Throwing motion

Question
My 11 year old son has an irregular throwing motion, but I just can't put my finger on what is wrong.  I think he is not bending at the elbow correctly and is throwing with too straight of an arm.  He even tells me that "something just doesn't feel right" but he also can't quite figure it out.  His throws seem weak and inconsistent.  Any tip/drills on how to assure correct arm motion?  He is not a pitcher just infield /outfielder.

Answer
Dear Tony,

Thanks for the question and I am going to give you a site to go to in order to get the pictures to help you.  But first, I want you to know that your son is not "just an infielder/outfielder".  He is a baseball player!!!!  I say this not to get on to you, but many kids will take the idea that they are "just" something and use it as an excuse.  I tell all my players, you are all ballplayers and the right fielder is just as important as the pitcher.  Now we know that pitcher has to do his job, but so does the right fielder and all other positions.  

Example: My 13U select team had 4 league games this weekend, 2 Saturday, 2 Sunday.  Saturday, our pitchers gave up 7 hits in 2 games.  4 in the 1st and 3 in the second.  Only 1 of the hits in the first game was out of the infield, the other 3 were bunts.  We made 9 (that is right, NINE) errors in the 1st game, which is very unlike us.  We lost 11-7.  We gave up 10 unearned runs.  A game we should have won 7-1, we lost 11-7, not because our pitchers didn't pitch well, but because our defense was HORRIBLE!!!  We did turn it around and win the next 3, but the point is that the pitcher is truly only as good as the defense behind him.

I like to teach all of my players the throwing motion of a pitcher.  You never know if your son will grow or develop a great arm and become a pitcher later.  Some great pictures of the throwing motion for a kid are at pitchmaster.com.  Go to the site and for $15 or 20 bucks you download the ebook and you have it to print out and show your son.  He has to have the right mechanics whether a pitcher, shortstop or outfielder, or he will lose a spot to another kid who does.  Get that ebook and then work on it daily.  He has to have repetition to undo the bad habits.

I commend you on working toward helping him.  Kids are great and so is baseball.  Put them together and you get a great time and a few life lessons on the way.  

Please let me know how he is doing and if you have any more questions or need any more help.  Stress to him the importance of all positions and becoming a master of them all.  Then there will always be a spot in the lineup for him.  Offense looks great, but defense and pitching wins championships.

Play Ball!

Coach Boss