Expert: Jack Elliott - 8/10/2008

Question
Hi is there and baseball training that i oculd do for pitcher 3rd first and catcher that i can do by myself or with  1 other person?

Answer
Hi Jordan,

Sure, there is a ton of baseball training you can do.  Based on your question, I will avoid discussing hitting and focus on fitness, fielding, and throwing.

Fitness:
1.  Beginning with the summer after your 8th grade year, you should begin a weight training program designed for baseball pitchers.  Tom House has a number of excellent ones you can use.  Weight training will help make all other aspects of training easier.

2.  Begin running long distance at least 3 to 4 times a week.  You should jog about 3 miles on each of these days.  This will help your endurance giving you additional stamina when you are pitching late in games.

Fielding:
1.  Practice your motions.  This means practice fielding grounders and making your throw to first, practice your pitching motions, practice your steps as a catcher catching fly balls and making the throw to second.  You are trying to develop muscle memory by going through repetitions.  This will help make this motions more natural and automatic in games.

Throwing:
1.  Start practicing long toss.  This is essentially where you play catch with someone and gradually increase the distance between the two of you for the throws.  This can also be done with a bucket of balls without a partner.

2.  Start strengthening your arm by using weighted baseballs.  These balls use plyometric techniques which will develop the fast twitch muscles in your arm resulting in a stronger and faster arm.

Best Tip:
1.  Get baseball lessons from a top instructor in the area you are most interested in and get them ASAP.  The sooner you can get good training in your career the better off you will be.  The inital cost may seem pricey, but it will save you plenty of time by avoiding bad habits and knowing you are doing it the right way.  If the money is still too much, check out video tapes and baseball instruction books from the library.  Also, videotape yourself and send the tape into baseball forums to have others review it.

Hope this helps,
Jack Elliott
http://www.baseballtrainingtechniques.com