Practice

Question
QUESTION: John,

My 12 yr. old son has been playing for 3 yrs. He has a very strong arm and has been successful pitching.  However, when playing short stop his throwing is fairly erratic.  For instance, he struggles making consistently good throws from short to first. Two drills that he and I have practiced, are as follows: I have him field ground balls at short and he throws them into a temp. screen placed at first. Second, we place a bucket of balls out in front of him at short, he gets behind the balls and runs a few steps up, picks up a ball and throws it to me at first.  If he just stands there and makes the throw he is accurate, when he moves his feet, that's where the accuracy trails off. Do you have any ideas regarding drills that could develop him.

McGee

ANSWER: There could be a few reasons that your son's throws are off mark from short to first.  The first thing that pops into my head is that he starts to come upright while he is making the throw.  This is not hard to fix if it is the problem and it is a very common problem even in older players.  You just have to remind him to stay down after he fields the baseball. His movement should be towards first base while keeping the waist bent (chest down) during the shuffle and throw.  You can see on tv that the short stops stay very low when they throw the baseball to first (almost as if they were side arm).  They are really not throwing too much side arm, they are just staying compact and keeping the chest down.  Once you stand upright, you have a tendency to get underneath the baseball and sometimes throw it away.  I would practice staying short and compact and even putting some of those stretchy bands around his ankles to work out his hips just incase it is the footwork that is causing the problem (my other thought).  Stick with the first suggestion and see if that works.  If not just come back and we will go from there.

John Madden - You Go Pro Baseball

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QUESTION: I would practice staying short and compact and even putting some of those stretchy bands around his ankles to work out his hips just incase it is the footwork that is causing the problem (my other thought).  Stick with the first suggestion and see if that works.  If not just come back and we will go from there.

John,

Staying low and compact is great advice, we will begin work on that immediately........Could you elaborate a little more on the stretchy cord concept? (I know what they are) This brings to mind something my son does when he throws from the shuffle, it seems like he takes a very large, exaggerated last step toward first base (like he's pitching).  Are you proposing that we tie the cord between the ankles (a short leash), and that would keep his steps compact?

Thanks for you help

McGee

Answer
Correct.  I don't know how to leave links on this website but if I could I would post a link to a site where there were these bands.  They actually have straps for the ankles (or whatever you want to strap them to).  Not only will it keep him from over-striding but it will build hip strength (a baseball players best friend along with the rest of the core).  If he is over-striding, which was what I thought might be the other problem, he may throw the ball away or inaccurately.  This is because when you stride too far out when throwing the baseball, you fall off balance.  Some guys fall forward, others fall backward, and sometimes it's not even a fall, it's a lean.  But whatever it is, it creates inconsistencies with the release point.  Think about an athletic position.....If you keep your feet underneath your shoulders with your weight on the balls of your feet, then there is no way for you to fall off balance.  If you stride out too far, you can loose balance.  Not only that but one big problem of over striding is unlevel shoulders.  The best bet for you guys would be to bring a video camera out there and record a couple of throws.  Each time you watch the tape look for something different.  The first time I would watch his upper body and see if he is in a good short stop throwing position (chest down and balanced).  Then I would watch it for his feet.  Is he over striding?  Is he off balance?  Then I would look at the shoulders when the front foot hits the ground in the throwing motion.  If his shoulders are unlevel then you will need to fix that.  All 3 problems go back to staying short, compact, moving toward the target, and having some consistency.  His long stride may be causing his upper body to come up and shoulders to be unlevel.  Fix one at a time and I'm sure once you find the one that is causing the problem, the rest will go away.  Once they do....repeat, repeat, repeat.  Build the muscle memory with good habbits.  Check out www.yougoprobaseball.com  Thanks!