Here are some general recommendations for pitching to your players.
- Don’t pitch from a full mound distance, but rather from a short distance (use an L-screen for safety).
- Pitch off a knee using a ‘dart’ throwing action, not a full arm circle.
- Throw firm, level pitches. Avoid throwing the ball so that it comes towards the batter in an arc trajectory.
- Start pitches off level at armpit height (top of the strike zone) and allow gravity to pull the pitch down into the middle of the strike zone. This way, no pitch arrives to a batter above the strike zone.
- When throwing, err on the side of too low than too high. Swinging at a low pitch follows the natural swing path. Swinging at pitches that are too high is contrary to the fundamentals of a good swing.
In addition to pitching to batters at the plate, batting practice also includes hitting off a tee (which helps work on form), soft toss and short front toss (which helps work on timing).
The most important part of batting practice is giving batters a high percentage of good pitches to swing at.
During coach pitch games, coaches should pitch the same way as described above for throwing batting practice.