Implementing Medicine Ball Drills for Pitchers Part 2: Programming Advice
In part 1 of the blog, we went over the 10 main medicine ball drills that we program for our pitchers at Centralia College. The next step after knowing the drills is how to deploy them to your players in a fashion that will help them get the results that you and they are looking for. Programming always spurs debates, and the best piece of advice I have been told for this topic is that if you have a rationale for what you are doing, can explain it and it has the player's best interests in mind, then you are on the right track. In the following sections, I will cover an array of topics that should help you and your staff implement medicine balls into your weekly routines.
What size of medicine balls do you recommend we use?
Every time I discuss medicine balls the very first question is what are the weights we use and the answer varies depending on the age of the player, the intent level that day, which drill we are using, and what the individual player needs. Another thing that may impact what weights you are able to use is simply what equipment you have available. The two big things you will want to focus on is making sure that the player can still move fast with the weight they are using (when it is a high intent day) and that the weight is not putting them into mechanical situations that do match what they will actually do on the mound.
With that said, here are some general guidelines that I try to stick to with pitchers I work with from ages 12 and up:
#1 Step-Behinds: 2–4lbs.
#2 Rockers: 2–4lbs.
#3 Step Backs: 2–7lbs.
#4 Overhead Throws: 4–7lbs. (Start at 2lbs. for younger players)
#5 Overhead Throw Holds: 2–7lbs. (We want to be heavier once we have the movement pattern cleaned up)
#6 Drop Steps: 2lbs.
#7 Janitor Throws: 2–4lbs.
#8 Three Hop: 2lbs.
#9 Shuffle Shuffle: 2–7lbs.
#10 Seated/One Knee: 2lbs.
How and why you should implement a radar gun:
Implementing a radar gun when you can into your medicine ball routines can help progress your players at an even quicker pace. You may be like us and have limited access to a radar gun compared to the number of players you have, but using it when you can will pay dividends. It is an investment for a few hundred dollars that can help change the environment of your practices and lead to more gains by your pitchers.
Here are the three main reasons you should use a radar gun:
#1 Competition: When you are programming high intent days a radar gun will instantly raise the level and atmosphere in the room. If you have a group of pitchers who are all doing their high intent days together a radar gun will help them know the intent they are throwing at, and everyone wants to naturally throw harder than their teammate. I also recommend tracking and posting results when you do high intent days, players will love to see the gradual climb of their medicine ball throws but also their velocity on the mound as well. Below is an example of us using a radar gun to create a fun environment doing pulldowns during our velocity development phase.
#2 Intent Level Management: You may have a player who does not know how to control their effort levels in drills, and likes to go 100% on everything they do. By using the radar gun you can help them put a number to the effort level that you want them to be moving at. This will help clean up their movement patterns, and also allow them to recover between high intent days like you are wanting them to do.
#3 Managing Training Economy: One issue many of you may run into is the player who no matter how worn down and tired they truly are will tell you that they feel good and want to practice. As coaches, it is part of our job to help our players manage their workload. If you are using a radar gun (especially on high intent days) and you have tracked your player's velocities from previous sessions you can see if there is a drop-off in their output. If the player has a drop-off you can have them stop the high intent work, to help them recover. The player may be frustrated that they aren’t allowed to continue, but if you provide context for why and the long-term outlook most players will quickly understand the reason for the decision.
Why you should use a “test-retest” model:
I would highly recommend using a test-retest model with your player's medicine ball throws that you program for high intent work. I suggest programming three of the drills for high intent work; Step Behinds, Step Backs, and Drop Steps.
Here is a sample schedule you can follow for a test-retest model:
Weeks 1–4: Onboarding
These four weeks you will teach them the drills, get them accustomed to the workload associated with throwing medicine balls (this may be the first time ever for them) along with whatever other practicing/weight room work you are doing.
Week 5: Test #1
This will be the first time you test your players using a radar gun. This model will be really helpful if you have limited access to a radar gun, as you will not need it for every practice.
I recommend testing: 4 throws of Step Behinds, Step Backs and Drop Steps with 2lbs medicine balls.
After you have tested I highly recommend you place the results somewhere where the players can see it daily, and tell them when the next retest will be. Players will be very excited to try and beat their numbers the next test day.
Weeks 6–10: Continued Medicine Ball Work
This is where you will continue the work you have done, and try and get specific with each player which drills they need to fine-tune any pitching deficiencies they have. I would recommend doing 1–2 days a week of high intent throwing using the same three drills you tested.
Week 11: Re-test #1
If you have set everything up right players will be amped up and ready to get after it for re-test day. I highly recommend having high-energy music going when they walk into your practice and make it a fun competitive day. For the re-test day, you will follow the same script of 12 total throws that you did during week 5. You will then want to update the leaderboards, and see who has made overall progress.
Now that you have gone through your first cycle of testing and re-testing you can decide if you want to continue in that phase of velocity development and do another cycle with the medicine balls or head into another discreet training phase.
Mid Season Schedule: Starting Pitcher
How to incorporate medicine balls into a season is an important topic. I believe that they can be a fantastic tool to help keep our pitchers fine-tuned, without having to add volume on their throwing arm in between starts. The drills and volume you program will of course be dictated by many things, and having open and constant communication with your pitchers prior to getting to practice will be a key to helping you schedule the appropriate volume of medicine ball throws for them.
Here is a day by day example of how we would program one of our starters during the season:
Saturday: Start Day.
Sunday: No medicine balls.
Monday: 60-70% medicine ball drills- Overhead throws, Overhead Holds, Rockers and Shuffle Shuffles.
Tuesday: 90% medicine ball Drills- One Knee Drill, Three Hop, Overhead Holds
Wednesday: Bullpen day+ 100% medicine ball drills- Step Behinds, Step Backs and Drop Steps.
Thursday: 60% medicine ball drills- 2 sets of Overhead Throw Holds, Rockers.
Friday: No medicine ball drills.
Saturday: Start again.
Tips for limited time and space:
Making all of this work for your team usually comes down to space and the amount of time you have to allocate to these drills. I have three pieces of advice on how to handle this that will help in the long run of your implementation of the drills.
#1 Routines/On-Boarding: When you are starting out implementing these medicine ball drills the best way to set yourself up for future success is allocating plenty of time for the players to learn the drills, and specifically why you are doing them. Once your players know the drills they will be able to execute them quickly and you will need less allocated time to get the work in that you want to be programmed. It usually takes one to two weeks for my college-aged pitchers to have a full grasp of what each drill is and why we are doing it, if you are a youth coach I would expect to take two weeks teaching them the basics.
#2 No Quick Fixes: In today’s day and age everyone wants a quick fix, and how to “gain 10MPH in 2 weeks,” and unfortunately these drills are not that magic pill. My biggest piece of advice is sticking with the drills, giving them time to work, and giving your players the context and reasoning behind what they are doing. By getting the buy-in from your players you will be able to garner those long-term results that everyone is looking for.
#3 Position Players Will Benefit: If you are a high school or youth coach the chances are that 99% of your pitchers also play a position, and being able to find time to do these drills may be difficult. My suggestion is to make it part of your daily routine for your position players as well. Every baseball player will benefit from cleaner throwing mechanics and moving fast regardless of what position they and ideally this will make scheduling your practice times easier.
Any questions about what we do at Centralia College feel free to email me at coachharley25@gmail.com or DM on Twitter @Coach_BenHarley. Next Monday, March 15th be on the lookout for part 3 of this blog series where we will cover specific player programming and their results.
