The Knee Drill for Improved Pitching Mechanics
Like many of you, I used to hate any drill that didn’t involve total body. But I see too many youngsters who have difficulty understanding the importance of glove in front and closing the gap out front. That’s why today I want to share with you a fantastic Knee Drill that will improve your players throwing and pitching mechanics. By putting players on their knees, players can really get the feel of leaving the glove out front throughout the throw.
To begin, get down on your knees and find your equal and opposite, with your knees squared off, so that when you throw, the same body mechanics can happen that we use on flat ground with your legs. The bottom half of your body will actually become squared off when the arms come through. So it is feet, torso, arms.
When working on the knees, it is the same idea – feet, torso, arms. The key is glove to target, eyes to target, ball to target.
Begin this drill by throwing at around 30 feet, and then progressively move back further into the field. As the distances get bigger, if there is any mechanic flaw at all – if there is a change in posture, if the glove comes off, the ball is not going to reach it’s target and it will go left or right, high or low. Remember to always keep that glove in front.
Glove – Eyes – Ball. Short, Medium and Long Toss on the knees will reinforce what that glove has to feel like at the release point. You close the gap. The cone gets small out in front. The biggest problem that young players have when they throw a baseball, is that they get big with their arm still behind them. Visualizing the throw as the cone of the throw going smaller is good for strikes. It’s all about the pitching mechanics.
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