Arm strength is an important skill for all baseball players. While pitchers have an obvious need to build arm strength and throw harder, so do outfielders, infielders and catchers. While arm strength is not usually considered as important as hitting and pitching, playing excellent defense often has as much to do with winning as hitting and pitching.
Long Toss
This is the drill used by most pitchers and outfielders when it comes to building arm strength. Start off by playing catch with a partner from a distance of about 60 feet. As you warm up and get comfortable, keep adding distance to your throw. You need to get to at least 100 feet apart from your partner and play catch for about 10-to-15 minutes. Concentrate on stepping straight at your partner and keeping your throw on line. If you notice your throw has a bit of a "hump" to it rather than going straight, move a bit closer. You will eventually get that distance you are looking for.
Throwing Relay
Line up six of your players down the third base line, extending all the way down to the foul pole. Do the same down the first base line extending all the way down to the right field foul pole. Starting with the players at home plate, they will throw the ball to the next player in line as hard as they can. The next player catches it and then throws to the following player. Continue in this manner until the player standing in front of the foul pole catches the ball. That player begins the relay in the opposite direction and it goes until the player at home catches the ball. If the ball hits the ground at any point to due to a poor throw or a dropped throw, the relay starts over again. The first team to make strong throws and catches up and down the line wins the relay.
Outfield Throwing Drill
This drill is for all fielders, not just outfielders. Line all of the players up at the three outfield positions and hit one hop line-drives to each outfielder. The player should charge and catch the ball on the hop and throw it home to the catcher. If he throws the ball accurately on the fly, he gets five points. If he throws a one-hopper accurately, he gets three points. If the throw is within two steps of the plate he gets one point and if the throw is outside of two steps, he gets no points. Have each player rotate until all players have thrown from all three positions. The player with the most throwing points wins the drill.
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