Throwing a Baseball Faster

Throwing a baseball faster involves more than just aiming for speed; it’s about combining proper throwing mechanics with strength and conditioning. Whether you’re a little leaguer or an adult getting back into the game, enhancing your throwing velocity requires consistent practice and a focus on developing key skills. To throw with more power, you must concentrate on building arm strength and applying tips that improve both accuracy and velocity.

Engaging Your Entire Body

A critical component to improving your throwing speed is ensuring that the rest of your body is fully involved in the throwing motion, not just your arm. This dynamic sport demands that you combine coordination, power, and speed. Practice and coaching are crucial here—starting with YouTube tutorials can help, but consulting a coach or personal trainers for individualized advice will make a significant difference. It takes time, effort, and instruction to refine your throwing technique and improve your velocity.

Full-Body Approach for Pitchers

Baseball pitchers often need to adopt a full-body approach to enhance their throwing power and speed. Strength and conditioning play a vital role in this process. Integrating exercises that focus on conditioning and mechanics can help you compete better and stand out among other players. Insights from physical therapists and programs like EW Motion Therapy can provide Focus on Efficient and Repeatable Throwing Mechanics

To throw a baseball faster, you need to focus on efficient and repeatable throwing mechanics. Start by getting a powerful stride—your throwing motion begins with a stride foot lift. Drive your leg towards the plate to build momentum. When you land, keep your foot and knee slightly bent to allow your hips to rotate and generate power. A well-timed stride helps generate force for a more effective throw.

Rotate Your Hips and Torso Effectively

Next, rotate your hips and torso effectively. As you plant your stride foot, drive your hips towards the plate while keeping your shoulders closed until the last moment. Rotate your upper body aggressively to transfer energy through the kinetic chain. When whipping your throwing arm, ensure your elbow and wrist are stiff to drive your arm forward. A flicking wrist and arm extension create elastic energy and boost ball speed. Additionally, point your glove towards your target to guide the direction of your throw and add extra torque. This technique prevents your throwing shoulder from opening too early, maintaining maximum power.

Build Arm Strength with Long Toss and Sprints

Incorporate exercises like long toss and sprints into your routine to build arm strength and improve your throwing capability. Long toss involves gradually increasing distances to develop arm strength and maintain accuracy, simulating in-game throwing. Meanwhile, sprints and interval training enhance your fast-twitch muscle fibers, providing explosive power and increased arm speed. By combining these drills with proper throwing mechanics and a focus on strength, you can achieve a faster, more powerful throw.

Incorporate Stretches and Drills for Shoulder Stability

To throw a baseball faster, start by incorporating sleeper stretches into your routine. These stretches target the posterior deltoid, teres minor, and infraspinatus muscles, which are crucial for improving your throwing range of motion and velocity. Perform the sleeper stretch by holding each stretch for 30 seconds, doing it 2-3 times on each side. This will help loosen up the shoulder muscles and prepare you for more powerful throws.

Recovery and Rest

Throwing a baseball fast involves more than just intense practice; it requires proper recovery and rest. After a hard-throwing session, your arm needs a day off to prevent overuse injuries and allow your muscles to recover. Recovery helps your body adapt and grow stronger. Aim for 8-10 hours of sleep nightly to repair muscle tissues and support growth. Eating a protein-rich diet supplies your muscles with essential amino acids for repair and development.

In addition to rest, consider additional rest days whenever your arm feels sore. Listen to your body and avoid pushing through discomfort to prevent long-term damage. Proper recovery ensures that your arm is ready for the next session, helping you to avoid injuries and stay at peak performance. By integrating recovery into your training regimen, you’ll build arm strength and improve velocity on the mound, which is crucial for throwing heat and mastering proper throwing mechanics. Balancing hard work with adequate recovery is key to throwing baseball fast and efficiently

Why is throwing harder important in baseball?

Throwing harder is crucial in baseball for several reasons. First, it’s a key measure of a player’s arm strength and velocity, which are essential for success in the sport. For baseball players, especially those aiming to advance their careers, increasing throwing velocity can make a significant difference. Scouts and coaches often use throwing velocity as a direct insight into a player’s potential. In major league baseball, pitchers are expected to throw upwards of 95 mph to compete at the highest levels.

To continue advancing in the sport and to stand out among players, improving throwing mechanics is essential. Without a focus on enhancing velocity, a player might not progress as desired. Whether you’re a little leaguer or a seasoned major-league player, the ability to throw harder can significantly impact your career and help you achieve your goal of succeeding in baseball. For any pitcher, this aspect of the game is not just about strength but also about refining mechanics to accomplish higher throwing speeds.

Throwing tips from a physical therapist 

When baseball players want to improve their arm strength and velocity, it’s essential to consider techniques that go beyond the field. As a physical therapist, who has worked with athletes from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, I’ve seen firsthand how focusing on off-the-field training can enhance performance. A major area to focus on is improving your body’s overall strength and mechanics. Many players I’ve treated found success when they encompassed specific drills that targeted the entire body, not just the throwing arm.

A crucial factor in throwing harder is increasing body mass. For those looking to hit speeds over 95mph, it’s clear that most top pitchers weigh at least 200 lbs. This is simple physics—a more massive, stronger body can throw more powerful pitches. To increase velocity, aim to weigh at least 2.5x your height in inches. So, if you’re 6ft (72 inches), aim for around 180lbs. Start with the gym, incorporating protein-rich meals and prioritizing high-calorie breakfasts. This can improve your caloric intake and muscle mass, helping you throw harder.

In addition to weight, sport-specific strengthening is key to a strong arm and better throws. Building strength in the lower body, core, and arm allows you to generate more force and improve overall velocity. Exercises like reverse lunges and pull-ups target the posterior rotator cuff, promoting stability and force production through the shoulder joint. Focus on exercises that transfer power from your legs to your arm, creating a fluid, explosive motion when you throw.

How else can players get stronger?

For baseball players looking to get stronger and improve their throws, focusing on both physical and mental conditioning is key. As Yogi Berra famously said, “Baseball is 90% mental, and the other half is physical.” The right routines can make the difference between a good player and a great player. College and major-league players often spend the off-season working on building strength, while also maintaining agility and speed. It’s these efforts that lead to long-term success both during the season and throughout a career.

To truly advance in baseball, you need to train your body like a professional. Many pitchers and players work with personal trainers or physical therapists to build up their physical health and mental strength. Programs like those at EW Motion Therapy are designed to improve velocity and performance. If you’re interested in boosting your game, the Program Match Tool can help you find a program that best fits your needs and goals, ensuring you build the right mix of strength, speed, and agility for success.

Top 5 Workouts to Increase Throwing Velocity

In baseball, throwing faster requires a focus on the sport’s unique movements and specific training demands. To increase throwing velocity, players must maintain proper mobility and get stronger in key areas like the hips and shoulders. One of the top ways to improve this is through lateral power exercises, which help develop strength in one leg at a time, boosting your hip and shoulder separation. Training the rotator cuff in a 90/90 position is crucial, as this strengthens the muscles used for throwing and helps correct mechanical issues that might limit your velocity.

Many youth baseball training programs often fail because they neglect the importance of mobility and strength. A lack of velocity is often a direct result of an athlete’s mobility or poorly executed strength training. The following five exercises serve as the foundation, or “five pillars,” for increasing your throwing power: lateral lunges, single-leg deadlifts, 90/90 shoulder presses, banded hip thrusts, and core rotations. These moves help balance the body and prevent injury, allowing you to throw harder while staying healthy.

• Side-Lying Windmill (Maintain Your Mobility)

For any baseball player, maintaining mobility is key to improving performance. A proper warm-up like the Side-Lying Windmill drill can have a huge impact on your throwing speed, transforming a 91 MPH throwing session into a 94 MPH throwing showcase. This mobility drill focuses on the thoracic spine or upper back, which is enormously important for generating rotation during both throwing and hitting. The BDS Training Program emphasizes this movement because it helps increase hip-and-shoulder separation, allowing you to generate more torque from your upper back and not just the arm, improving overall performance.

• Skater Jump w/ Band (Use Lateral Exercises)

   

When it comes to increasing your throwing power in baseball or softball, lateral and rotational motions are often overlooked. These movements, however, are essential for athletes to build power that transfers well to the field. Skater jumps with a band are an excellent way to mimic the rotational component of a throw, which helps players develop power while pushing off the mound. By performing these lateral exercises, you’re also strengthening muscles used for hitting, base stealing, and even the crow-hop from the outfield.

In my experience, skater jumps are highly effective because they target the underutilized muscles that are often missing from standard training programs like benching, squatting, or even hang cleans. This drill forces the body to move laterally and focus on rotation, which mimics the exact lateral stride and rotation needed in throwing. By adding these movements into your routine alongside pull-ups, forward lunges, and straight-line sprints, you’re not just becoming a stronger athlete, but also a more efficient one when it comes to actual game movements. Trust me, incorporating these small but powerful moves into your workout can make a huge difference in your performance.

• Bulgarian Split Squat (Train On One Leg)

For baseball and softball players, building one-leg strength is incredibly important, especially when you’re pushing off one leg at a time during a throw. The Bulgarian Split Squat is a fantastic exercise that addresses what is rarely focused on in traditional two-leg exercises like back squats or RDLs. In my experience, this movement is one of the pillars of any serious training program, including the BDS Strength Program, and while there’s no such thing as a guaranteed velocity drill, this exercise can get you as close as you can possibly get to improving your power on the field.

• Kneeling Anti-Rotation Chops (Hip & Shoulder Separation)

If you’re wondering how to increase throwing velocity and build explosive power, the Kneeling Anti-Rotation Chop is a fantastic drill to focus on. This exercise trains rotational athletes by improving hip and shoulder separation, a huge reason behind better performance in both throwing and hitting power. By working on hip mobility, core stability, and the upper back’s thoracic spine rotation, this movement taps into the secret of generating more torque and achieving incredible velocity improvements. Incorporating this into the BDS Strength Program can make a real difference in developing power.

• Kneeling 1-Arm ER Wall Holds (90/90 Cuff Drills)

When it comes to throwing a baseball with more power and efficiency, the Kneeling 1-Arm ER Wall Hold is an essential arm care drill. This exercise targets the 90/90 position of the elbow and shoulder, which is crucial for building strength in the exact functional positions needed for a solid throw. By training your arm in this specific position, you ensure better transfer of power from practice to the field. Including this drill in the BDS Strength Program will help you avoid the worst exercise mistakes by focusing on the correct spot to develop your throwing skills effectively.

Proper Throwing Mechanics

Mastering Proper Throwing Mechanics

To improve throwing velocity and increase distance in baseball, mastering proper throwing mechanics is essential. A combination of proper technique, strength training, and conditioning can help you throw harder and farther. Start with the grip—placing the index and middle fingers across the seams gives you better control and spin on the ball. Make sure your arm path is smooth and efficient, following a straight line toward your target, with your body alignment turned sideways to create maximum torque. As you stride, land with your front foot pointed towards the target, which allows you to generate more power through your entire body. A full follow-through is key to ensuring your throw is complete, extending your arm for both power and injury prevention.

Strength and Conditioning for Velocity

Alongside mechanics, strength and conditioning play a huge role in boosting your velocity. Building upper body strength through push-ups, bench presses, and shoulder presses strengthens the shoulders, arms, and core—the muscles responsible for power generation. Incorporating core workouts like planks and medicine ball throws, along with rotational exercises, helps improve the torque needed for a powerful throw. Equally important is leg strength—strong legs are vital for explosive movements. Squats, lunges, and deadlifts, paired with plyometric exercises like box jumps and medicine ball slams, enhance the power of the lower body.

Throwing Drills and Flexibility

Throwing drills like long toss are excellent for increasing arm strength and endurance. Starting with shorter distances and progressively working your way up challenges your arm to throw farther while maintaining good mechanics. Weighted ball training with a slightly heavier baseball can also improve arm strength, but it’s important to use caution to avoid injury. Practice flat-ground throws to refine your technique without the added stress of a mound. Flexibility is just as important—shoulder flexibility and arm flexibility can be enhanced through dynamic stretches and rotator cuff exercises with light weights or resistance bands to build stability and prevent injuries.

Mental Approach and Consistency

Finally, the mental side of throwing should never be underestimated. A focused, positive mental approach to your throws, combined with consistent practice, can lead to improvement over time. Visualize your throws before you make them, and work on your technique with every rep.

FAQ

• How do you train to throw a baseball faster?

To increase throwing velocity, there are five exercises that act as the key pillars of training. The Side-Lying Windmill focuses on improving mobility, particularly in your shoulders, while the Skater Jump with Band emphasizes lateral exercises to build explosive strength. The Bulgarian Split Squat is crucial for developing power in one leg, which mirrors the motion of pushing off the mound. Incorporating Kneeling Anti-Rotation Chops helps enhance hip and shoulder separation, which is essential for generating torque during the throw.

• How to increase throw speed?

To increase throwing power, the work starts by focusing on crucial aspects like the external rotation of the arm, along with hip and shoulder disassociation. This combination allows for better trunk rotation, which helps generate more power. Similar to how quarterbacks in football use their whole body to generate power in a throw, the same principles apply to baseball, where proper body mechanics are key to a faster throw

• How do you throw a baseball fast and accurately?

To throw a baseball fast and accurately, start by using a four-seam fastball grip, which gives the best control and speed. When in the throwing position, make sure the ball is facing away from your head and body. Your glove should point directly at the target, and your feet should be in a parallel position for balance. As you throw, focus on the release happening in the front of your body to ensure maximum power and precision in the throw.