Best Self-Check Resources for Windmill Pitchers
When you’re learning to pitch on your own, or practicing on your own between pitching lessons, it can often be difficult to figure out what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong, and which problems should be addressed first. Yet, it’s very important to make sure you’re practicing good mechanics and not just reinforcing bad habits. Here are some of our favorite, nearly foolproof self-check resources that you can use when you’re unsure and/or when your pitching coach isn’t around.
#1: Look At Yourself and Compare to Correct Examples
We talk all the time about how valuable video is as a tool for athletes. One of the most common things that happens to athletes learning a skill is that they hear and understand their coach’s instruction, and they try to carry out that instruction, but they don’t realize that their bodies are disobeying their brains. Using video to see what you’re actually doing can be very helpful.
Step 1: have someone take a video of you with any simple camera or smartphone. You can leave it at that, or if you’d like to get deeper into slow motion and analysis, check out these recommended apps and programs.
Step 2: compare what you see to mechanics you know are correct. Check out these slow motion clips of some of our favorite pitchers throwing fastballs.
Step 3: look in a mirror. Once you’ve seen what you’re doing and what you should be doing, it can still be difficult to get your body to make changes even if you completely understand what you have to do. Break down the parts of the motion that are giving you trouble and carefully watch yourself perform those movements in a mirror without throwing a ball. A few times isn’t enough; you may need to repeat the motion hundreds of times, just as if you were having a regular throwing practice.
#2: Wall Drills
This is one of our absolute favorite drills because it can fix so many different problems. Any flat surface will do: a fence at a field, a wall in a gym, a net in a batting cage, etc. Pitching next to a wall ensures good posture and alignment, and gives you a visual reference for your throw zone. The video only shows an example of working with your pitching arm next to the wall/opening up to face the wall, but for maximum results do this on both sides. Having the wall on your glove side to start and opening up with your back to the wall will give you feedback if your glove is pulling off the power line.
#3: Drive-Through Self Check
Your drive-through lines can tell you A LOT about what is going on in your pitching motion. Read this article for a detailed analysis with pictures of what different drive-through shapes can mean for your pitch.
If you have a place where you can do a wall/fence drill with a dirt ground so that you can combine the wall drills with drive-through analysis, that is an extra powerful self-check.