Playing Catch Properly

The first aspect of improving as a pitcher on your off days is how you attack the simplest warmup in baseball - playing catch on your off days. Some view playing catch as a means to warm up the arm. I try to challenge pitchers to treat playing catch like how you treat a pregame bullpen or how you treat actually being on the rubber. North Central College’s pitching coach, Tim Stoddard - a former MLB relief pitcher - has gone on the record emphasizing the importance of practicing just like you play. 

Playing catch, no matter what distance you throw at, helps smooth out any mechanical and/or timing issues, as well as your sequencing. Playing catch with a high intensity also helps give instant feedback to any issue you may be trying to work on - if your catch partner has the move their glove, something has to be fixed. When a pitcher plays catch, the emphasis should be on trying to replicate their delivery patterns on the mound. PRACTICE HOW YOU PLAY. If your ball sails one way or another, it’s a cue that there is an issue - it is up to you to determine if that is a mechanical issue or a timing issue. Each pitcher is unique, so a cookie-cutter method would be impractical when it comes to testing the issues. 

When you start to play catch, as you lengthen the distance, the legs should play more and more of a factor by each throw, i.e. from 30 feet away you would just use your arm to throw, but once you start getting past 90 feet, you would take a shuffle before throwing to help build more momentum. Each day’s round of catch should look different, and each schedule has different drills. Below, I have written out what my in-season catch schedule looks like based on the days I am starting on the mound, and will go into further detail after the schedule.


Day 1: Start Day

Day 2/Off-Day 1: Light Catch To 90ft.

Day 3/Off-Day 2: Light Catch To 120ft. w/ Flatground

Day 4/Off-Day 3: Light Long Toss To Approx. 150-180ft. (Based on Feel)

Day 5/Off-Day 4: Long Toss > 250ft. w/ Flatground

Day 6/Off-Day 5: Light Catch To 120ft.

Day 7: Start Day


The “Light Catch” days are based on some key factors - the number of throws and/or the intensity of the throws. Typically, the day after a start would be a day of very low-intensity throwing. Then, the long toss days will see you throwing with near-max effort and using your entire body to throw, i.e. a full running start. 


When it comes to what the progression of playing catch each day looks like, I aim to play catch for about 30 minutes each day. I will warm up playing catch with a football for a few minutes, backing up to approx. 45 feet to make sure my arm is loose. The football, weighing in at 14 ounces, is a nice contrast to the 5 ounce baseball. When I throw with the football, I focus on pronation as much as I can.


Once I finish throwing with the football, I play stand-still catch with a baseball, isolating the arm. All the power is coming from my arm, and I am hyperfocused on hitting the target to the best of my abilities. The goal should be to have your partner’s glove not move at all. I’ll gradually back up more and more as my arm starts feeling better and start to use my legs more and more each throw. As I get farther out, I tell myself to aim a bit above the partner so that I don’t underthrow the ball. 


Once I’ve hit my max distance for the day, I’ll bring myself back in toward my partner, gradually starting to aim lower and lower with more intensity behind the ball. Then, once I reach approx. 75 feet, I will throw with only my changeup grip, focusing again on pronation and getting an ideal changeup movement. 


Finally, I will bring it into 45 feet and throw a flatground. A flatground is throwing your pitches with somewhat of an intensity level, while your partner sets up in a catcher’s stance. The goal is to replicate the movement you’d see on the mound from a shorter distance, while also making sure you hit your target to the best of your ability. 


Catch play is often underlooked, but it should be treated as a necessity and not be viewed as a waste of time, or just as a warmup that you have to do. Remember: PRACTICE HOW YOU PLAY!


-Sam Corbett

#W2W - NCC Cardinal Baseball

Stead Up!  -Homestead Ranchers

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