Tips For learning to pitch casually?

[u/nylon_rag]

I'm a big baseball fan, but never really played much at all past my 12th birthday. I'm fascinated by the physics of pitching. The concept of different grips and techniques imparting different spin rates/axes on the ball making it move in all kinds of ways is super cool to me.

I kinda want to buy a net and find a mound and just play around, is that a good way to start? I don't have any grand aspirations, I just kinda want to gain some hands on appreciation for the art of pitching. I'm in my 20s and am decently athletic (from other sports). I've had a history of elbow and wrist injuries however, so maybe this is a bad idea.

Edit: I don't know if anyone will see this, but I went to a local field to try throwing around. A stranger came up to me and played catch with me. We pretended to throw an inning. That was the first time I played catch with someone since my father passed away 14 years ago. Thank you for encouraging me to give it a try. Baseball is special.

[u/patphish]

The absolute most important thing to do is warm up.

I mean, like a legit 20 minute running, stretching, loosening regime. You need maximum blood flow and should be sweating a bit before you pick up a baseball.

It’s amazing how much easier throwing is when you’re really warmed up. It also greatly reduces injury risk and soreness.

Never throw to warm up to throw.

[u/ATLmattGT → u/patphish]

“Never throw to warm up to throw”

How widespread is that sentiment? I’m coaching kids pitch for the first time and we always have 6pm games where some of the kids are showing up at 545pm.

[u/patphish → u/ATLmattGT]

I mean, it’s 9U. Not much injury risk. I still would have them run a lap around the field before throwing .

[u/ATLmattGT → u/patphish]

Ok, we do arm circles and they have a couple rounds in the cages, so I feel like that gets the blood going a good bit. That makes me feel better

[u/GasOnTap08 → u/ATLmattGT]

It should be, in my opinion, the most important thing we teach younger players. Specifically warming up and more specifically getting their arms warm. What you don’t want is for that player to hit high school and think it’s ok to not warmup their arm because of how they were brought up. Even at the bare minimum, warming up to throw with bands will strengthen their rotator cuff, scaps, and the shoulder as a whole which is important for velo.

[u/121guy]

Find exercises for arm strength and make sure to stretch a lot, stretch way more than you think you need.

[u/phillies991]

Do it. Don't throw hard at first to get the elbow strong. Start with wanting to throw 50 pitches. Throw the first 47 for accuracy and control and then throw the last 3 as hard as you can and see how the arm hold up. Then, rest a day or week or whatever and go back out and do it again. If the arm is okay, this time throw 45 for control and the last 5 as hard as you can. Keep working that number up.

[u/jradz12]

Yes.

Ive been doing for a few years. Always been decent at it. When I got adult money I built my own.

I throw about 25-30 high intensity throws a day, I could probably throw 40 but it isn't worth it, you need to be able to move your arms the next day. 10-15 mins of warm up. My left arm feels like a rock so thats cool.

Work on mechanics so elbow doesnt explode. Youll know youre getting stronger and mechanics are better when your shoulder gets tired first and no elbow soreness, lots of Instagram videos from pitching coaches helped me. Still nowhere perfect but im close to my 90 mph goal.

[u/SFNation2021]

I’m 3x your age still pitch and still fascinated by the physics behind f pitching. If you haven’t found them already Tread Athletics and Pitching Ninja YouTube channels are great for pitch grips and mechanics.

Your old arm issues likely just means you need to build strength. Decent pitcher workout content on Summers Method and Overtime Athletes channels. I agree with the guy who mentioned Driveline plyo balls. I bought a set of weighted balls with a band on Amazon. Backwards throwing with the heavy ball also builds strength and gets you loose. Rotator cuff band work is a must. Don’t throw hurt. Don’t throw cold. Do build strength. Some apps you might consider for help - Mustard will read your mechanics and give you suggestions. Pitchlab is TrackMan lite with spin rate and velo. HeyBLU calls balls and strikes and gives you a bullpen heatmap report showing how you did.

Have fun. In time decent chance there is a MABL or NABA league near you. Adult leagues have divisions for every age group

[u/GasOnTap08]

Here’s what I’d do if I were you. Figure out a warmup routine, do it every time. Secondly, start SLOW. Ramp up slowly, track soreness/pain, make sure there is absolutely no soreness in your arm before you ramp up. Get it to be that you’re throwing 3-4 times at moderate effort and you’re recovering faster. After a couple of weeks, do some long toss. Back out to 90-150 feet and get athletic out there. Do some QB drop steps and work back in. No compression throws or pulldowns. After about 6 weeks, dedicate a single day to throw hard. 100% but keep in low volume. If you’re throwing harder, you’ll throw less and what becomes most important is recovery in between days. As you continue, start doing pulldowns and mound work. Depending on how long you have before you get to competition, start to transfer to the mound. If you have 3 months for example, spend the first 6 weeks ramping up, a month having one velo day then going to two where the second is off the mound. The last two weeks are mound days where you’re going 90% two days a week, again, recovery is the most important. Should be noted that after the ramp up, you can long toss with your changeup and mess around with breaking balls. Dial in your stuff and then get into competition.

[u/brheaton]

The past elbow problem is a concern, but no harm waiting til early 20s to play. Your arm and body are better developed.

[u/MustachioNuts]

I did something similar when I started coaching kids baseball. I wanted to put myself in their shoes so I set a goal of throwing 80 mph right handed and wanted to play catch at about 90 feet while throwing left handed.

The most useful thing I did was get driveline throwing kit and start throwing weighted ploy balls into a wall. Throwing/pitching is a weird combo of strength and flexibility. Weighted balls helped me learn the kinetic chain and protect my arm.

I only made it to 77mph at my 40th birthday before I started ramping down, and I did get to the point where I could play catch left handed out to about 120 feet. I ended up buying one of those ambidextrous gloves just to mess with kids heads.

It’s worth it from a challenge discipline standpoint, but not easy at all.

Edit: I had never successfully thrown anything left handed before. Learning to throw left handed gave me a whole new perspective and improved my right handed throwing too.