We are getting asked a lot of questions lately on how to incorporate pitching into practice. It can be one of those things where you have 12 kids out at the field and it's time-consuming. There's a lot of times you have an hour-and-a-half practice, and to get 12 kids, their bullpens in on the side with a catcher can be challenging. So, what we have here, we have cones set up to simulate our throwing partners. So Duke and I will be a partner, we'll finished our throwing program, we work it all the way back in. A great way to incorporate pitching is to do it at the end of your throwing program. Now, we're about 45 feet apart here. What Duke's going to do is he's going to get down like he's the catcher, and that will be the same for each person in their line. Myself, the other partners on this side, we're all working on whatever we need to work on that day. So for your younger players, it might be just understanding the four-seam grip, or the two-seam grip, or what the difference is between the windup or the stretch position.

Here is a great way for your players to actually get used to throwing downhill, throwing to a catcher who's got their glove up. Duke's got a cone in front of him. If you don't have cones, Duke can take his hat off and put his hat down on the ground to simulate a home plate. And then what you can do is just throw 15 pitches. Throw 15 down the middle, throw 15 to the glove side, 15 to the arm side. Now, again, depending on the age of the player, you might be working in some change-ups, some curve balls, some breaking balls, but for us right now, we're just going to work on the stretch position. Really young kids to work on four-seam grip, so they come set, and get their side, and they just work on locating their pitches. Again, 15 pitches, and then switch lines.

Duke would then pitch back to me. But it's a really controlled way to get all of your players used to pitching. If you're teaching them pitching for the very first time, you can even break it down, even more specific. So, you can call out as a coach, "All right, come set, leg lift, separate, and then throw," and you can have every single player on that line.

Another great addition to this drill would be actually have three sets of pitchers, and then you can add in an extra player standing off to the side. So Coach Duke will be my catcher. I have another player standing in there, he can strap a helmet on, and we call this the shadow drill. So now that pitcher, or that batter, is getting used to seeing a pitcher, I'm getting used to throwing strikes with a batter in the batter's box. And it's a great drill for your younger players that have never thrown before. First year of kid pitch, it can be challenging. But again, just a great way at the beginning of practice to get all your pitching work in, get your batters used to seeing a hitter, and it's a lot less time-consuming than maybe sending one kid down to the side with one bullpen at your practice. So, great way to incorporate pitching into practice.

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