Long Throw Sessions

Distance equals velocity!!

There are no two ways about it, the further you can throw a baseball, the harder you can throw a baseball! That's why long toss has been a favorite training tool for pitchers for many years. Unfortunately, pitchers aren't taught the proper way to do do it....which starts with the name.....long toss. That's why we call it "long throw" because "toss" implies a high arcing lob whereas "throw" is more descriptive of what we want to accomplish. The Texas Rangers have been to the past two World Series'. Their owner, president and legendary strikeout pitcher Nolan Ryan implemented a long toss programs throughout their organization a few years ago and it appears to be paying off.

Soon after arriving, he said starting pitchers needed to display more endurance and pitch deeper into games. He also airily dismissed the challenge, as only a homegrown Texan could, presented by the often-brutal heat of Metroplex summers.

“He made sure we changed our throwing program to more long toss and more running,” lefty Matt Harrison said. “He made sure… He wanted the starters to kind of be the backbone of the pitchers, and I think that’s been a big influence on us.” - Kansas City Star, Oct. 23, 2011.

To sign up for the long throw sessions, please enter your information below. The goal is to have a weekly long throw session or more, depending on the interest in the sessions. By entering your information below, you will receive a text message updating you about the schedule. The session will last for one hour which will give the player enough time to properly warm up and throw as much as is appropriate for the day.

Note: These sessions are not included as part of the Buzzsaws team fee at this time.

The next long throw session is Sunday, February 24th at 8:00 AM at NC Soccer in Hudson. Tuition is $15 per session.

Click here to read an article about the Texas Rangers approach to long toss.

When a pitcher only has to throw the ball 60' 6", sometime the human mind limits how hard we allow ourselves to throw the ball because it is only a short distance. Think about it, a sprinter who runs a 100 meter sprint does not stop at 100 meters, they run through the finish line. They would have to start slowing down BEFORE the finish line if they had to stop at 100 meters. A pitcher naturally does the same thing when they only have to throw the ball to to the catcher. By learning how to properly "long throw", the pitcher (or any position player) will learn how to get the most out his or her throwing mechanics and apply it to the pitching mound.

In order to throw the ball further, the pitcher learns how to use his body more effectively and learns to avoid behaviors which cause the ball to travel less far. Like training for anything that requires the athlete to be faster, stronger and/or better, the best way to accomplish this is to constantly challenge themselves to try and get a little better result. For instance, if a weight lifter never tried to lift his/her maximum weight, it would most likely never increase. By training with long throw, the player can measure his/her results in small gains like a one or two additional foot maximum throw.

Long throw also builds strength and conditions the arm. By properly warming up and then challenging the arm, the athlete naturally builds endurance and conditioning that will help to avoid injury and pitch deeper into games. During these sessions, we will teach the pitchers to warm-up, strengthen the arm, listen to his/her body and maximize distance. And remember, distance equals velocity!

Note from Coach Dante: Ideally, a pitcher would long throw two or three times per week during the off-season (scheduling some rest periods as well) and be put on a specific long throw schedule during the season which will work within the pitchers game appearances. We would like to build enough long throw participants to make these sessions available several times per week during the off-season and into the summer. We will start with select Sunday mornings and continue to offer the sessions as the demand dictates. I do expect these sessions to become popular so please spread the word because it is beneficial to everyone if there is an indoor facility that can be reserved and used for this purpose.