Baseball Throwing Part One - Why All Championship Teams Begin on Defense

www.QuickSwingTrainer.com

By Dick Birmingham

I had the good fortune to hear Branch Rickey speak and he was in his 80's. I listened along with a lot of other coaches and scouts. I listened to Branch Rickey talk about, "What it Takes To Become a Major League Baseball Player."

He said, "A guy has got to be able to do four things:

1) Throw.

2) Run.

3) Field.

4) Hit.

He has to be able to do two of these things extremely well to play in the big league."

He went on and said, "If he can do all four and hit with power, he is going to be a super star."

Well, you have listened to all of these talks about hitting, pitching and fielding, but we must remember that Branch Rickey referred to one of the four as throwing.

I have had the good fortune to travel all around the country and watch kids all the way from professional to Little League and one thing that I have observed is that throwing is being neglected in a lot of areas. Because, you see, no one teaches a kid to throw. We learn to throw kind of the same way we learned to run. Remember how we learned to run? We smarted off to the big guys, they chased us. We ran.

In throwing, we just picked up the ball and started throwing. No one told us how to put the hands, you know, eleven o'clock, one o'clock, no one told us that. We just took the ball and started throwing but it is very important that we throw correctly.

I agree with Bear Bryant. He said, "All championship teams begin on defense." I believe that.

I believe that throwing is a very important part of defense.

If something has to be taught, there is a mechanical side and a mental side to throwing. It is something that has to be taught and it is something that I feel is being neglected a little bit and can be improved.

So, I am going to challenge all of you to add another chart to the many charts you already keep in that dugout.

I think you should keep a chart on how many times a throw cost you a base. You can make another little mark where it cost you two bases. Then at the end of ten games or fifteen games or a season you can evaluate those charts and then you can make the decision as to whether you need to work a little harder on teaching proper throwing mechanics.

You see, going back to Bear Bryant's statement that all championship teams begin on defense. The key to playing good defensive baseball as you all know, is to stay away from the big inning.

You can't do that if the catcher throws poorly and allows the guy to advance. If an infielder throws the ball away at first base, if an outfielder throws poorly to the cutoff man or throws to the wrong base. So, throwing is a very important part of doing that one simple thing of keeping the double play in order.

To learn more baseball throwing tips and get more baseball throwing information to help develop your baseball players visit the Dick Birmingham Sports Championship Baseball Drill Book at http://www.BaseballDrillBook.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dick_Birmingham

Our Sponsor:

BatAction Hitting Machine by Nedco Sports
The "Original Hitting Machine"

100% Guaranteed to Improve Your Hitting...or
You Get Your Money Back"

BatAction.com

To order the BatAction Machine...Click here.