Tom House walks through pitching drills designed to build velocity and fix mechanics. He covers the Hersheyzer, wall drill, knee drill, and rocker drill, each targeting a specific part of the throwing motion.
This is called the Hersheyzer drill. What's this called, boys? The Hershey drill. The oral Hershey drill. Good job. Alright, here we go. Measure it off, please. Put your landing foot. Show the camera. Put your landing foot against the wall. Pivot foot twist. There's your rubber. Cross over, please. Preset your fanny lift and plant hard. 2, 3, 4, 5. Go ahead and put it down. We'll do that one again. Cross it over, bend it deep. Preset your fanny lift and plant your pocket hard. 2, 3, 4, 5. Let's do at least one more for the camera. Here we go. Okay, ready? Cross it over, bend it deep. Preset your fanny lift and plant hard. 2, 3, 4. Are you ready? Cross it over, bend it deep. Preset, lift and plant hard and hold for 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And relax. Next drill is called the wall drill. Okay, let's set it up, guys. Land like you land. Spread out comfortably. Not too far today, okay? Find your opposite and equal, please. Opposite and equal, please. Bend your knees deep. Okay, now, on my count, go back and forth, back and forth. Back and plant your knee. Push hard on the knee. 2, 3, 4, 5. Release your back foot. Rotate your hip. No shoulders, no shoulders. 2, 3, 4, 5. Square your shoulders up. Ball on wall. Glove on wall, knee on wall. Push hard. Fastball. 2, 3, 4, 5. Breaking ball. 2, 3, 4, five. Change up or split. 2, 3, 4, Five. Arch your backs. Push the wall over. Push it over glove. Ball knee harder. 2, 3, 4, 5. And relax. Land like you land against the wall. Find your opposite and equal. All right, on my count, back and forth, back and forth. Back and plant. 2, 3, 4, 5. Release your back foot. Rotate your hip. 2, 3, 4,5. Square your shoulders up, Glove on the wall. Ball on the wall, knee on the wall, hard. 2, 3, 4, 5. Breaking ball. 2, 3, 4, five. Change up or split. 2, 3, 4, Five. Now arch your back spine straight up and down. Push as hard as you can into the wall. 2, 3, 4, 5. Relax. Alright, guys. The knee drill basically is designed to create hip and shoulder separation, which is 80% of velocity. In fact, research shows that if they throw as hard as they can on their knees, that will be 80% of what they do when they get on the mound in a game. If you'll notice, they've arranged their knees and their hips and they work their shoulders with as much torque as they possibly can, as much twist as they possibly can. And the key here is, when they finish the throw, does the glove stay in front of the body? Actually, all these kids do a really good job. Big torque. Keep the glove in front, guys. Big torque. Glove in front. Big torque. Glove in front. Now, we're not demonstrating today, but you can throw fastballs, breaking balls, splits and change ups. Whatever your pitches are, you can throw from the knee drill. Again, you arrange your knees and your hips so that when your shoulders max out in their torque and square up to throw, the glove is in front of the landing knees. This is a rocker drill, alright? Now what I'd like you to do is spread out like you just landed. Find your opposite and equal. Spread out like you just landed. Find your opposite and equal. Bend your knees to 90 degrees, please. And just like we did on the wall drill, you're going to go back and forth, back and forth and throw. Your spine and head should go 8 inches before you let the ball go. If you'll notice, their back leg stays on the ground. Do not let the back leg come off the ground. The longer the back leg stays on the ground, the further your release point is toward the target. Knees at 90. Bend them deep, Dinesh. Deeper. Good. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and throw. Bend it deep. Opposite and equal, please. Eyes on target. Back and forth, back and forth and throw. Good. Here we go, lefties. Bend it deep. Eyes on target. Opposite and equal. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and throw.
