Utilizing medicine ball throws in your training is a great way to transfer your general strength qualities into baseball specific power!
Power development is plane specific and medicine ball throws will allow you to train more “baseball specific” power by allowing you to work in planes (frontal, transverse) that are required by your sport (baseball).
Medicine Ball Drills and Weight Used
In the sections that follow, I have listed some of our favorite medicine ball drills, the weight we use, and a hyperlink video of each exercise.
Rotational Scoop Tosses
| Medicine Ball Exercise | Weight Used | Hyperlink Video |
| Forward Facing Scoop Toss | 6 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfZlZknuAXA |
| Rotational Scoop Toss | 6 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FpDi3cWbr4 |
| Step-Back Rotational Scoop Toss | 6 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=535h9EjA-lY |
| Split-Stance Anti-Rotation Scoop Toss | 6 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_x1lB9jOQ4 |
| Hook-Behind Rotational Scoop Toss | 6 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR5yy_YT-is |
Rotational Shot Put Throws
| Medicine Ball Exercise | Weight Used | Hyperlink Video |
| Half-Kneeling Anti-Rotation Shot-Put Throw | 4-6 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phJuGABLUIE |
| Forward Facing Rotational Shot Put Throw | 6 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lbp8Svu_Bo |
| Rotational Shot Put Throw | 6 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtzuEYn0DmY |
| Figure-8 Rotational Shot Put Throw | 6 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkF0k7hNKSk |
| Shuffle-Shuffle Rotational Shot Put Throw | 6 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yegd5XR0vIg |
| Step-Behind Rotational Shot Put Throw | 6 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwsq_LPOl_8 |
| Kneeling Jump to Shot-Put Throw | 6 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbptopGym_8 |
Overhead Slams
| Medicine Ball Exercise | Weight Used | Hyperlink Video |
| Overhead Slam | 10-12 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Cu-LY_gk0 |
| Split-Stance Overhead Slam | 10-12 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgDt-ScD_H0 |
| Overhead Recoiled Slam | 10-12 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1JteUcsRe4 |
| Overhead Side-to-Side Slam | 10-12 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvDH8aniMOo |
| Split-Stance Overhead Side-to-Side Slam | 10-12 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jghcVFif8no |
| Figure-8 Overhead Recoiled Rollover Slam | 8-12 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ggK78spMpg |
| Single-Leg Overhead Slam | 8-12 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coQ76d0CcYw |
Overhead Forward Throws
| Medicine Ball Exercise | Weight Used | Hyperlink Video |
| Step-Into Overhead Forward Throw | 4-6 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPEKwG3SuAM |
| Crow Hop Overhead Forward Throw | 4-6 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yojUOsH6IGM |
Throws for Distance & Height
| Medicine Ball Exercise | Weight Used | Hyperlink Video |
| Backward Overhead Throw for Distance | 10-20 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzc5aGvOfrs |
| Forward Scoop Toss for Distance | 10-20 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPEYsRVChNE |
| Vertical Scoop Toss for Height | 10-20 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBFun7KvQ7M |
| Tall-Kneeling Chest Pass | 8-12 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCHQiCr1wzQ |
| Bent-Over Chest Pass into Ground | 8-12 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00EGnQSLKwo |
| Broad Jump to Chest Pass | 8-10 LB | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKLzxr3e4Q4 |
Effort Level/Intent for Medicine Ball Throws
When performing your medicine ball throws this off-season your goal should be one of four things (depending on the exercise):
Throw the ball as far as you can
Throw the ball as high as you can
Throw the ball through the wall
Throw the ball through the floor
Remember, the goal with your medicine ball throws is to improve power output. You can’t do this by simply going through the motions on your medball work. LET IT RIP!
Programming Medicine Ball Drills
We’ve had fantastic results over the past few years pairing rotational throws and overhead slams with a unilateral push or pull strength movement. The unilateral strength movement the athlete performs prior to the medball throw has done a good job of getting the athletes core to fire which improves output on the rotational throw or slam to follow. In addition, we will also pair our medicine ball throws with a mobility drill. Below I included an example of these two pairings.
Sample Medicine Ball Pairing #1 A1. Medicine Ball Figure-8 Overhead Recoiled Rollover Slam 4 sets x 4 reps/side A2. Alt. Quad-Pull to Lateral Lunge to Thoracic Rotation 4 sets x 5 reps/side Sample Medicine Ball Pairing #2 A1. Standing Single-Arm Landmine Press 3 sets x 6 reps/side A2. Medicine Ball Figure-8 Rotational Shot-Put Throw 3 sets x 4 reps/side
Rest/Recovery on Medicine Ball Throws
As far as recovery goes, when our athletes are performing Sample Medicine Ball Pairing #1 (Medicine Ball Throw + Mobility Drill) they will take 45-60 sec. rest. once they complete their A2. mobility drill. On Sample Medicine Ball Pairing #2 (Upper Body Strength Exercise + Medicine Ball Throw), our athletes will perform this superset during their workout. Rest will be 90 sec. – 2 minutes depending on how much time the athlete needs to fully recover.
Complete Medicine Ball Power Development Program
If you’re someone that’s looking for a complete medicine ball program that you can implement into your workouts this off-season check out our 16-Week Medicine Ball Power Development Program
With our Med Ball Manual, you’ll get 16 weeks of carefully progressed throws, slowly building to high velocity, high power variations that will teach your body how to produce force, and transmit it through the body, as quickly and efficiently as possible. This program is designed to supplement your existing training regiment and take out the guesswork so you can focus on ball-breaking displays of power! Click HERE for more information!
