Baseball Pitching Drills: Training for Accuracy

A high-velocity fastball is nothing if the pitcher can’t control it. Learn to dial in your pitches during your indoor training sessions with this baseball drill.

Pitchers rely heavily on speed, but it won’t matter if you throw a 65-mph fastball or a 95-mph fastball if they both miss their mark. Control is key when you’re up on the mound, and being able to lock in on your spot and deliver a quality pitch can be crucial to your success as a pitcher.

Champion Youth Baseball Coach Branndon Pezzelle values pitchers with control over pitchers with speedy fastballs. “I’ll take a guy that has more accuracy and control over his pitchers than a guy who is throwing 95-mph BBs that can’t control it.”

Your next indoor baseball practice is a great place to train your accuracy with a helpful and effective drill from the mound. To run this drill, you’ll need a catcher and an additional teammate to stand in the batter’s box. Your teammate should be carrying a bat and wearing a batting helmet, but they won’t be swinging at any pitches. Instead, they’re serving as a point of reference for your aim.

Your catcher will set up where you should aim to throw your pitches, making him one of the most important cogs in this operation, according to Pezzelle. You should look to throw about 15 pitches toward the inner half of the plate and then switch up your target for 15 pitches toward the outer half of the strike zone.

“This is just a great drill to get your pitcher in the rhythm of throwing and locating where he wants to throw strikes,” says Pezzelle. “If you can get that pitcher throwing to the outside and the inside of the box, you [have] a much better chance of having a great pitcher who is going to take you further along in the season.”

Hone in your control this offseason and find the strike zone with each pitch as you fine tune your pitching accuracy with these Pro Tips.

Round out your indoor pitching practices by working on your Pause and Balance as well as your Pickoff and Step-Off moves.