Velocity Program: Throwing-Related Work

(This is the first in a series of posts detailing the Velocity Program at Driveline Baseball.)

Velocity. All pitchers want more of it and are willing to buy all sorts of things to get it - books, pitching lessons, gadgets, and even these clearly stupid "titanium energy" bracelets:

All of this reminds me of a quote said by an excellent trainer that I keep coming back to:

"I said it was simple. Not easy." -Dan John

What pitchers need to do to improve their velocity is to simple: Train harder than anyone they know. No, it's not easy, but true to form, it is simple!

At Driveline Baseball, our pitchers going through our MaxVelo Program groups have spent the last few months training in the weight room, throwing indoors occasionally, and training for general strength, speed, and power. However, the intensity is picking up and they're starting the first major phase of the Velocity Program.

Velocity development can be broken up into improving or increasing a few different categories:

Throwing
Strength and Power
Speed and Agility
Mobility and Flexibility
Pitching

It's important not to confuse Throwing and Pitching - throwing is NOT pitching! Pitchers must learn to throw first and pitch second; indeed, this cycle of learning will continue every off-season! Pitchers should go into the off-season with the intent of primarily improving their throwing-related ability and then transferring that ability to the mound.

Take a look in our Velocity Development Kit to read more about the throwing-related portion of the Velocity Development Program...

Driveline-MegaKit-500x500 — Driveline Velocity Development Starter Kit

Plyo Ball ® (link)
An under/overload weighted baseball set (link)
Jaeger Sports, J-band (link)
10 lb. wrist weights (link - not pictured)
A few real leather baseballs

But How Do You Use Those Tools?

I outlined a sample under/overload baseball training protocol a few months ago, and I've spent the last few weeks taking lots of video of our athletes (and myself) demonstrating many of the drills we do at Driveline Baseball in our MaxVelo Program. We're excited to show off how hard our guys work and give some pointers out for those who seriously want to increase their pitching velocity this year!

Underweight Throwing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaIhEOwOW24

Heavy Baseball (2 lb) Partial Throws

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=espdyF-BEUU

Plyo Ball ® Throws

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfE0eXzlIO0

Medicine Ball Throws

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmCsKiww_aM

Wrist Weight Warmups

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFxpHv2LxEo

For more videos, check out our YouTube Channel.

Hope you guys enjoy a little peek into what we're doing at Driveline Baseball - and if you're interested in training hard to add 5-7 MPH on your fastball, we have a program that is right for you.

Driveline Bucket