Free Velocity Building Program for Youth Pitchers

Who this template is for

For athletes roughly 9–14 who already play pain-free catch with a coach. Not for an injured pitcher, an athlete returning after surgery, or a child who has not yet established comfortable catch. Children younger than the 10U group should use age-appropriate play and professional guidance instead of this template. Use actual age, not the team label, for pitching rules.

Two players on the same team may have very different coordination, growth, and practice histories. Start with what the athlete already tolerates. Growth plates stay open until about age 18, so repeatable, comfortable throwing and quiet landings matter more than any single hard throw. The useful outcome is regular participation and better movement quality, not winning a conditioning contest.

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 · Learn the patterns

B · Balance and move

T · The throwing week

Practice focus

In catch, use an external target such as the partner’s chest or a towel on the fence rather than several body-part instructions at once. Change the target, the distance, or the game—not the child’s arm action. Film only with consent and compare similar views. A different-looking arm action is not automatically a defect.

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 to the 10U, 13U, or 14U guide that matches the athlete’s actual age when four weeks are complete with two sessions per week, each movement is held with steady technique, jump landings are quiet, and there has been no arm pain. If sessions are being missed or the athlete dislikes them, shorten the sessions rather than advance.

Common questions

Will this add 5 mph?

No gain is guaranteed. Four weeks is an introductory practice block, not a proven velocity intervention.

Should we add weighted balls?

No. The supplied coaching manuals limit youth to light training balls under direct coaching and reserve overload and underload throwing for on-ramped older athletes. A generic download cannot establish readiness.

How many sets and reps are right for a child?

The NSCA youth guidance is 1–3 sets of 6–15 repetitions, two or three nonconsecutive days per week, with loads that rise about 5–10% only when technique stays clean. This template sits at the low end of that range.

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. NSCA: Youth Resistance Training position statement (2009)

   Supports supervised, developmentally appropriate resistance training; does not validate these specific schedules.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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).

6. 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.