A pitcher’s arm has to be warm before they throw a single pitch. Cold arms get hurt. Two minutes of arm circles and a five-minute easy catch warms the shoulder enough to handle 30 pitches. Skip this and you’re playing with an injury risk.
What you need: Open space. A baseball and partner for the catch portion.
Setup: Kid stands with arms loose at the sides.
How to run it:
- Slow forward circles: 10 reps each arm. Big slow circles.
- Slow backward circles: 10 reps each arm.
- Faster forward circles: 10 reps each arm.
- Cross-body arm swings: hug yourself with each arm 10 times.
- Light catch with partner from 10 feet, 6 throws each. Then 20 feet, 6 throws each. Then 30 feet, 6 throws each.
What to watch: Are they actually warming up or rushing through? The slow circles should be slow. The fast circles should be fast. Both have a purpose.
If they’re struggling: Reduce the rep count. 5 of each instead of 10.
If they’ve got it: Add resistance bands for shoulder activation before the circles. Same drill, more strength work built in.