Overhand vs Underhand

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Jun 17, 2021
26
3
Hey everyone-
I've been lurking here for a little while but have never posted...
Have a 10 year old DD / Pitcher. Just have a curious question.
In regards to velocity, is there correlation with overhand speed and underhand pitching speed?
Based on some tips I've learned from this forum we have started sprinting and long tossing to help develop velocity. Trying to come up with a plan for strength training next.
I guess what I am asking is would overhand arm strength be an indicator for underhand velocity potential?
Do some pitchers have better velocity underhand vs overhand?
Would emphasis on developing overhand strength and velocity result in underhand strength and velocity?
If we had limited time in a training session(and energy for a 10 year old), would long tossing overhand kill two birds with one stone?
Again just curious about the groups experience and thoughts on this.
I also realize spin is King!
 

radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
Hey everyone-
I've been lurking here for a little while but have never posted...
Have a 10 year old DD / Pitcher. Just have a curious question.
In regards to velocity, is there correlation with overhand speed and underhand pitching speed?
Based on some tips I've learned from this forum we have started sprinting and long tossing to help develop velocity. Trying to come up with a plan for strength training next.
I guess what I am asking is would overhand arm strength be an indicator for underhand velocity potential?
Do some pitchers have better velocity underhand vs overhand?
Would emphasis on developing overhand strength and velocity result in underhand strength and velocity?
If we had limited time in a training session(and energy for a 10 year old), would long tossing overhand kill two birds with one stone?
Again just curious about the groups experience and thoughts on this.
I also realize spin is King!
Welcome to posting!
Great first post!
Look forward to replies...

What I can share is, Wish more players worked on developing better overhand throwing skills by following the work ethic habits of pitchers!

IE: paying attention to mechanics and good/proper spin!
 
Last edited:
Apr 2, 2015
1,198
113
Woodstock, man
Calm your jets on strength training for a 10yo. It's too easy to tear growth plates. I speak from experience.

Body weight only. Please, no squats.

Technique>strength

Mass helps. Can swap carbs for protein. Ex. Pancakes, cereal waffles and juices for eggs and bacon and milk

You only have so many bullets during throwing, if you only want to improve pitching, I would spend them throwing underhand.
 
Last edited:
Mar 4, 2015
526
93
New England
I believe the raw talent for both is largely the same. That is, those with high ceilings overhand have high ceilings underhand. But both must be developed, so I've seen fast pitchers who couldn't throw very well overhand because they didn't learn or practice mechanics.

Also, and this isn't what you asked, but I marvel sometimes at the wide disparity in overhand throw quality in college softball. Some players have absolute guns, and most P5 players throw pretty well, but still you'll occasionally see starters whose throws make you wonder if they just started playing.
 
Jun 17, 2021
26
3
Welcome to posting!
Great first post!
Look forward to replies...

What I can share is, Wish more players worked on developing better overhand throwing skills by following the work ethic habits of pitchers!

IE: paying attention to mechanics and good/proper spin!
Thats just it. We put all of this effort into her pitching motion, her overhand throwing is lacking IMO. If her overhand velocity is any indication of underhand potential, we might need to increase emphasis in that area. Its not that we dont work on it, its just amount of dedicated time to one vs the other. If I knew long tossing overhand would improve underhand performance as well, with limited time and energy, we'd skip the underhand long toss.
I'm not sure what we have gotten ourselves into with this whole pitching thing, but it is a fun challenge. Thanks for your response.
 
Jun 17, 2021
26
3
Calm your jets on strength training for a 10yo. It's too easy to tear growth plates.

Body weight only. Please, no squats.

Technique>strength

Mass helps. Can swap carbs for protein. Ex. Pancakes, cereal waffles and juices for eggs and bacon and milk

You only have so many bullets during throwing, I would spend them throwing underhand.
 
Jun 17, 2021
26
3
Jets calmed on the strength training. Maybe I should have included a strength training plan "appropriate to age."
I agree on the bullets and that is kind of my point. I am extremely conscientious of over working and the potential for injury.
Just thinking about efficient and effective time spent.
 
Last edited:
Feb 10, 2018
496
93
NoVA
Presumably she is not going to be P only at 10U (or 12U or 14U). She'll need to work on her overhand throwing to play other positions on the field, as she should. Perhaps you could consider throwing overhand long toss one day a week and underhand long toss a separate day during the week. Long toss is easy to overdo (thinking about younger girls), especially if they are competitive. My suggestion would be to warm up, progressively go back in roughly 10' increments until she gets to the end of her range. Give her 3-5 throws at the end of her range and then have her start walking back in in similar 10' increments. Would recommend walking/running into the throw to help generate energy.

Once she physically matures, I think you can do underhand long toss more frequently. For my DD (15U), we try to incorporate some underhand long toss into every outdoors pitching session we have. We follow a similar model to the above and once we are done (say about 10-15 minutes), move into our regular bullpen.

Anecdotally, I have seen overhand and underhand throwing speed correlate pretty closely.
 

radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
Thats just it. We put all of this effort into her pitching motion, her overhand throwing is lacking IMO. If her overhand velocity is any indication of underhand potential, we might need to increase emphasis in that area. Its not that we dont work on it, its just amount of dedicated time to one vs the other. If I knew long tossing overhand would improve underhand performance as well, with limited time and energy, we'd skip the underhand long toss.
I'm not sure what we have gotten ourselves into with this whole pitching thing, but it is a fun challenge. Thanks for your response.
I met a father that had two daughters when I was training a 16u team. One daughter was a pitcher and got pitching lessons almost 6 years.
Her sister who couldn't barely throw overhand very well was not given any instruction.
The girl who had trouble throwing i invited out as I do on January 1st to start off the new year i offer free lessons.
They drove 2 hours to come to a free lesson where we went over detailed throwing Mechanics for her.
She went home, worked on the instruction daily and by the end of one week was throwing level all the way across the field.
(From catcher to second). and within two weeks her pop time came down four tenths of a second. Mind you her throws were pretty slow and pretty bad, but in two weeks she dropped her pop timd down from 2.6 to 2.2. She eventually broke 2.0. In a matter of couple months.

While I am a catching instructor after I teach Crouch & Framing, go directly into defensive mechanics.
And after that immediately start working on throwing mechanics.
From feet, knees,and from a crouch one knee. Often joke and smile and say I'm actually a technical throwing instructor. 🙂👍
 
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