Preservation of a pitcher’s arm is absolutely vital, as they are always at a high risk of injury. That’s why before running any baseball drills,
it’s especially important to take the time to warm up and stretch thoroughly before beginning.
Never throw to warm up. Warm up to throw.
Warm Up Run
To start, get your players to run a couple laps around the field, to work up a good sweat. Have them run with the baseball in their throwing hand, and as they run encourage them to try different grips – you want your pitchers to feel as comfortable as possible with the baseball in their hands.
Pinch Shoulder Stretch
Once they’ve run and got a sweat going, you can begin to stretch. We’re going to do what we call pinch to shoulder. They’re going to take the right arm across their chest and they’re going to grab it. What we’re going to work on here is concentrating on stretching the rotator back there and getting it loose.
Forearm Stretch
Here were going to focus on loosening up the forearm. Put your hand out with the fingers up, and pull back on your fingers. You’re going to feel a little stretch in the forearm.
We’re getting our whole body ready to go, because the wrist is going to play a big factor along with the forearm. Now you can rotate that down, palm out, then you get another pull. And you get that flexibility there. Don’t forget to work both arms.
Back and Torso Stretch
Now what we’re going to do is we’re going to take our right arm, put it behind our back, and I’ll turn around. Next we pull our right arm to our left and pull our head to the left and get it stretched. Once held and completed, switch to the opposite side. Again, getting the neck loose while also getting the torso upper loose.
Now we can spread our feet a little bit wider and shoulder width. What we’ll do is we’ll rotate to the right and we’re going to take our right elbow and put it outside our left knee.
Make sure to get a good bend down there. What this will help you do is simulate the finish in your mechanical motion. This is also stretching the lower hamstring, getting a good stretch in the rear leg.
Coaching Tips
Remember, hold every stretch for at least 30 seconds, and stretch both sides evenly!
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