Velocity Question

General Pitching Topics
#1

hey guys whats up.

I have been thinking alot about how pitchers get their velocity from.

What i have been really stressing for the past 4-5 years was long toss because everyone said it increased your velocity.

But just recently maybe for only 1 month did i really stress attacking my leg muscles. And i mean strengthening them and conditioning them.

I would weight lift on my legs every other day for 1 month. My legs became increasingly bigger and i now felt that i could pitcher much harder and my arm would not hurt as much.

My question:

Do you really need to long toss to get good velocity or could you just strength your legs, abs, and upper body by simply weight lifting and conditioning.

I know you have to throw though of course in order to throw hard. BUt ya wouldn’t this simply work. Just simply weight training.

I do plan on pitching bull pens 2-3 times a week. And play catch every day. But do you honestly need to long toss to increase velocity.
I don’t think so. My own opinion. Comment on what you think and how important long toss is to a pitchers velocity.

#2

I think you need to do a little a bit of everything. Long toss maybe 2-3 times a week as well as weight lifting and training. Remember you make a living throwing a ball.

#3

And then—there’s “THE SECRET”.
I learned it many moons ago, when I was getting into playing the game. I would go to the original Yankee Stadium every chance I got (I lived 20 blocks away, which wasn’t much in New York City at that time), and I used to watch the pitchers. I noticed that the Yankees’ Big Three rotation—Reynolds, Raschi and Lopat—were all doing the same thing; they were driving off the lower half of the body, using the legs, the hips and the torso in one continuous motion, and that was how they were getting the power behind their pitches—not to mention that doing this took a lot of pressure off the arm and the shoulder so that those guys were throwing harder and faster with less effort, even Lopat who was a snake-jazzer with not much speed! I saw exactly how they were doing this, and I made a note of it and started working on it on my own.
As I practiced this essential element of good mechanics I found that I was doing the same thing. It felt as if my arm and shoulder were just going along for the ride. And not a sore arm or a sore elbow or a sore anything else in the bunch. I was throwing harder and at the same time easier. In fact, sometime later on I, a confirmed snake-jazzer myself, ended up with an 81MPH four-seamer with good movement on it, and Lopat told me that for a finesse pitcher this was a fast ball!
Yes, you need to do a little of those things that had been mentioned earlier—and you also need to work extensively on “THE SECRET”. It will pay off for you. 8)

#4

leg strength will always help in virtually every sport, id greatly suggest parallel squats, power cleans and some form of plyometric exercise to develop an explosive lower half

#5

beavers got it right. A little bit a that and a little it f this. do some long toss. make sure your throwing straight like your actuall y pitchin without the windup. watch a baseball game. the pitchers are always warming up with their catchers. workout your legs and arms. and your upper body. thas where it comes from. down to up.

#6

Here is Cressey’s view.

http://ericcressey.com/newsletter158html

#7

Longtoss is just as important as lifting weights. It helps to increase strength, prevent injury, and promote a quicker recovery between outtings. Also it is a great way to work on driving with your legs and throwing with your whole body together instead of uncoordinated.