Softball Coaching Tips - Place First Priority on Throwing

Place the First Priority on Throwing
Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

A few years ago, I was at a coaching clinic when the presenter threw out an interesting statistic. She said that when she looked back on the season, she found that 80% of all their errors were throwing errors. Since that time I've heard similar reports from other coaches — enough to believe it's a fairly universal stat.

Throwing is one of the most core skills in our sport. If your team can throw, it can survive a lot of other defensive ills, such as a botch of a ground ball. But if the team has trouble with throwing, you're in for a long day.

The first fall practices provide the perfect opportunity to work on throwing mechanics. Most teams are a long way away from playing any games that really mean anything, and the results of the work that goes in now will pay big dividends come next summer.

Yet many, perhaps even most, coaches are about to completely ignore the opportunity to work on throwing. They'll hit ground balls and fly balls until their hands bleed. They'll run plays and do hitting drills. Yet this fundamental skill will be virtually ignored except for a few minutes spent at the beginning of practice in "warmups."

That's a mistake in this coach's opinion. Good throws are often what make the difference between winning and losing. Bad throws are what turn a little error (booting a ground ball) into a two-base error.

To see where your team is on throwing, let them warm up, then have them throw against a stopwatch for just one minute. It's not a race, they don't have to keep track. But the exercise doesn't end until the entire team makes all their throws and catches successfully. No drops, no throw-aways.

A minutes isn't a long time, but it can be when it comes to this drill. Especially with the pressure of "it doesn't end until…" If you're lucky it only goes on for a couple of minutes. If that's the case, your team is good on throwing and you can move on.

But if it takes longer, and odds are it will, you have some work to do. Start by teaching your players how to throw. Not just how to get the ball to a target, but the proper mechanics for a good throw. (This is an exercise that will pay dividends in hitting too, by the way.) Then have them practice, practice, practice.

Every throw they make should use the same mechanics. Even if they're just tossing back a ball that got away, insist on good mechanics. Build the habits now and when the pressure is on during a game it will happen automatically.

It's a complex game with lots to teach. There's definitely temptation to skip over the "simple" stuff, like throwing, in favor of the "advanced" stuff. When you do, though, remember this speech from Bull Durham: "It's a simple game. You throw the ball. You hit the ball. You catch the ball."

Truer words were never spoken. Work on throwing this fall and see if your team doesn't kick serious butt in the summer.

Anyway, that's the way I see it.