How to choose, teach and develop youth baseball pitchers

Early before the season starts, give all your players the opportunity to try out as a pitcher. For several days have each candidate throw 15 pitches. Keep records of balls and strikes thrown by each player. Choose your pitchers from among the leaders of these statistics.

In Little League you should pick from among your bigger players, two 12-year-olds, two 11-year-olds, and two 10-year-olds as potential pitchers. From these, concentrate on the best four; however, give all six enough work to hone their skills.

Narrow down your choice of two starters by  comparing their statistics consisting of walks, hits, runs, strikeouts, fielding errors, knowledge of backing-up bases, etc., during the pre-season practice games. You should schedule as many of these games as possible. Work the three older ones until you make a decision as to your two starters.

Drills for pitchers

After you have chosen your six pitchers, continue to keep statistics so you can rank them for dependability and measure their progress. Start keeping a record of strike position, such as low strikes from the belt to the knees and high strikes from the belt to the arm pits.

Keep in mind the low pitch is more desirable because:

1. The low ball is harder to hit.
2. The low ball is most likely to result in a ground ball.

There is nothing more important in baseball, than sharpening the skills of your pitchers. Use the following drills to practice good pitching motion and rhythm:

1. Extend and raise the throwing arm. Have the player catch the ball and turn sideways. He then puts his throwing hand in the glove and grips the ball across the seam and moves the glove to his chest. As both hands reach the chest, he takes the ball out of his glove and raises and extends his throwing arm. Reach for the center-field flag and make the arm long before throwing the ball.
2. Step with the left foot. Instruct the pitcher to keep his left knee bent and land on the ball of his foot. Have him point the toes of his left foot toward the plate. After he learns to do this properly, draw a line in the dirt from the middle of the pitching rubber toward the plate. Have the pitcher place his right foot on the far right side of the pitching rubber with his left foot landing on the line pointing toward the target.
3. Push off the rubber. This movement involves rotating on the ball of the right foot and then pushing the weight forward with the toes.
4. Lean forward. Explain to your pitchers, they must lean forward to throw a low strike.

After teaching these basic movements, your pitchers should understand the important movements of delivery of the ball to the plate. Now, you can teach them the full sequence of the pitch from stance to fielding position.