The “Curve Ball” Drill: A 3-Part Pitching Drill
In today’s video blog post, we are talking about an excellent three-part pitching drill for working on the curve ball. I recommend this pitching drill for your older players. I urge the young players not to work on it because at a young age, it could cause some damage to their arm.
Pitching Drill – Part 1: Snapping the Ball
The first drill we do can be done absolutely anywhere. In a car, if you’re not driving, in the back seat, sitting at home watching TV… And what we’re going to work on is getting the proper spin and snap of the ball.
You want to get a good tight spin working on the ball. When you can get a good tight curve or a spin, you’re going to have a good curve ball. One of the things you don’t want to do is kind of push it out. Work on a good tight snap. (Notice that I’m pulling down with my middle finger or my second finger, and I’m rolling my thumb so that I can get the snap sound.)
Pitching Drill – Part 2: Karate Chop
The second part of this pitching drill is what we call the karate chop. And you can do this, again, sitting on your couch or anywhere.
You’re going to start out thinking long arm action. And you’re going to say to yourself, “Fast ball, fast ball.” Then, as you come to the curve, you want to change the angle of your hand. So you are thinking “fast ball, fast ball, curve…” And what we’re going to do is just come around and work on getting the good karate chop with the side of the hand, and then we’re going to finish it off.
Pitching Drill – Part 3: Adding the Spin
In the last part of this pitching drill, what we’ll do is take the ball – you can do it from the wind-up, you can do it from the open stance position – and go through your motions, a slight shift of your weight, throw the ball, and throw it in the dirt.
You want to work on getting a good tight spin. It is better to start the curve ball from the dirt up than it is from starting it in the zone high and working it down. Be sure to have the arm up, with a slight bend in the elbow, and then finish all the way through. What we don’t want to do is hyperextend the arm, and you don’t want to hook the ball.
Work on these three things and it’ll help you greatly improve your curve ball!
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