How to Throw Better This Season
Pitching Mechanics are important to know considering they can add years to your pitching career and decrease the likelihood of injury to your arm. Pitching Mechanics are helpful, if done properly, because you utilize your entire body to throw the baseball as opposed to merely relying on your arm for velocity.
The first thing you should do to learn more about how to throw the baseball correctly is to find a quality pitching instructor in your area. You should find an instructor who knows a great deal about pitching mechanics and doesnt try to clone every pitcher he teaches. There are many pitching instructors, who seem to know what they are talking about, but you take a closer look and they dont know much. Avoid the pitching instructors who just play catch with you while they try and teach; it just doesnt work to well.
After you find your instructor they will most likely give you drills to do. Make sure your instructor doesnt give you any drills that require you to do any repetitive robotic like moves. You want your delivery to be smooth and not so jumpy, if you know what I mean. Once you know what drills you are supposed to do, make sure you are consistent with them. Most of my students will see an increase in their velocity after a few lessons because they will start throwing with their body more instead of just their arm.
Also, you'll want to make sure that you spend frequent time on the drills he does give you. Once of the biggest killers to effective pitching mechanics is too little time spent working on the the movements that are being taught to you. This is crucial to your success as a pitcher.
It is also imperative that you throw the ball with a purpose. If you are playing catch with a friend in your backyard you should work on something. You dont just want to throw the ball to just throw the ball anymore. That is what throwing with a purpose means. You work on something. For the first thirty throws you may work on delayed shoulder rotation and the last twenty throws you may work on equal and opposite. But the fact of the matter is you throw with the intent to improve your throwing skills. The pitchers who do this are the ones that will get noticed because they make a conscious effort for perfection in their delivery.