How to Become a Starting Pitcher on Your High School Baseball Team

As with most team and individual sports, repetition is one of the keys to getting better at a particular activity, and baseball is no exception. Batters spend hours in the batting cage swinging at the same kinds of pitches, trying to develop consistency. Fielders will take hours of ground balls during a given week to get better at fielding and throwing to a target. Pitchers must practice their craft, too. Developing additional pitches and learning to control them is an important step for a pitcher who wants to start for his high school baseball team. Other keys are developing strong leg muscles and sound mechanics.

Instructions

    • 1

      Work on your conditioning. Develop strength in your legs, which will help you develop more stamina, more velocity in your pitches and even help you gain better control of your pitches. Use light weights with several repetitions and sets, such as with leg lifts and leg presses. Do resistance exercises such as squats to develop your thigh muscles further. Use only light weights for any arm exercises, as too much muscle in your arms can actually make it harder to pitch a baseball well. Do plenty of cardiovascular exercises, such as bicycling, running and jumping rope. Make sure that you stretch fully before working out or when pitching, such as doing exercises to stretch your hamstring and calf muscles.

    • 2

      Eat a healthy diet. Avoid saturated fats and refined sugar and eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and complex carbohydrates. Stay hydrated by drinking water and electrolyte-replacing sports drinks. Get plenty of rest -- at least seven hours of sleep per night and as much as nine or 10 hours so your body can recoup from workouts.

    • 3

      Develop your pitches. Refine your fastball so that you can throw it to the same general location every time. Work on your grip of the baseball to add more pitches to your arsenal. For example, start with a normal grip to throw a two-seam fastball (placing your ring and middle finger across two seams of the ball at their narrowest point). Rotate the ball so that your fingers go along the seam, then move them over to one side or the other slightly, and you can throw a cut fastball with the same motion as a two-seam fastball, but get different results at the plate.

    • 4

      Work on adding other pitches to your arsenal as directed by your pitching coach, such a change-up, slider and curveball. Practice the pitches on the sidelines and in your free time so you develop confidence in using them in a game situation.

    • 5

      Work with your coaches to develop good mechanics. Use the same pitching motion every time once you find one that is comfortable for you and allows you to throw the ball consistently over the plate. Develop separate mechanics for pitching from the wind-up position and the set position. Develop a good leg kick that allows you to project the ball forward with a good amount of accuracy and velocity. Develop a smooth follow-through so that you are pitching the ball to the plate and not chucking it.

    • 6

      Learn to field your position such as fielding line drives, fielding bunts and backing up home plate; you can be the best pitcher in the world, but if you can't field your position, you won't get the chance to start.

    • 7

      Study batter tendencies. Watch from the bench or the bullpen and watch how the batters react to certain pitches. Learn their weaknesses so you can exploit them when you get your chance to pitch.