let me stop and get on my soap box."

He basically said don't play year-round baseball. That track and swimming were two of the best things he did for training. He apparently ran Cross Country. That and Swimming he credits with giving him the leg strength for pitching.

They were like, "Well, you only had 240 complete games, so you may know what you're talking about."

I thought it was funny because I never understood why more baseball players didn't swim. Incredible leg strength, focus on core body strength, flexibility and low impact workouts.