The Towel Drill

For all you boys wanting to be pitchers or fathers looking for help to improve their son’s pitching, there are some very good instructional videos on the internet.

Baseball is built around basic fundamentals that impact every position and situation.  However, these basic fundamentals are broke down into complex mechanics and situational knowledge.  So, baseball is simple but complex.  This can be a difficult gap for many players, fathers and Little League coaches.

Throwing a baseball is applicable to every position.  Even the 1^st baseman must be able to throw properly and accurately.  Therefore, it is important to learn proper throwing mechanics at a very early age since no one is positive what position the young ball player will eventually specialize.

Positions can be dictated by many things of which it is impossible to gage in T-ball or even the early years of Little League.  You may get an indication with some players by the time they reach the 11-12 year old league.

However, the basic mechanics are the same.  To throw the baseball you must have proper balance, posture and torque.  However, this becomes more complex with the mechanics and situations of each individual position.

This is even truer about pitching since throwing the baseball is the specialized emphasis of the position.  Pitching mechanics include, but not limited to, posture, balance point, separation, extension, torque, drive, and so on.  A lot of knowledge is required that is hard to find in youth baseball.  However, this is one of the critical times of development.

What is needed is for fathers and coaches to become educated about the game.  Fathers need to be knowledgeable about the positions their son or sons play so that they can properly instruct them in the early years.

Pitching is even more critical.  In today’s youth baseball we have many young arms being ruined because of the ignorance of fathers and coaches.  Then if you factor in all the bad habits and improper techniques and training that are being utilized on young ball players, there are many young pitchers who are ruined from an ability standpoint.  What happens is those with natural talent progress to the next levels while other kids who could have developed are left behind.

There is only one organization dedicated to pitching that I recommend.  It is the National Pitching Association.  These camps and instructional resources come from some of the games greatest pitchers.  Tom House is a great pitching coach and runs these camps to help provide the training and skills to be a successful pitcher.  The advisory board consists of former players like Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Cole Hamels, Mark Prior, Orel Hershiser, Dave Dravecky, and many more.

However, they do not provide a lot of free resources.  If you are able to spend some money you can visit the National Pitching Association or you can find some great instructional resources at Tom House’s website.  You can find some instructional videos on YouTube by Tom House and Nolan Ryan.  We will continue to post resources to assist parents, coaches and young players.  However, please beware of the many videos and websites that make big promises or teach improper techniques.  While there are some really good resources there are more floating around the internet that are a waste of time at best and destructive at worst.

The best pitching drill to instill proper mechanics is taught by Tom House and I have found it to be the greatest resource for young pitchers.  The great thing is that the parent or coach does not have to be an expert to greatly improve their players pitching mechanics.