Baseball Throwing Drills: How to Teach a Kid to Throw

Every wild throw at nine years old is a feet problem. The coach spends the season yelling “get your elbow up” at a kid whose front foot is pointed at the dugout, and the elbow never comes up, because the body it’s attached to is aimed somewhere else. So these baseball throwing drills start at the feet, on purpose. The arm gets fixed almost by accident.

The throw is broken into five named positions below, then drilled dry on your commands so nobody skips a step, then built into a warm-up that sticks and games with a score. One rule sits over all of it: accuracy over velocity, for every kid under twelve. This is a spoke of our coaching baseball hub, and the full list lives in the youth baseball drills master post.

The Throw in Five Positions

Everything below refers back to these. Teach the names on day one and you’ll never have to demonstrate a whole throw again. You’ll just say “block” and watch the feet.

1. Receiving position. Athletic, knees flexed, hands together at the chest. Balance starts here.
2. Block. The throwing-side foot lands almost perpendicular to the target. This is the step everyone skips, and it’s the one that lines up the hips.
3. Break. The throwing hand goes down past the thigh, thumb to thigh, then up into an “L” with the fingers pointing at the sky and the palm facing away. The glove hand breaks thumb down, open to the target. The lead foot steps straight at the target and lands slightly closed, on the ball of the foot, with the weight still back.
4. Launch. Foot down, arm at its peak, elbow at least shoulder height. If you took a photo of a good throw, this is the frame.
5. Throw. The back foot rolls from the inside of the big toe to the outside of the shoe, which opens the hips. Fingers stay on top and behind the ball. The glove pulls back to the hip. The arm finishes across the lead leg, weight all the way forward, head level, eyes on the target until the ball’s gone.

In a real throw the arm never pauses at any of those. It’s one continuous motion that speeds up. The positions are for teaching, and for dry drills, where the pause is the point.

Teach a plain overhand throw. Catchers and some infielders shorten the arm path later, when they’re stronger, and asking an eight-year-old to do it now breaks the throw he’s still building. And watch the warm-up. That’s where a kid drifts into sidearm, and that’s where you fix it, not in the fourth inning.

Baseball Throwing Drills for the Feet (Ages 6 to 12)

No ball, or one per pair, and every kid moves at once. Twelve kids doing the block step on your count get twelve reps in the time a line gets one.

Square to Target, Dry

One line, an arm’s length apart, facing you. Hands together at the chest. No ball.

1. On “Block,” each kid steps toward you with the throwing-side foot and lands it almost perpendicular to you.
2. On “Break,” the hands separate into the launch position while the glove-side foot steps straight at you.
3. Hold it. Walk the line and turn the feet that stepped sideways.

Ages 7 and up. Fixes: throwing across the body, which is where most of the wild throws at this age come from.

Shuffle Crow-Hop

Two lines 30 feet apart, partners facing, one line with the balls. Athletic position, squared to the partner, hands at the chest.

1. On “Crow hop,” the feet shuffle, the back foot replacing the front, and the ball goes.
2. Watch for a straight line to the target and balance all the way through.
3. Ten throws, then the other line.

Ages 6 and up. Fixes: the flat-footed throw with nothing behind it. For 8 and up, run the full crow-hop: on “Lift,” the throwing-side foot comes off the ground and the weight goes to the glove leg; on “Crow hop,” they push forward, land on the throwing-side foot nearly perpendicular, and step through. It looks exaggerated. That’s the point.

Catch, Block, Break, Throw

Three lines, spread out so nobody clips a neighbor. You stand in front where everyone can see you. Everyone starts in the receiving position, facing you. Two seconds between commands.

1. “Catch.” They punch the throwing fist into the glove in front of the chest.
2. “Block.” A slight step with the throwing-side foot, landing it nearly perpendicular to you.
3. “Break.” The hands break while the glove-side foot steps straight at you. They stop at launch, balanced.
4. “Throw.” They simulate the throw and finish.

Ages 6 and up. Fixes: skipping the block. Run the arm-action drill below first, then this, then let them play catch. Every practice.

Arm Action Drills (Ages 6 to 12)

Now the arm, which by this point is mostly fixed. These isolate the two places it can still go wrong on its own: the hand coming out of the glove, and the finish.

Arm Action, Dry

One line. You stand 10 feet in front. Each kid squares up and points the lead shoulder at you. Throwing position, hands together at the chest.

1. On “Break,” the throwing hand drops past the thigh, thumb down, and swings up into the “L,” fingers to the sky, palm away from the body.
2. They stop at launch. You walk the line and check two things: is it an “L,” and is the palm facing away.
3. Reset. Twenty reps takes two minutes.

Ages 6 and up. Fixes: the hand that comes out of the glove palm-up, or short, or late. Run it before every catch session all season.

Hip Rotation, Dry

Start in the launch position: feet wider than the shoulders, shoulders square to the target, head level, glove pointing at the target with the thumb down, throwing arm in a strong “L.”

1. On “Rotate,” the back foot rolls from the inside of the big toe to the outside of the shoe as the weight goes forward.
2. At the same time the arm accelerates, extends out front, and finishes on the outside of the front leg.
3. The glove rotates thumb-up as the elbow pulls in toward the lead hip. They hold the finish, balanced.

Ages 10 and up. Fixes: the throw that’s all arm, hips never opening. Younger kids can skip it.

Slap Five

You stand 4 to 6 feet in front of the kid with your palm up at waist height. The kid starts in the launch position, no ball.

1. They simulate the throw and reach out on the follow-through to slap your hand.
2. If the hand doesn’t get there, the arm stopped at the shoulder. Again.
3. Older kids run the whole motion from the throwing position.

Ages 6 to 12. Fixes: short-arming, the throw that ends at the ear instead of out front. Kids love this one, which is convenient.

One cheap tool: a ball with one half colored in, gripped so the seam of the split sits between the fingers. Thrown correctly, the colored half stays on its side all the way to the glove. Thrown wrong, it wobbles, and the kid sees it without you saying a word.

A Warm-Up Catch That Builds Habits

“Go play catch” is where the first fifteen minutes of most practices disappear. Nobody’s watching the feet. Warm-up catch is where habits form, in both directions: good ones if you run it, bad ones if you don’t. Same routine every week, in this order.

1. Pairs matched by arm strength, one line holding the balls. Start 15 to 30 feet apart depending on age.
2. The first five to ten throws run on your commands: “Receiving position,” “Block,” “Throw.” Then let them go.
3. Long toss. After five throws each, one line backs up 5 to 10 feet. Keep going until they hit their maximum. Every throw has a slight arc and a full follow-through. If the mechanics fall apart, the distance is too far. Move them in. Crow hop as the distance grows.
4. Back in. A few throws hard and on a line at a normal game distance, so they find the release point they’ll use most.
5. Quick toss to finish. Close together, glove thumb-to-thumb, catch and throw back as fast as they can, still squaring up. That’s the glove-to-hand exchange, and it’s why your second baseman is slow turning two.

The coaching point through all five: every ball received in the center of the body. Feet move, ball stays in front. A kid who reaches for a warm-up throw reaches for a game throw.

Ages 8 to 14 as written. For 6 and 7, cut the distances roughly in half and the time by a third, and expect to stop at step 2 some days. Where this sits in the hour is laid out in the 60 and 90 minute practice plan.

Throwing Games With a Score

Drills teach the throw. Games make them care. Every one of these ends with a number.

• Target game. Pairs throw at a zone on the partner, the head or shoulder-to-waist, and score points. Run brackets, winners against winners, play-offs to 11. Each practice, back the pairs up five feet, until they’re at 70 to 75 feet by the end of the season.
• Accuracy and receiving. Same idea, but the receiver can move, and a missed catch eliminates the pair. For 6 and 7 year olds, one rule change: a bounce is fine as long as the ball is stopped and kept in front.
• Four-corner. Teams of four in a square, 30 feet a side, one ball, clockwise, as many trips around as possible without a drop or a bad throw. Then the speed version, which adds game pressure.
• The long-toss record. Measure the winning distance each practice and write it down. Watching it grow is the only conditioning program a ten-year-old needs.
• Point game for feet. Two groups: 2 points for a two-handed catch in the middle of the body, 1 for getting in front without the catch, nothing for a catch outside the body. Play to 20. Winners get five extra swings in live batting practice.

A throwing drill with no score is a lecture with a ball in it. Add the score and the same drill runs itself.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you teach a 7-year-old to throw a baseball?

Arm action dry drill and slap five, so the hand learns where to go with no ball to worry about. Then the shuffle crow-hop. Then the accuracy game with the bounce rule, at short distances. Accuracy first. Velocity shows up when the feet are right.

What is a good throwing routine for baseball?

The warm-up above: pairs by arm strength, the first ten throws on your commands, long toss with an arc until mechanics slip, back in to game distance, quick toss to finish. Same every practice, so the kids start it without you.

How do you fix bad baseball throwing mechanics?

Find which of the five positions is wrong and drill only that one. A sideways front foot is square to target. A palm-up hand out of the glove is the arm-action drill. A throw that dies at the ear is slap five. One thing at a time.

How do you throw a baseball harder?

Not with the arm. Harder comes from the legs and the crow hop, and from long toss with an arc and a full finish. More velocity comes from a more efficient throw, not a more violent one. A kid who muscles it gets wilder and no faster.

Sources

• Drills and Instruction for Coaching Youth Baseball
• Coaching Youth Baseball (American Sport Education Program)
• Making Little League Baseball More Fun for Kids
• Coaching Baseball For Dummies

Fix the feet and the arm follows. Next up: pitching drills, which are these drills with a mound under them, and batting drills for the other half of practice.