Speed kills, but not always. Speed also brings desired results for many people. Baseball pitchers and fielders are among them.
It’s always a vision for baseball pitchers and fielders to know how to throw a baseball faster. And if you have just started your pitching or throwing in baseball, it’s more fascinating to speed up your throwing.
By the way, there are many ways to improve your throwing speed. In short, you have to use fastball grips like a four-seam fastball and a two-seam fastball. They are the core of throwing ball fasters.
But, is that just all? Not actually. There are many drills, hard work, and practice needed. Everything should go through in an organized way. I am here to help you with how you can take the right steps to speed up your throwing speed in the right ways.
Before Starting: Highest Speed You May Acquire
If you want to speed up your throwing speed, you should know the limit you can reach. The throwing speed range depends on several things. Average throwing speed by age group is one of the significant components to consider.
Because a youth player cannot throw with as much speed as an adult can. However, Aroldis Chapman made one of the fastest pitches history on 24th September 2010. The Cincinnati Red pitcher pitched a 105.8 mph pitch to All-Star outfielder Andrew McCutchen.
He also pitched 101 and 102 mph again the following year. If you have not reached yet at 100 mph, you can also try to increase your pitching speed by 10 mph to reach the 100 mph milestone.
By the way, in the 2016 MLB season, the average pitching speed was 92.3, which stands at 93.5 in the 2021 season. So, you see, the average pitching speed increased significantly in MLB.
Here is another piece of data for you.
- 95 mph or more average speed was reached in 2007 by 27 relief pitchers.
- The number of pitchers stands at 14 in the 2014 season.
This data shows that the speed of pitching is increasing in modern baseball days more than in the old days.
It is up to you who will throw the ball. If you try, you can reach up to 105 mph or more. But remember, you can’t expect such a fastest pitch by a 13 year old from the beginning.
It needs hard work, proper baseball throwing drills, physical exercise, and so on.
Here is Chapman’s 105 mph milestone:
How to Throw a Baseball Faster?- Tips to Develop the Technique
If your asking is how to throw harder baseball or how to throw faster pitches, you must know how to develop your mechanics first. Good and effective mechanics will lead you to throw different pitches or throws with power.
So, you know, there is no way to skip your mechanics.
Start with Grip’s Mechanics
To throw the fastest delivery, you must start with your grip. Mainly, you have to go with fastball grips to throw the ball fast. There are two types of fastball grips here: a four-seam fastball and a two-seam fastball.
Among them, you will get a harder and faster throw from the four-seam fastball. On the other hand, two-seam will produce comparatively less power, but many players seem it comfortable with them.
The two grip methods:
Four-seam Fastball Grip: Keep your index and middle finger directly on the surface of the baseball. Keep e little space between these two fingers. Now, put your thumb directly opposite the two fingers. I mean, on the bottom of the ball.
Keep the ball’s right bottom side on your ring finger. You are now gripping your four-seam fastball grip. Throw the ball as fast as possible. But, keep the grip slight when starting the throwing.
Two-Seam Fastball Grip: The two-seam grip is almost the same as the four-seam grip. The primary difference is the index and middle finger should stay closer, unlike the four-seam. Basically, the two-seam is thrown on your pitching-hand side. You need to throw the pitch aerodynamically on your pitching side.
Aside from four-seam and two-seam, there are more pitches that are among the best. You may check out our guide on “What are the best pitches to throw in baseball?”
Work on Your Stride
After perfecting the grip you will use to throw the ball, it’s time to get the maximum benefit from your stride. You must perfect your stride when you think about how to throw accurately and fast.
When you step up for the pitching or throwing, you will get the most of the power from your lunging motion.
- When you raise your lead foot, you need to make sure that you capitalize on your momentum at that point. Use the forward motion effectively to produce the force of your pitch.
- To increase the mechanical impact, determine a particular space to land your lead foot. You can maximize your forward motion with the perfect landing in the right place. Make landing your foot in that place until you can do it naturally.
Use your entire pitching process without the ball, including lunge motion and throwing moves.
Don’t Stop Your Motion Immediately
After throwing the pitch, you might immediately stop your body motion and momentum. But, remember, “don’t do it” anyhow. The rigid and forceful stopping will distract your momentum and decrease the pitch’s power generation.
This will also distract the accuracy of your throw.
So, allow your throwing hand to stop naturally. It will stop the working momentum until the hand reaches your hip behind your front body.
Commanding Pitching Instead of Aiming the Spot
It may sound weird that you are not asked to aim at the spot where you will throw the ball. But, indeed, experienced coaches do so.
But don’t be confused that you will not fix your baseball’s landing spot. It is just about emphasizing acquiring more speed and making the pitch more effective.
If you only focus on your ball’s landing spot, it would impact the effectiveness and speed.
- Pitchers refer to the strategy of utilizing the delivery action to locate pitches as “command” when describing them. You may not understand this at first, but the method will become evident with enough practice.
- Try to enhance your visualization capability to visualize the target of the ball. As a result, it will help you keep the speed-enhancing process and target the ball’s target spot subconsciously.
- I am not motivating you with fake motivation. The command method is truly a difficult mechanic to master. You need extensive patience and practice to become accustomed to it, along with mastering the technique.
How to Throw a Baseball Faster?- Drills for Speed Up Your Pitching Hard
After determining the technique and tactics, it’s time to do pitching drills. You can divide the pitching drills into two categories: pitching drills for accuracy and pitching drills for enhancing the speed of pitches.
So, we will emphasize here how to throw faster pitches or how to throw harder in baseball.
Bu the way, you have to do the drills regularly. Before starting the drills, you are requested to start with some warm-ups. Warming up will make you ready for the extensive drills.
Warm Up Tips
Start with a warm-up. Warm up with your throwing hand. This will loosen the muscle of your hand, which will help prevent pain in your hand.
Expectedly, the warmup will also reduce the chance of injury. Do a light throwing session for 5 to 10 minutes with a drill mate. Also, enhance arm motion gradually.
But remember, don’t keep throwing warm up if you feel any pain. Just allow your hand to be relaxed. Start after a while.
Well, you can have some pushups and light running as well. After doing such warmups, I think your body is ready to take on the drilling responsibilities.
By the way, after doing the drills regularly, I hope you will know how to throw faster in softball and how to throw harder in baseball. Because these drills are for both males and females to practice in groups.
Baseball Throwing Drills: Hard Walk-Ins
A group of 5 participants will participate in a single session.
The drill is to throw them as hard as possible. To do this, you will need a net. Start from 20 feet away from the net. Start running and prepare to throw the ball.
When you are 6 feet away from the net, throw the ball as hard as possible. You will need a loose net, not a tight one, for this drill.
By the way, the coach will help you and your group to get the next ball as soon as possible. To do this, the coach can place a ball pickup hopper to enhance the delivery of the ball to the pitcher.
The coach will pick the ball and will throw it to the pitcher. Also, the coach can use a ball feeder to throw the ball automatically as well.
After finishing the throw, the pitcher will go to the behind queue for the next throw to throw the ball part of how to throw a baseball faster.
The only goal is to keep throwing the ball as hard as possible for the next 20 minutes (less or more). Push yourself with the group to reach the peak of the hard-throwing. After finishing one cycle of all group participants, the coach should give the group a one-minute rest.
Then start the drill again.
Repeat the hard walk-in drill around 5 to 6 times.
The objective of the drill: Arm cycle speed will increase, as will leg drive.
Baseball Throwing Drills: Pitch & Pirouette
This drill is a real pitching drill on the mound. By the way, the coach may use the on-field pitching mound or artificial one in the coaching facility as I do.
In the pitch and pirouette drill, the pitcher will directly pitch to the catcher as long as the playing distance.
So, how do you do it?
- Stand on the pitching mound to start the pitching. Get ready with the pitching hand in the pitching glove. Raise your pivot foot off the ground. Stand with your pitching stance.
All your body weight will go to your pirouette leg in this stance. Bring your hand to your hip and throw the bass as fast as possible. Focus on your pirouette and throw the pitch with power.
The forcefully you turn the arm from your glove to your hip, the stance will get more power, and you will gain more power in throwing the ball.
Do this at least 25 times with 25 balls.
The objective of the drill: Enhance arm speed and wrist snap.
Baseball Throwing Drills: Long-Toss
It’s so simple to do consistently. You can do it either with a group or alone. By the way, in the group, the coach will let you take a bucket of balls to put in. And to throw the balls to a target.
Unlike the walk-in target practice, you have to do this at a distance of 70 to 80 feet. Take the ball 3 steps down, mark the target visually and throw the ball as hard as possible. Do it at least 25 times with 25 baseballs in a bucket.
You can adjust the distance to around 5 feet, more or less. Hold the ball with a four-seam grip, and throw it until the ball finishes. Take a 5 minutes rest and do it again.
Repeat the drill two more times in the same session.
The objective of the drill: The drill will strengthen the wrist snap, leg drive, and finger push.
Baseball Throwing Drills: OURs
The OURS drill is not a single thing. It refers to, O- overload, U- Underload, and R-Regular ball. This is a cycle of doing random pitching with different types of balls. Start with a heavy ball and pitch 10 times. Fulfill the cycle with the other two balls, lite and regular.
The drill is both dangerous and effective for the pitcher. Make sure you are in K-position while doing the drill.
The objective of the drill: Enhancing finger strength and explosiveness.
Baseball Throwing Drills: Backward Chaining and Back Shaping
The backward chaining or back shaping is a specialized drill that starts after the drilling ends. The technique started to find out the fault of techniques, troubleshoot, and work on the mechanical flaw.
The drill will help to isolate the found problems and work with them, especially by the coach.
For example, suppose any flaw is found in a pitcher’s release point. In that case, the back shaping drill will pinpoint the flaw and work from the beginning to solidify the movement and resolve the mechanical issues of the pitcher.
It’s a great way to work with specific flaws in pitchers’ throwing.
How to Throw a Baseball Faster?- Tips for Physical Exercise
Baseball, football, cricket, soccer, etc., are muscle games. So, along with proper skill-based drills, you must take care of your muscles with proper physical exercise.
Develop Your Forearm Muscles and Triceps
People, most of the time, exercise with their biceps to build body. But in throwing balls, the most important body parts are your forearm muscles and triceps.
So, expectedly you must build your triceps and forearms muscles to power up their strength.
They will get stronger as a result of authorized exercise, which will also lower the risk of injuries.
Reverse barbell curls are something you may attempt. The most well-known and fundamental forearm and triceps workout. Keep a barbell in your hands and focus on it.
To curl the barbell down to up and backward, bend your elbow. A number of times. But begin with a barbell that is less in weight.
Additionally, you may try pulling a rope pulley while fixedly seated or standing. Hold the handle or rope that is connected to it. Pull it straight out to your back, where the bend in your elbows ends.
Aside from these, there are many exercises you can try. Some of them are dumbbell lying triceps, close-grip bend press, seated dumbbell triceps extension, one arm dumbbell triceps kickback, and many more.
Building Rotator Cuff Flexibility
When it’s the question of what is the fastest way to throw a ball or how to gain velocity pitching, you must involve your shoulders. Your shoulders are the knight of your pitching, no doubt.
Eventually, the shoulders and their areas get more chance of getting injured.
You can start with some shoulder flexions. In the gym, you will find anchor tubes. It’s the most common tool to exercise for shoulders’ rotator cuff fixing and flexibilities.
Now, stand back facing the anchor tube. Hold them with your hands from the backside front. Gently extend your hands in front of your face straight.
Extend till your elbows and wrist get a straight line. Hold for a sec. Now gently return back to your starting position.
Do it in a comfortable amount of time. Don’t pressure yourself in the beginning. This is highly effective in relaxing your shoulder area and developing rotator cuff flexibility.
Aside from this, many exercises will help you to develop your should cuff muscles. Some of the good exercises are barbell overhead shoulder press, seated barbell overhead shoulder press, reverse pec deck fly, front raise, dumbbell lateral raise, push up, and so on.
By the way, along with the anchor tubing, the push-up combination would be a great way to relieve your shoulder.
Develop Your Body “Core”
Your shoulders and arms are not the only parts of your body that pitch. Even your whole body is connected to ensure a faster pitch along with accuracy. So, you must take care of your entire body too.
Among them, your legs, hips, and abdomen are collectively known as the “core.”
The most common and effective way to build them up is to use a medicine ball.
You can exercise with the medicine in several ways. Some are mentioned here.
- Lie down on the floor. Take that ball with your two hands. Straightly lift the ball face in front of your body. Keep the hand stayed on the upper. Now, up your upper body as much as possible and down consistently for 30 to 60 seconds.
- Go to the push-up position. Go to the position of holding the ball on the floor instead of directly putting your hand on the floor. Be steady. Now, bring your right leg to the chest. Get back the right leg, and do it with the left one. Do the exercise for 60 seconds.
For a whole med ball exercise session, check out the following video.
Bicycle Crunch for Whole Body Workout
Another one of the most efficient workouts is bicycle crunch. It will help your entire body.
- Lay down on the floor. Two hands back on your head. Now, move the right leg and left hand rotationally to each other. Do the opposite with the left leg and right hand as well. Do it as long as you can.
Here is the bicycle crunch for you.
Leg Exercise to Build Legs Strong
The leg is the principal catalyst of your body that impacts your throwing velocity. Also, all energy comes from the ground force when you throw. Along with this, the leg is the principal part that holds weight and helps weight shifting.
The more efficient leg transfers linear energy to rotational momentum, and the more velocity comes.
So, keep the legs in perfect shape with leg drive.
By the way, Aside from leg drive, you shape your leg for strength; there are many exercises. Some of the leg exercises are single-leg Romanian deadlift, leg-press, walking lunge, reverse lunge, dumbbell squat, jump squat, single leg glute bridge, and so on.
Health Tips to Keep Yourself Fit
Along with physical, technical, and practical exercises, you must be healthy to throw different pitches harder. Here are some health tips for maintaining along with others.
Drink Sufficient Water
It should be the most important suggestion for athletes, even anyone who does a lot of physical hard work. To keep your health fit, you must drink sufficient water. Dehydration will sack your energy from your body.
Also, a hydrated body has more vertical jump capability, directly related to throwing velocity.
No Alcohol Please
Now you see why it’s so important to drink enough water. Drinking alcohol will cause your body to get dehydrated in this scenario. In addition to this, alcohol is the progenitor of many other ailments.
Your body’s energy levels are negatively impacted, your body’s capacity to ward against illness is diminished, and your liver’s ability to produce glucose is hampered when you drink alcohol.
As a consequence, you will have a low level of blood sugar. You are aware that having an adequate amount of sugar in your blood supplies your body with the energy it needs.
Have Sound Sleep
Both your physical and emotional well-being is affected by the amount of sleep you get. The generation of carbs and glycogen is slowed down when one gets enough quality sleep. These things are detrimental to efforts to save energy.
On the other side, getting inadequate sleep raises the risk of experiencing weariness. Insufficient sleep not only causes exhaustion but also impairs one’s ability to concentrate and level of energy.
Your pre-game and post-game performance will be negatively impacted if you get too little sleep. It has a one-to-one correlation with the velocity impact.
Take Sufficient Nutrition
Take care of your diet since it should be your last priority. Follow the recommendations of your physician on your diet and nutrition. Consume fruits in their fresh, frozen, or canned forms. Your food plan should include a wide selection of leafy green veggies.
When it comes to maintaining and improving your health, protein is one of the essential components. It is essential that you take them in the appropriate quantities. A better option would be to bake or grill the fish or meat instead of frying it.
Eat the right amount of calories, and don’t go overboard. Maintain your health with good eating habits.
Sunflower seeds are one of the popular food for baseball players to fit them. Check out the best sunflower seeds to get the best one for your nutrition.
Average Baseball Pitch Speed
Speed is the most powerful arm in pitching, no doubt. But, the speed of baseball players varies depending on their age. It would be a nice read to know the average baseball pitch speed and throwing speed by age.
Average Throwing Speed by Age
10 Years Age group
The 10 years age group counts youngsters up to 10 years and younger. Generally, this group produces the least speed. The average throwing and pitching speed of the 10 years age grou[ is around 40 mph to 50 mph.
Age Group 11-Year and 12-Year Old
In most cases, young athletes in this age range begin their careers in the Major Division of the local minor league. They can make deliveries at speeds between 50 and 60 miles per hour. The onset of puberty typically occurs in children and adolescents within this age range. Consequently, several players even go up to 70 miles per hour.
By the way, increasing speed has the effect of slowing down the changeup velocity. Change up has the potential to attain an average of 40 to 50 miles per hour.
Fastest Pitch by a 13-Year-Old and 14 years
Okay, the age gap between 11 and 12 years old and 13 and 14 years old isn’t that big. On the other side, athletes in the 13 to 14-year-old age bracket also begin to play baseball at the high school level.
The maximum speed is 55 mph. However, they may sometimes approach 75 mph.
The fastest pitcher in the group is a 13-year-old who can throw at a pace of 75 mph.
On the other side, the pace might be slowed to an average of 50 to 60 mph while throwing a change-up.
Average Throwing Speed by High School Players
Okay, high school baseball is the prime stage of getting into professional baseball. The players in high school baseball range from 14 to 18 years.
The average high school baseball throwing speed ranges from 75 to 85 mph.
But generally, the range doesn’t exceed 90 mph.
Like high school baseball, college baseball has freshmen about 14 years old, and throwing speeds may range from 60 to 70 mph. The high school player’s throwing velocity varies greatly throughout baseball games.
However, the average change-up speed could range from 60 to 75 mph.
College Baseball and Average MLB Pitch Speed
College baseball is the first level at which athletes have the opportunity to develop their throwing velocity to its maximum potential. At this point, the different speeds gradually fade, giving way to a balanced and consistent average pace.
You should expect a pitching speed of approximately 90 miles per hour in the major leagues, including college and MLB. However, there are those men who are always trying to shatter records. To see a baseball pitch being thrown at a speed of more than one hundred miles per hour is a pleasure.
The Fastest Baseball Throwing Leader
There is a controversy about the fastest pitch in MLB history. Nolan Ryan, one of the legends of baseball pitching, has the most hype with his “108.5 mph” pitching speed on 20th August 1974.
However, the 108.5 mph is considered a hoax to many people. Another fastest speed in baseball is claimed for 107.9 mph by Bob Feller in 1946. However, this was also considered a hoax by many people too.
A lot of controversy and confusion!
By the way, if we skip the controversy, we can consider the top 5 fastest throes in baseball history as follows.
| No. | Player’s Name | Speed | Year |
| 1 | Nolan Ryan | 108.5 mph | 20th August 1974 |
| 2 | Bob Feller | 107.9 mph | 1946 |
| 3 | Aroldis Chapman | 105.8 mph | 24th September 2010 |
| 4 | Aroldis Chapman | 105.1 | 2010 |
| 5 | Joel Zumaya | 104.8 | 2006 |
*Note: More players have around 104 mph speed. Even there is controversy with Aroldis Chapman’s 105.8 mph.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How fast should a 13-year-old throw?
A 13 to 14-year age group players should reach a minimum of 55 mph throwing speed, whereas they also can reach up to 75 mph. This age group almost has the high school level capability as the 14-year-olds start high school baseball.
2. What muscles help you throw harder?
Shoulder muscles, triceps, forearms, and abdominal muscles are directly related to throwing balls.
3. How to calculate how fast you throw a baseball?
MLB uses PITCHf/x speed calculation technology. The technology uses the tracks and trajectories of the pitched balls.
By the way, you also can use a radar gun to measure the speed of your throw. Aside from this, you also can manually calculate your throwing speed.
Here is an example of a manual calculation of throwing speed.
It is too simple. The formula is S=(D/T)*0.682. S is speed, D is distance, and T is time.
Like you are on the pitching mound and pitching to the plate. Generally, the distance should be 60.5 feet as per MLB rules from the home plate to the mound.
You need to use an automated radar gun to determine the time needed to travel this distance. If the traveling time of the ball is 0.43 seconds, the speed will be,
60.5/0.43= 140.70 feet per second.
Now, you have to multiply the feet per second by 0.682.
So, the speed would be 140.70*0.682= 95.96 mph.
Wrap Up
Learning how to throw a baseball faster is always a crunch of beauty. For the pitchers, and fielders, it is a great power and arm to master and craft their duties.
You need to do hard work to achieve the fastest speed in throwing. You need to develop your mechanics, go through throwing drills, do exercises, and take care of your health.
Another important suggestion is, to be strong mentally. Don’t ever be mentally dull. If you can stance your place, and keep up the hard work in the proper manner, you will see how amazingly you improve your hard pitching.
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Hello everyone. My name is Jason Butler, and I live in California, America. I was a professional AAA Minor League Baseball player. I lost my chance of playing MLB for injury issues, but I did not lose my love for baseball. I attended the coaching training program and am now working as a coach in a small school in San Diego.
I always love to share my experience and knowledge if that can help you. Play baseball, and stay fit.