Throwing with a hop can help you make a stronger, faster and more accurate throw. A hop is a small jump in the air that helps you get momentum and gather yourself to make the strongest throw possible, adding power and distance to your throws.
In today’s video blog post, we are demonstrating a great hop balance drill that you can use with your players to work on their balance conditioning. It is a very simple drill where you have the player hop, hop, hop and then hang in their balanced stance.
The Hop Balance Drill for Baseball Pitchers
The first part of this balance drill focuses on the back foot. Players will take 3 hops (hop, hop, hop and then throw, hanging in the balanced position, with the leg up while in the load position.
When hopping, you want to ensure that the proper mechanics of the foot are maintained, that being toe ahead of heel in each hop. This allows your players to gain an ability to feel when they are using improper mechanics – and therefore fix it.
The second part of this drill is to work on balancing on the front foot, by having your players stride, simulate their throw, hold on the front foot, and then hop, hop, hop and hold their balance. Again, you want to stress to them the mechanics of that front foot and being aware of putting their hopping stride foot in the same position on the ball of the foot, each and every time.
Finally, you put the two parts together so your players will hop, hop, hop on the back foot, throw, hop, hop, hop on the front foot and hang.
Each time you do this, the more you can finish lower, staying down with your head up, the better you will become, because you are getting more extended through the pitch.
Looking for more balance drill ideas to help your pitchers? Be sure to Become a Fan on Facebook, where we discuss other great pitching drill ideas, and a lot more!