How to throw farther

Question

I play highschool baseball and spend 100% of the time in outfield I can only throw 45 yards anything I can do to throw somewhere around 60 yards?

Answer 1

It is hard to say without knowing your age, body type/build, and seeing your mechanics. Considering you can only throw 45 yds (135 ft. I am going to use ft. from now on because everything in baseball is measured in ft.) I can guess with almost 95% certainty that your issues are mechanical. 135 ft is only 8 ft. farther than home to second. If you are using a max-effort, crow-hop throw and cannot throw it out of the infield over second base from home plate, I have to believe that you have very inefficient energy transfer in your throwing mechanics.

It is important to note that strength and build can factor in as well, but has its limitations. Assuming that you are a normal, healthy, high-school-aged athlete, though, I am going to say that strength is not the core of this issue. The other important thing to keep in mind is that a baseball only weighs 5 ounces. Therefore, strength has a rather low point of diminishing returns on velocity (hence why there are no MLB pitchers that look like body builders).

Key Takeaways:

Get video - Seeing yourself and being able to slow your mechanics down frame-by-frame is invaluable to identifying and visualizing where you are going wrong.

Evaluate your mechanics - get a coach (online or in-person) that knows what they're doing. If your coach does not use video.. find a new coach. Losses in energy transfer happen in fractions of a second, I don't care how long you've been coaching, you cannot see that with the naked eye - not to mention, there are literally hundreds of things to look for.

IMPROVE YOUR FLEXIBILITY - This so often gets ignored. Probably because doing yoga sounds lame, but I promise you, flexibility is incredibly important for velocity. The more torque you can create with hip/shoulder separation, and the more external rotation you can get out of your arm, the faster and further the ball is going to travel.

Play long-toss at least 2 days per week - This trains your muscles for max-effort throwing. Also, different muscle groups are engaged when throwing long-toss (most similar to an outfield throw) than pitching off of a mound or throwing at normal distances.

Continue to grow & get stronger - Like I said, strength does factor in here, and you will definitely improve velocity/distance as you get older, stronger, and grow into your body. That being said, it should not be your #1 point of emphasis, because until your mechanics are solid, you will always get more gains out of improving mechanics over improving strength.

Answer 2

Assuming you are already using proper form when you throw, strength training will help your distance.

If you do not have access to a weight room, body weight exercises such as push ups and pull ups will still be helpful

Throwing form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BcXvjn2Do0

Bodyweight strength exercises if you do not have access to a weight room: http://www.mensfitness.com/training/workout-routines/pullup-pushup-workout

Answer 3

Weights will not have a direct affect on how hard or how far you throw a baseball. Look at Chris Sale for example, skin and bones and throws mid to high 90's. A lot of it is technique and skill, but, the thing I can suggest that gives the most progress is long toss every single day. Get used to having your body provide power in the throw. One thing I always thought about when doing long toss is feeling your body almost guide your arm. When you start dont focus on trying to fling your arm as fast as you can, focus on the movement and let your arm follow. Also, work on the crow hop, done right the crow hop alone adds 30 to 40 feet to your throw. And like I said everyday, it builds muscle memory.