Baseball Pitching Drills

Pitching is arguably the most important aspect of a team’s defense. Like with any sports skill, there are drills that players can practice to practice and even enhance their pitching abilities. Listed below are some of the best pitching drills.

List of Baseball Pitching Drills

• Balance Drill
• Flat Ground Pitching Drill
• Hand Rhythm Drill
• Towel Drill
• 10 Toes Drill

Balance Drill

The balance drill is one of the easiest drills to practice, and requires no equipment. However, you may put your glove and ball in your hands to simulate an in-game experience. To start the drill, simply get into your windup stance and start your windup. Once your knee is raised at its highest point in your windup, hold your position for ten seconds. Balancing like this on one leg will help you find your balance in your windup, which is a fundamental skill that will improve accuracy.

Flat Ground Pitching Drill

The flat ground pitching drill is a common instructional task that is designed to simplify the pitching motion by having the pitcher throw a full bullpen without the mound. By throwing from an even surface, the pitcher can work on their downhill pitching motion, so when they transition back to the mound, they are able to explode down the mound more efficiently.

Hand Rhythm Drill

The hand rhythm drill is a simple drill great for warming up pitchers before they practice or play a real game. In order to do this drill, the pitcher should put their hands together, bring the elbows up of their glove arm up, keep the pitching arm in a cocked position, and then move both arms in sync until it feels like they are moving in a fluid motion. Once the arms feel fluid, the pitcher can then step back and practice the windup move to complete the whole pitching motion.

Towel Drill

Possibly the most talked about pitching drill of all time, the towel drill is designed to help pitchers snap through the bottom of their delivery with the help of a few key items: a towel and a bucket. To perform the drill, the player will hold a towel in their throwing hand (no baseball is used) and subsequently go through their full pitching motion. However, instead of throwing a ball, the pitcher will try to extend their arm down and through the air so much that the towel hits a bucket that sits 8-10 feet in front of the pitcher.

10 Toes Drill

The ten toes drill is a pitching drill for practicing balance while throwing. The ten toes drill begins with two players throwing the ball together with their feet facing one another. From there, the players will twist their body, bring their arm back, and throw the ball to their partner without moving their feet. By doing this, the pitcher must stay balanced throughout the entire motion, allowing them to adjust their arm slot if they need to.

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