“” How to Long Toss on a 120-Foot Throwing Program

Driveline Baseball

How to Long Toss on a 120-Foot Throwing Program

| Velocity Training
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Every year high-school and college players who have been preparing their arms for years with a long toss program and weighted balls sign with baseball teams that restrict their throwing distance to 120-feet.

Or, better, say “you can throw as much as far as you want…in 8 minutes.”

While there is no substitute to warming yourself up at a comfortable pace and to a maximum distance, having your throwing program restricted by distance or time is no excuse for giving up on trying to get your long toss in.

If you’re looking for more information about long toss itself, we wrote about some common misconceptions here & here.

Selecting Your Long Toss Partner

The challenge with being a “long toss guy” in any organization is that, realistically, you can only throw as far as the second-farthest-throwing guy. Great, if you have guys who can match you. But terrible if you want to go to 320 and everyone else wants to do 240.

Phases of a Long Toss Program

The main throwing phases of Alan Jaeger’s long toss program are the extension or going-out phase and the compression phase.

During extension, the goal is to get warm and loosen the arm. It’s also a great time for focused, submaximal throwing work.

Compression is high-output throwing with guys typically working in 5-10 feet with each throw.

In a time- or distance-restricted environment, you must be creative about your throwing phases, but you can still get work done that will approximate those stimuli.

How to Warm up for a Long Toss Program

Your warm-up and recovery times will need to happen before and after practice or games. With more general warm-ups happening at team events, focus on arm-specific warm-ups.

Before Practice

  • Foam Roll
  • Lacrosse Ball
  • J-Band Series
  • Upward Tosses (1×10, Black Ball)
  • Reverse Throws (1×10, Black Ball and Green Ball)

After Practice

  • Foam Roll
  • Lacrosse Ball
  • J-Bands: Internal/External Rotation
  • Upward Tosses (1×10, Black Ball)

Long Toss Program

We’ll break this into 2 phases, extension and compression. Right after team stretch and before catch, do the following:

  • Pivot Picks (5 reps with Green Plyo Ball ®)
  • Rocker Throws (1 set)

Simulated Long Toss Indoors – Possibly Necessary 

Extension Long Toss

Using a 9-ounce or 11-ounce ball, play light extension toss with a specific external or internal focus (i.e. hit partner in the chest or feel glove side disconnect from throwing arm).

If distance restricted: Extension catch out to 90-feet with weighted ball and easy toss out to maximum allowed distance.

If time restricted: Extension catch out to 90-feet with weighted ball. Increase intensity as you go out to tolerance distance.

Compression Long Toss

If distance restricted: Put the ball on a line repeatedly from 120 feet.

If time restricted: During the last 2 minutes of the throwing window, put the ball on a line walking in to 60 feet.

Think of the above program as a framework. You will need to tweak it in order to fit it into your practice schedule with your coaches.

Ultimately, it’s your responsibility for getting the most out of your playing career. And that includes making the best of a bad situation.

Is it probably optimal to play somewhere that allows you to throw weighted balls and long toss? Likely.

Is that possible for every athlete? No.

Ultimately at the highest level, roster spots are extremely limited. And, at the end of the day, it isn’t your coach’s fault if you aren’t on one.

Now you know how to long toss, but what is the reason behind why you should use it in your training? We wrote an article about what long toss is, read it here.

By Mike Rathwell
0 Likes | 11 Comments
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Comment section

  1. Ted -

    Do you compressionp phase with the weighted ball too? Or just extension to 90ft, then switch to baseball and continue extension?

  2. Eduardo salinas -

    I have bought the program and I am wondering what is the difference between Full jaeger longtoss series and the normal jaeger long toss series

    • Driveline Baseball -

      Eduardo, thanks for reaching out about this. The word “full” is to emphasize the fact that compression throws are included. If you are looking for additional information about programming, feel free to contact our support team directly at support@drivelinebaseball.com or 425-523-4030.

    • Driveline Baseball -

      Seth- The extension phase can be thought of as the going-out phase or when you are adding space between you and your throwing partner. During extension, the goal is to get warm and loosen the arm. It’s also a great time for focused, submaximal throwing work. When you start to work back in you can start the compression phase. Compression is high-output throwing with guys typically working in 5-10 feet with each throw. Athletes will be putting these balls on a line as they close the gap with their throwing partner.

  5. Alex Bihn -

    Is throwing the squishy weighted balls okay up to 90 ft or is it the leather command balls that would be better? If I don’t have the command balls would the squishy ones be an okay substitute?

  6. Albert -

    And just to clarify, are we using only 9 or 11 oz balls in this 120 ft or less long toss session? No regular 5 oz ball at all? Thx.

    • David Besky -

      Albert- we’d have you use both the weighted and the regular baseballs in these long toss sessions. Start by throwing the weighted ball until you get to 90 ft, then switch to the 5 oz ball and complete the rest of the long toss session with that.

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