Implementing Medicine Balls for Pitchers Part 1: Drills and Explanations

Every baseball coach aims to be able to provide their players with the best tools, knowledge, and drills to help them achieve their goals. Coaches with a true passion for player development will go to the ends of the earth to find what will help their pitchers gain velocity, sharpen up their breaking ball or even just throw strikes more consistently. Throughout my coaching career, I have worked with players from a wide range of ages and skill levels. From the kid is who playing baseball for the first time, to spending every day with our Centralia College pitching staff. One set of drills has stayed true and consistent with the output and progress that it provides players, and that is medicine balls drills.

In the following section, you will find a breakdown of our 10 medicine ball drills that we program our players along with video examples and simple to understand explanations of each drill. In part 2 we will take a deeper dive into how we program these drills and how they have positively impacted six of our Centralia College pitchers development.

Why do we use medicine balls?

Briefly, I want to discuss the two main benefits of using medicine balls with your pitchers and why I am a firm believer in using them as a main staple in our programming.

1. Every pitching coach wants to help their players get better, and we are all tasked with being able to do that while monitoring the workload on their arms. By using medicine balls we can specifically attack a function of our players mechanics that we would like to work on, without adding that extra throwing volume on their arm. In a week, we can add hundreds of reps (properly programmed at the proper exertion level- see Part 2 next Monday) to target that deficiency, all while keeping our player healthy. In the long run, a player with medicine ball drills incorporated with a quality throwing program will make exponential gains in comparison to a program without those medicine ball drills programmed in my past experiences.
2. Over cueing athletes has become a major topic of discussion in the coaching industry in general, and by providing these drills to your players they will be able to move athletically and let their bodies self-organize. It allows them to move fast, be athletic and not have to worry about a coach in the background yelling to get more “out front” and wondering how the heck to truly do that and how it helps them get better. By putting them in these 10 drills the coach will be able to get the desired outcome that they are looking for without having to correct the pitcher after every single throw.

Drill #1 Step Behinds

Explanation: If I was asked which drill I would implement first out of all of these it would be Step Behinds. Now you may ask why. The reason is simple, this teaches our athletes to move fast, get into their legs and block with their front leg which will directly translate to throwing off of the mound. As you can see below the drill’s name describes it best, you are stepping behind while moving towards your target. One small trick you can add in, especially for younger athletes, is to have them throw on a line to help keep them be more linear towards where the catcher would be.

Main Focus: Moving fast and lead leg blocking.

Drill #2 Rockers

Explanation: First, you will want to have your athletes spread their feet apart more than shoulder width. Athletes when they first do the Rocker drill tend to stand with their feet too close together. After they have their feet in the proper location the athlete will rock their weight forward and then back quickly to feel the weight stacking on their back leg (just like they would when pitching) after that they will fire forward and make the throw. The cue I often say to our pitchers is “stack and then explode.” For younger athletes who struggle to incorporate their legs into their pitching this drill is a great place to start.

Main Focus: Back leg stack and momentum down the mound.

Drill #3 Step Backs

Explanation: How I usually start this drill is by having the athletes stand with their feet shoulder-width apart, and then take a deep breath to relax. Then the athlete will take a step back to shift all of their weight onto their rear leg. After that, the athlete wants to move as fast as they can towards the target. This drill is one that I prefer to have my guys always do at a high intensity and work on being fast. One thing to consider is how far of a step back your athlete takes, for younger athletes I like to start them off with a much smaller step. The athlete below is a 6'7" sophomore who also has played college basketball, and moves down the mound well. When we program this drill for him his step back is much larger to make sure he gets his weight stacked on his back leg.

Main Focus: Back leg stack.

Drill #4 Overhead Throws

Explanation: Overhead Throws are my go-to drill anytime that an athlete is struggling with lead leg blocking and running down the mound. This drill is one that we are not trying to go as fast as possible at, but more of a slow controlled drill to feel the movement and lockout of the lead leg. First, your athlete will start with a small leg kick up to gather his weight on his “rear” leg, then they will fire home. You will want to cue your athlete to throw the ball between the chest and head height. Once your athletes become comfortable on flat ground I would progress them quickly to throwing down the mound.

Main Focus: Lead leg blocking (my favorite drill to work on this).

Drill #5 Overhead Throw Holds

Explanation: Overhead Throw Holds pairs very nicely with the drill above. The setup and execution of the drill are the same, with the small change of holding onto the ball instead of throwing it. When we cue the athletes on where to throw the ball we tell them to “throw it through their pocket,” this is meant to simulate them using their front side to pull through and create positive disconnection. As the athletes get more and more comfortable with this drill many will work on throwing the ball harder and going up in weight. When your athletes first try this drill there is a high chance that they will struggle and will lean forward putting all of their weight onto their toes.

Main Focus: Lead leg block and being linear with their momentum.

Drill #6 Drop Steps

Explanation: When you start this drill you will have your athletes start facing away from the target with their feet shoulder-width apart. Then the athlete will drop step with their normal stacking leg in a backward jumping motion and then fire to make the throw. Many athletes at first will jump straight up and not get much momentum to their target. Your cues for this should be all external, and the best cue is a simple “move faster” and the athletes will organize themselves. Drop Steps are a go-to in our programming for athletes who move slowly down the mound. Also, as you can see below our athlete is using the line in the turf to keep him in line which you can add easily to your programming as well.

Main Focus: lead leg blocking and raising intent level.

Drill #7 Janitor Throws

Explanation: This drill takes the most explaining for setup. As you can see below the athlete is twisted away from his target with his feet in a “T” shape. Many athletes when doing Janitor throws will not want to turn away from their target, and that is OK. Our goal is to get them to feel the load/hinge in their hip before they fire down the mound. You can see below that the athlete dips down before making the throw to feel that same stacking that he would when pitching off of the mound. Janitor throws are another drill that is great for athletes who are struggling to use their legs when they throw.

Main Focus: Back leg stacking and body control.

Drill #8 Three Hop

Explanation: Having enough space is a key for the Three Hop drill before you start. First, your athlete will do their leg kick and try and hold that leg kick as they make their three hops towards their target. The reason we do this drill is to teach them to keep their posture while making their back leg accept the weight, which will translate when they pitch. For this drill we are not concerned about how fast they make the hops, we just cue them to move as fast as they can after the last hop. Your athletes will find this drill to be a fun challenge at first, and may insight some laughing and joking amongst your players but will help them when they get onto the mound.

Main Focus: Back leg stack and being as athletic as possible (and it is fun).

Drill #9 Shuffle Shuffle

Explanation: Keeping posture and control of your body is something that many youths (and even some college pitchers too) struggle with. In the video below you can see that our athlete starts with his feet shoulder-width apart and then sinks into his legs as he gets moving and controls that level of posture the whole way through until he makes his throw. With the Shuffle Shuffle drill we do not want them rushing down the mound, but instead staying controlled with their body. After you feel your athletes have this movement and footwork pretty under control then we will start having them move as fast as they can.

Main Focus: Keeping posture through an athletic movement.

Drill #10 One Knee/Seated

Explanation: If you are cramped for space and want your athletes to move fast then these two combo drills are for you. This drill is super simple, we want our athletes to rotate and fire as fast as they can towards the target. My favorite cue for this is “try and break the wall” and the youth athletes especially will ramp up their intent levels. The reason we have them do this drill both on a knee and with their legs flat is that some athletes struggle to rotate and separate their upper body from their hips and will rotate in “one piece.” My suggestion with youth athletes would be to have them start this drill with no legs being used to start and progress them to one knee.

Main Focus: Rotating fast and hip/shoulder separation.

Any questions about what we do at Centralia College feel free to email me at coachharley25@gmail.com or DM on Twitter @Coach_BenHarley. Part 2 and 3 of this medicine ball blog will be released on March 8th and March 15th.