Pitching Agility - Speed And Agility Drills For Baseball Pitchers

By Mike Griffin, former K.C. Royals strength coach

3-Cone Agility Drill

Place 3 cones 5-10 yards apart.  Label cones 1, 2, and 3.  Player begins at cone #2.  Coach yells out a number and player must sprint to that cone.   Then coach will yell different number.  The player IMMEDIATELY changes direction to sprint to next cone.   If he reaches the cone before the next number is called, he must immediately backpedal. This forces players to stop on dime without slowing down as they would in a line drill.  It is excellent for developing leg power.  Can be done with one player or two.

3-Ball Outfield Drill

Coach has 3 baseballs.  Player sprints while expecting a ball over right shoulder.  When he catches that ball he looks for one over his left shoulder.  When he catches that one he looks for ball over his right shoulder again.  This drill is one sprint catching three balls, not three different sprints. This drill is very baseball specific and helps develop baseball skills while conditioning.

Ball Shuffle

Player starts about 5 yards away from coach with one ball.  He sprints to coach, hands (not tosses) the ball to coach, and starts to backpedal.  Player backpedals until coach tosses ball to either side.  Player shuffles to ball, picks up ball and sprints to coach.  Player hands ball to coach and repeats.