The simple answer is, we preach it! Our pitchers typically long toss [on average] four days per week. One of the biggest things I talk with our guys about is 'listening to your arm' - a term coined by Alan Jaeger. Example, if I long toss on Monday and then come out to throw on Tuesday, it may be easy for me to think that I shouldn't stretch it out as much since I threw to my maximum distance the day prior. When it comes to throwing, I want our players doing as little 'thinking' as possible, I want them feeling and listening!
One thing we talk about quite often is the recognition that you may not feel at your best [for any multitude of reasons] on a given day. We want to get the most out of what our arm has in it, on that particular day - and the only way to do that is to listen to your arm as you begin to throw and stretch things out. For instance, if you determine that your arm is only at 70% that day - then you goal should be to get 100% of that 70!
The only way to do that is to let your arm dictate how much or how far you throw, don't have a predetermined idea going into that throwing session. We don't put maximums or minimums on our guys - I don't mandate they get out to 290 ft. and I don't tell them they can't go further than 250 ft. I tell them to get the most out of their arm, day in and day out. This concept is described well in Derek Johnson's The Complete Guide to Pitching, "...there are no restrictions of time or distance on the throw and these elements will vary from pitcher to pitcher. The general rule is to throw the ball as far as possible, as hard as possible, for as long as possible, always maintaining body control."
Meaning, we take a very individualized approach to throwing, for instance Matt Goodpaster, one of our seniors, has the ability to throw max distances without discomfort the day after an outing - that is not the case for every pitcher we have. It would be unfair of me [and irresponsible] to expect that of our entire staff. This is where our recovery methods come into play, but more to come on that in a later post.
Now to the specifics of how we teach our players to long toss. One of my biggest influences on this topic, as mentioned earlier, is Alan Jaeger and the Jaeger Sports take on throwing. I ask our players as they begin throwing to stay loose for as long as possible - as distance is increased, arc in each throw is encouraged. Our goal is to be at our max distance, throwing with both arc and intent. But how we get there is increasingly important, paying attention to allowing our arm to stay loose is vital in the 'listening to your arm' approach.
Once max distance is reached (where both players are one-hopping their partner on three consecutive throws), the pull-down phase begins. Our rule of thumb is to shorten the distance by approximately 10 feet for every pull down, until you get back to 70 feet. So for example, if your max distance is 280 ft., it should take you 22 throws to work back into the 70 foot mark. At 70 feet, we begin the compression phase of our program. Where we're trying to compress the intent of our 280 ft. throw into that last 70 feet - we typically like to see 8-10 compression throws to finish up. We compress at 70 ft. instead of 60.6 so that guys feel comfortable giving max effort in each throw, it acts as a bit of a buffer zone.
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| In our program, we strive for the 300 ft. benchmark. |
For some great resources on long toss, follow Jaeger Sports on Twitter and I also encourage you to check out this article on the origin of the 120 ft. throwing program. For additional facts on long toss, I'd recommend this article by Kyle Boddy of Driveline Baseball.
Simply put, if you want your arm to get stronger - let the big dog eat!
#FEEDIT
Until next time...
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