27-Feb-07: Pitchers Beware - Long toss is BAD!

I pitched throughout the entirety of my baseball career, from age 5 to 20 (That's me in the pciture below). One of the things I hated the most throughout that entire time was long toss. In case you are not familiar with baseball, long toss is the practice of having pitchers play catch with a partner stationed at a distance far beyond the normal range of game throwing. For instance, at the high school level and above, the pitcher throws a ball 60 feet, 6 inches. Long toss for a pitcher would involve throwing the ball 2 or 3 times that distance or more.

All those years, I hated long toss. The long toss portion of practice was the worst 12 to 15 minutes of my day in college because it was like once I got to about 90 feet, it felt like someone was both wrapping a bull rope around my arm above my elbow, but it also felt like my tricep was being stabbed with a pitchfork.

The worst thing about it, besides the pain, is that I never got any stronger and never threw any harder!

I've been out of baseball for 5 years now and the best thing about it is I will never have to throw long toss again. And right now, I want to post this article here on Napalm's Corner so hopefully I can make that true for more players.

NEVER LONG TOSS AGAIN!

Long Toss is a Waste of Time

-Napalm-