Ways to Increase Your Throwing Motion

While throwing in baseball, you must consider the motion and forces occurring throughout the body. Throwing is not dependent only upon the arm's motion; a proper throwing technique uses the whole body to generate momentum and impart force into the ball. With a little knowledge of throwing mechanics and some practice, you can learn to generate more throwing motion and greatly improve throwing technique.

  1. Sideways Stance

    • The correct stance for a throw involves standing sideways, with the throwing arm farthest away from the target. The feet should be slightly more than shoulder-width apart, with weight distributed evenly across them. Keep the hips, heels and shoulders in line with the target. A sideways stance allows for rotation at the hip, which causes the torso and leg muscles to provide some of the motion for the throw.

    Weight Shift and Ready Position

    • Before the throw, shift your weight to the rear foot, or the foot on the side of the throwing arm. This helps to generate momentum as part of the wind-up, and will allow greater motion during the throw. While shifting weight, swing your arms in a pendulum motion downward and away from the body. After this step, the body should be in the "ready position," with the ball held back away from the body and the target, and all of the weight on the side of the body with the ball. The front foot may come up from the ground; extend the glove hand toward the target for balance.

    Forward Step

    • From the ready position, take a single step of medium size toward the target. This step stretches the torso muscles and turns the hips to prepare for the rotation of the shoulders. By the end of the step, the toe of the foot on the non-throwing side (glove side) should be pointed directly toward the target, causing your hips to rotate. Your shoulders should still be sideways in line with the target.

    Shoulder Rotation and Throw

    • Once the forward foot is on the ground, your shoulders should rotate, following the hips, as the throwing arm arcs forward and launches the ball. The shoulder rotation combined with the weight shift and arm swing should impart the force of the whole body into the ball. The rear foot should lift from the ground and come forward, as this allows the hips to swing better. Some throwers, such as pitchers, may choose to bring their chest all the way to the glove in order to get into fielding position.