Thursday, October 6, 2011

Throwing to 2B in between innings

As you probably know, I changed jobs this summer moving from the University of Louisville to East Tennessee State University.  I made this move mainly because it would allow me to get on the road and be more involved with the recruiting process.  This has allowed me to see a lot more baseball games than I have in the past few years and I've noticed that a lot of catchers don't make the most of their throws in between innings.

One of the most common mistakes that catchers make is not taking this throw seriously and being lackadaisical between innings.  This is a good opportunity for you to get a quality repetition of practice and show yourself off to the scouts/coaches in the stands.  Don't think that you're not being evaluated by scouts on these throws!

However, I remember that at the end of a long season I didn't always want to put the added stress on my arm of making 9 "extra" throws to 2B during a game.  So if your baseball season is winding down and you'd like to take some stress off of your arm thats ok.  You should still practice your footwork and transfer at 100% speed and just take a little off of the throw.

A good rule of thumb is that during a 9-inning game you should make at least 5 full speed throws.  If you want to take it easy on your arm for the other 4 innings thats ok, but make sure that you're still working creating good habits by practicing your footwork and transfer.

Hope that helps you out!