by Bill Mooney, BioForce Baseball Academy, Beaverton, Oregon

After “how can I gain more velocity on my fastball”, the next question I get most as a pitching coach is "how can I become more consistent with my pitching delivery?

Now, velocity is one of the first ways to get attention from coaches, scouts, fans, and just about anyone who is a fan of baseball.

But let’s face it, consistency is why they pay the guys in the big leagues the big bucks.

Who’s going to get big first round money in the next draft? The guy who walks more than he strikes out? Heck no. Who’s going to make the varsity team…yep, the guy who is more consistent.


Well, like most athletic activities, there is some natural athletic ability involved. But, your consistency with your delivery can be improved. You can be better tomorrow than today.

How? Through smart work, planning, and the proper drills.

Notice I didn’t say hard work. I’m more in favor of smart work. Make the most of your time.

Look at the professional pitcher. In season, the pitcher has his outing. Throwing around 100 pitches, let’s say. Before his next start, the professional pitcher will throw one or two bullpens working on his pitches, location, speed, movement, and a host of other things. He will also work on flat ground drills during the week, again, working on something specific. Maybe his curve is struggling; maybe the change-up is a little flat. When all is said and done, there will be a few hundred throws in any given week. That professional pitcher is at least 95% focused.

Now ask yourself: Am I totally focused with each and every throw?

I’ll bet not. I see it all the time. Most guys are thinking and talking about the latest movie that came out, what’s for dinner, a girlfriend, whatever pops into his mind while they are throwing. I’ll ask any given pitcher what they are working on during a session and inevitably, they say, "I’m warming up." That’s not gonna get you to the next level and have a consistent pitching delivery.

You’ve got to warm up to throw, not throw to warm up!

Use your warm up time to get your body loose, warm, and prepared to throw. Don’t use your throwing to warm you up. That’s where you’ll do some damage to your joints.

You can look at just about any professional athlete and you’ll see them get their body well prepared before they get going with their activity.


This is another big area I see most pitchers fail. They don’t have a plan to practice. Not sure why. It takes a little effort to plan. It takes discipline to execute that plan.

Doing drills and practice can be boring at times. This is what separates the high performers from the average performers. The high performers work through the tedious stuff because they know it will make them better and they have a burning desire to be the best.

A good friend and my mentor once told me that.

To be better prepared, you will need a set of drills, or teaches that will help you get better and also stay on track. That’s where I see a big downfall with a lot of amateur athletes do the drills, get to a comfort zone and are pitching well. They stop doing their drills that got them there. I think they believe, I found it, I won’t lose it, I’m invincible. Then they start having problems. They have a bad outing or two. Their curve isn’t working well. They try to change their grip. The coach wants them to change their delivery. Still no improvement. All the while, if they had kept doing what got them there, they would have stayed at that high level for a long time.


Now, I know I said to work smart. But it does take sweat to get you to the next level too.

I’ve got a couple of high school student pitchers that are brothers. These guys are both great pitchers. And I say pitchers. They don’t throw 100 miles per hour, but they have incredibly efficient deliveries, smooth as you are going to see.

How did they do it?

Well, they believe in our pitching principles and they practice them every day. And I mean every day. They get up in the morning and do 100 towel drills each before school. That’s 100 pitching deliveries every day. They may mix in some drills with those, meaning not the full delivery, but they are working on it every day. While the kids they are competing against are still sleeping or spending time text messaging their friends, these guys are working on getting better.

If you ask them, it really doesn’t take that long to get 100 towel drills done. I suppose they do about 20, switch, and then do another 20 and so on. How long can that take? I’ll bet they are done in about 15 to 20 minutes.


I probably should have started this article talking about how your body plays into the pitching delivery and contributes to consistency. If your body does not have the flexibility, strength, endurance, power and explosiveness that it needs for a great delivery, then you have no chance to be able to pitch the ball when and where you want it, game after game.

We’ll explore your body and your delivery in another article, but you need to know that proper training, at any age, is critical to the pitcher’s success.


Developing a consistent delivery is pretty simple, it’s just not easy to do or else everyone would be doing it. It takes persistence, patience, and planning.

• Work smart by using your time wisely.
• Base your pitching on a set of principles, not someone else’s style.
• Plan your drills based on those principles.
• To be consistent, you need to be consistent with your training. Day in and day out.

You’ll also need to spend time properly training your body. Find your weaknesses in your body and make them your strengths. It's the way to train like a champion.

Watch for drill suggestions and other articles from Bill Mooney and BioForce Baseball coming soon.