Back to All Drills

Pitching Drill: Long Toss (Baseball & Softball)

Arm strength drill for pitchers and all players. Warm up, then progressively move back until reaching your partner is a challenge. Throw with slight arc.

How to Run This Drill

  1. Start with normal warm-up catch at a comfortable distance.
  2. Once the arm is warm, move back a few steps with each throw.
  3. Get far enough apart that reaching your partner is a challenge.
  4. Take a long step forward, keep the elbow above the shoulder, and throw with a slight arc.
  5. One-hop throws are fine. Players should only do 6-10 throws at their max distance to avoid tiring out the arm.

Coaching Points

  • Pitchers should do this between starts
  • Younger players: no more than once per week
  • Do not allow players with arm pain or players that just pitched to do long toss the next day
  • Older position players can do several times per week
  • The goal is to get players throwing as hard as they can to build arm strength and learn how to use their entire body when throwing.

At a Glance

Categories
PitchingThrowing
Focus Areas
Arm StrengthLong Toss
Age Groups
7-89-1011-1213-1415-1617-1818+
Players
2-20 players
Difficulty
intermediate
Equipment Needed
  • baseballs or softballs

Add This Drill to Your Practice Plan

Use our free Practice Planner to build complete practice plans with this drill and 100+ others. Drag and drop to customize timing and order.

Try the Practice Planner

Free forever - No account required