Free 13U Velocity Building Program: A 4-Week Transition Plan

Who this template is for

A 13U roster label is not the athlete’s exact age. Use actual age for pitching rules, and training experience for exercise selection: an athlete who has never lifted starts with the bodyweight options. Consult a coach before combining lessons, teams, and this plan.

Field size may change faster than a player’s strength and coordination. Around peak growth, an exercise that was easy last month may need a simpler variation today, and injury risk rises; reduce volume and reinforce movement quality during a spurt. Repeating a week is a legitimate progression decision.

For age-specific pitching limits and rest requirements, consult the current MLB Pitch Smart guidance and your league’s rules. Limits are ceilings, not training targets.

Your weekly framework

The days below are movable placeholders. A qualified coach should fit them around current throwing, other teams, and recovery. Throwing volume comes from the throwing program below; it prescribes no maximum-intent throwing and does not stack on top of team practice or games.

Session details

Before each session, 8–12 minutes: easy walking or jogging, leg swings, hip and upper-back rotations, then a light band arm-care series (external and internal rotation, a row, and a scapular raise; one set of 10–15 each), then an unloaded rehearsal of the first exercise. Use a clear surface, a secure band anchor, and equipment sized to the athlete.

Order each session so the work that depends on freshness comes first: jumps or sprints, then the main strength exercise, then accessory and trunk work, with any conditioning last. Main strength sets stop with 2–3 clean repetitions still possible; accessory, youth, and beginner sets keep 3 or more in reserve. Rest 2–3 minutes after jumps, sprints, and main strength sets and 60–90 seconds after accessory sets. Progress by the two-for-two rule: when the final set reaches two repetitions above target in two consecutive sessions, add the smallest available load (about 2.5–5 lb for upper-body and 5–10 lb for lower-body exercises, or 5–10% for youth). End a set when speed, balance, or technique changes. No lifting to failure or maximum-effort testing is required.

A · Strength control

B · Single-leg foundation

T · The throwing week

Practice focus

Use a workload notebook with separate entries for games, bullpen work, warm-ups, catch, and other positions. Game pitch-count limits are ceilings for games, not an allowance for training throws. In catch, coach with one external target or analogy at a time.

Throwing program

Ages 11 to 12 · Offseason build · 3 throwing days per week. Build throwing volume and long toss distance first. Intent rises late in the block, after the base is there.

Place the throwing days on your week so the longest or hardest day is not the day before a game, and throw before lifting when they share a day. If a team already runs throwing practice, that practice is the session: use the numbers below as a ceiling and log what was actually done. Games replace a throwing day; they never stack on top. Repeat a week instead of moving on if the arm feels heavy or soreness lasts into the next morning.

Week 1 · about 110 planned throws

Week 2 · about 125 planned throws

Week 3 · about 120 planned throws

Week 4 (lighter week) · about 90 planned throws

Throw counts include warm-up throws. Distances are ceilings, never targets. Pitch Smart for this age group: Ages 9 to 12: daily max of 85 pitches at ages 11 to 12, no more than 80 combined innings in any 12 months, at least 4 months off from throwing each year. Need a different phase or number of days? Use the free throwing program generator.

Week-by-week progression

The weeks are decision points, not deadlines. Repeat or reduce a week when recovery is poor. Exact doses here are original coaching examples, not a research-proven route to a certain velocity.

When to move on

Move on when two sets of every exercise are completed with three repetitions in reserve for two consecutive weeks, single-leg balance holds 30 seconds, landings are quiet, and throwing has stayed pain-free with a stable weekly log. During a growth spurt, extend this block instead of advancing. The 14U guide follows at the actual age of 13–14.

Common questions

Should a move to the big field mean more throwing every day?

No. Changing distance and adding volume at the same time hides how the athlete is responding. Have the coach manage the transition and hold weekly throwing volume within about 10% of the previous week.

Can I use adult velocity drills?

Not just because the drill appears online. The generic plan deliberately excludes weighted-ball, pulldown, and maximum-intent protocols; the manuals that use them scope them to older, on-ramped athletes.

Evidence & source notes

These sources inform the principles, not a guarantee that this exact template produces an outcome. Coaching manuals are labeled separately from research. No proprietary program tables or illustrations have been reproduced.

1. NSCA: Youth training and long-term athletic development

   Development and training experience matter alongside chronological age.

2. Haff & Triplett, Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, 4th ed. (2016)

   Chapters 7, 17, 18, 20, 21 and 22: youth guidelines (1–3 sets of 6–15 repetitions, 2–3 nonconsecutive days per week, load increases of about 5–10%), exercise order and rest intervals, the two-for-two progression rule, plyometric prerequisites and 48–72 hour recovery with depth jumps contraindicated while growth plates are open, aerobic progression of no more than 10% per week, in-season maintenance with unloading weeks, and criterion-based return to play. Consulted from the supplied book; no program tables reproduced.

3. ASMI: Position Statement for Adolescent Baseball Pitchers

   Fatigue and throwing workload require active management; fastball and change-up skills come before breaking pitches.

4. MLB Pitch Smart: pitching guidelines by age

   Daily pitch maximums and required rest days by age. Values quoted in these templates were checked in September 2026; the linked page is authoritative and league rules may be stricter.

5. Driveline Baseball, Hacking the Kinetic Chain: Advanced Pitching

   Supplied edition. Pre-throwing warm-up and band arm care (pp. 79–98), auto-regulated long toss (pp. 118–120), on-ramp periods of one to four weeks scaled to time off (pp. 170, 185), a recovery day after every maximum-effort day and pulldowns no more than once every five days (pp. 165–166), and age tiers that reserve hard weighted balls for older athletes with youth limited to light training balls (pp. 122, 177–178). Coaching context, not proof that a particular drill prevents injury.

6. Susan Hall, Basic Biomechanics (2023)

   Growth plates stay open until about age 18 and can be injured by repetitive loading; elbow valgus torque rises with ball speed; flexing the hips, knees and ankles on landing lengthens the absorption time and lowers peak force (pp. 86–96, 189–192, 369).