Batting Practice Pitching Technique / Coach Pitch Pitching Technique - Youth Baseball & Softball

It is the Batting Practice pitcher's (& the 'Coach Pitch' pitcher) responsibility to consistently give the batter good pitches to hit. Youth baseball and softball players will improve their skills much faster when they are swinging at good pitches
One of the primary reasons batting skills don't develop as quickly as they could is when they are forced to swing at batting practice pitches that are out of the strike zone.
Games at the 'Coach Pitch' level move faster and are more fun when the Coach doing the pitching throws good consistent strikes.

[@clb3728]

I’m coaching 3rd year 8U coach pitch. Couple of points The one thing that is absolutely true in your video is that it is absolutely the coaches responsibility to make sure the kids have a “hittable” ball pitched to them. The 1 knee throw works great at 30 feet. It does not work beyond 30 feet. Too much velocity from a knee at 40 feet is required to get the ball across the plate. Most athletic 8year old can’t catch up to 38-40mph at 40feet. I watched an ex MLB pitcher pitch like this to his team from 40feet in our league. They finished dead last. I found the 4seam grip helpful with the horseshoe out. This creates backspin rotation and the ball will stay up. If the ball has movement, it almost always move into the barrel when thrown like this. Most important thing is keeping the ball up with the velocity around 35mph.

[@brandy2374]

What is the target when you are pitching to kids? Where should I be aiming the ball?

[@scottbecker940]

Thanks so much for posting. This is a huge help! I do coach pitch and the children only get five pitches! It’s imperative for me to be consistent with great pitches!

[@seabrook1976]

First year coach pitch and was really nervous about being wild. Your video is awesome man. 👍

[@campsteel7344]

Great content ! I donate my time with Tee-Ball & Coach pitch and this is a game changer. I’m tall as well so I’ve had the same problem getting them a quality ball to hit . Thank you for the tips !

[@robertmancuso1883]

At 5:37 , so true , too many kids standing around at too many practices causes baseball to lose kids to other sports , great point!

[@CoolIHandIMatt]

Good video! Thanks for the instruction. Two notes. My league mandates 38' coach pitch distance, standing overhand throw. Other than that I dod exactly as you suggest using tricep to dart the ball. However, I find distance control hard. I also notice that my ring finger and thumb can cause the ball to drift left and right. I think repetition and strength training (stronger muscles= more control) are the only remedy for this. I also face the problem of unequal hitters. Some kids I can pepper it in and other I have to lob it for them to hit successfully. Thanks again.

[@aswitzer3895]

Thank you very much for this video! I'm coaching for the first time in the 6-7 year old league and this will be a huge help. I already tried it out at home with my son and the pitching & hitting have drastically improved!

[@marklinden2342]

AR, glad to hear this is helping :) Mark

[@datsab2u1]

Thank you for this, I've been pitching for my team and throwing no hitters lol this should help remedy that

[@marklinden2342]

Yo, sorry about your ERA starting to baloon ;)

[@LukeWooz]

Haha! Same here. I’ve got a 12.32 k/9

[@righteousrat]

Youre doing God's work with this video, sir.

[@dr.carlosriveradhscmba9611]

Great video. It's my first season as manager for my 6YO and these recommendations will definitely improve my pitching and increase hits. Thank you!

[@marklinden2342]

Carlos, thanks for the comment....hope you and the kids had a blast this season!

[@TheOgieone]

Great video...thanks for the advice

[@ajmurphy6933]

Thank you for the video I hope to improve my pitching skills..1st year 8u coach

[@danialreyes4655]

Damn awesome video man, first day of coach pitch practice for my son and I picked up pitching duties; I’ve played before and am coordinated enough and threw decent but this video rocked it. I was standing and I’m 6’6. I’ll definitely be on a knee tomorrow rocking this batting practice with the kids...

[@Tharhythmphene]

I'm only 5'7" w no baseball experience, tasked to Coach Pitch. Any advice? Currently pitching standing up, and doing ok. Farm division 6-8yo's

[@jakematthews6989]

great video, thank you, Mark.

[@KingAlfa7]

I'm going from being allowed to coach pitch under hand..over hand is different. Thank you for sharing this knowledge. Ima try this

[@trickyriffy]

Great video. Lots of good tips.

[@steell42]

I totally agree with your statement about good pitches. Bottom line is this... The team that has the best pitching coach wins... Why not give every batter on both teams an accurate LEVEL pitch to hit. If you'll notice, in most coach pitch games the ball is often thrown inaccurately and the ball is usually coming down causing the young batter to use an upper cut to hit the ball. The ONLY way to deliver an accurate LEVEL pitch at a consistent speed every single time is to use the Louisville Slugger Black Flame pitching machine.

[@marklinden2342]

+steell42 Thanks for the comment! Let's encourage all leagues to have their coach-pitch pitchers throwing from a knee ('kid level') and to do so from approx. 30 feet; this leads to more accurate, more hitable pitches. When kids can more easily hit the ball they have more fun bating.....and......the kids in the field have more fun; they get to PLAY baseball rather than stand around watching dad throw pitch after pitch to a flailing batter.

[@MrMannybo81]

Great video I'll be using this as a guide for practicing with my boys

[@marklinden2342]

MM81, Hope this helps make batting more fun for your boys!

[@brandonlawhon2097]

Thanks for the video. About 10 kids got hit today between 3 dads so I hope to pitch with these techniques next week.

[@brandy2374]

What is the target when you are pitching to kids? Where should I be aiming the ball?

[@awall422]

Thanks for this!

[@marklinden2342]

Arlo, Thanks for commenting!

[@jakevanputten6069]

great video!

[@marklinden2342]

Thanks for the positive comment, Jake!

[@oklahullma]

“...bored to snot. Excuse my language.” 😂

[@goldmund67]

Great advice. Coached a few seasons so I can vouch for your philosophy. Title says "Baseball & Softball". Can you give the same demo for softball pitching? I don't want to throw overhand because the batters need to see that windmill release point even during BP.

[@marklinden2342]

Michael, Thanks for the comment. For softball pitching go to the Baseball Positive website - Batting Practice: www.baseballpositive.com/batting-practice/ At the top of the page are three videos that go over running an dynamic batting practice --- see Part 3, 0:39-2:22 ...the first 30 seconds or so in this segment shows overhand pitching, then switches to the Softball pitching action. - Mark

[@glennpillsbury3262]

Thanks for this video - looking forward to trying it out this season with my 7-8 year olds! One question: what do you focus your eyes on when throwing the darts? Do you set up an actual target behind the plate? Or do you just aim at the empty space over the plate? I find it really easy to get distracted by the kid standing there because I also want to watch their swing for instructional purposes, so it's really easy to throw "at" them in order not to miss the swing. Advice?

[@brandonlawhon2097]

Same. I'm going to start setting up a target

[@chris00nj]

A lot of leagues don't allow coach pitching from the knee

[@matthoard2221]

I’m skeptical. Not necessary for me to take a knee pitching to my 8u team, as I’m only 5’8”, but even if I was a foot taller, my knees couldn’t handle it and I won’t be able to move in time when the balls are lined back at me.

[@bradmcgaha2530]

May be a silly question, but would you recommend continuing to pitch like this when it comes actual game time? I'm not opposed to it, if my kids are hitting by any means.

[@arosas267]

Can you give me some advice as a parent. This is my sons 3rd year in coach pitch and i still struggle with how to tell him to hit the coach's rainbow style pitches. He almost needs to take on a slowpitch softball style swing to be successful in his age group in games. Its 2 completely different swing mechanics compared to fastpich. I appreciate it.

[@karifassett85]

Link to your website?? Please and thank you!

[@geraldgruffalo3522]

So the way I see it is: If you throw from a knee then you have to throw it up and arc it to the plate, which puts the ball to the same height it would be if you were standing and pitching. The will cause the little kid to have to track the ball through two movements, up and down, instead of a steady drop from pitching on your feet. The only way to pitch from a knee without elevating the ball would be to throw it harder. I’m coaching 6u, so how hard do I want to be throwing to 5 and 6 year olds? Does this make any sense or am I just wrong?

[@KingAlfa7]

My league says I have to stand and 35 inches away from home plate..this gonna be a struggle

[@danacoleman4007]

boy, I'll say! you'll get hit with the bat each time they swing

[@AMan-iv2rb]

@@danacoleman4007 🤭🤭

[@Themericandream]

Why not use a pitching machine?

[@grog8654]

Where’s the softball ?

[@dannylarson2662]

this is so wrong in every way

[@luismartinez-rz7ww]

I agree !!!

[@quintero347]

How so?

[@brandy2374]

Where is your video showing the “right” way?

[@jeffcatanzaro8863]

No