Nail Those Drills

Most pitchers aren’t crazy about drills. They often have a right to feel that way. Most of the time they are not told the objective of drills so how can they realize the benefit? Many drills were simply copied from someone else because they looked interesting. Therefore, how can the pitcher extract a benefit from the exercise when nobody knows the why she is doing it?

We will not introduce a drill to a pitcher unless we can state five specific and measureable skills we want that drill to enhance in her motion. That policy would quickly cause you to abandon some widely accepted drills.
I ask new students to memorize a few rules.
-For every minute I spend pitching from the mound, I will spend 2 minutes on drills.
-The only reason I pitch from the mound is to see what drill I need to do next.
-Once I complete the drills, I will go back to the mound to see how well they worked and to get feedback on what else needs work.
-Then, the main reason for playing games is to see how well I have prepared and where to focus more effort.
Everything points back to the drills. Even if you feel great about a pitch, what drills could help you make it even better, tighten the spin, help add more “pop” to the pitch, or help you locate it with more precision?
Good drills are easy to understand, comfortable to your body, encourage looseness in your motion, orient everything toward the legs, allow you to measure progress, and can be adapted to your new maturity as a pitcher so you can continue to grow. We have dozens of these.
And, no, just because someone put a drill on the internet does not mean it is a good drill for you. There are some scary things out there, often developed by people whose names you know, who just did not think things through very well.
And, finally, if the drills you currently perform are not helping you to get better, you are either doing the wrong drills, or you are doing the drills wrong. Change something, change now. Either case means you are creating negative “muscle memory” that you will spend years overcoming. The amount of time we spend cleaning up those problems is frustrating.
If you, or your instructor, have questions, feel free to contact us.