Sidearm

Question
Dear Mike,

My name is Jose Estrada. I play baseball for a league in 13 and 14 category. Well the problem is that I throw sidearm and my coach tell me to do long toss drill. He say to go a distance of 150 Ft and do 20-30 throws at least 2-3 times a week. I want to know if that is true. And if you got any other i can stop throwing sidearm. I play 1B,2B, 3B, and CP. Can you help me please.
Jose Estrada

Answer
Long toss is a terrific drill, so your coach is correct in that should should try to do that drill as he suggests. As for throwing sidearm, that's not necessarily a problem, so long as your mechanics are correct. Unfortunately, there's no way for me to determine that through an email. I would say that if your throwing speed is good, you're accurate with your throws, and if your arm doesn't hurt, then you may be OK. But you really need to get a coach's opinion on that to be sure.