This is NOT intuitive for kids. They want stand facing their target and throw the ball. You’ll need to show them what it looks like to do this correctly. In other words, if the player is starting with the chest already facing the target – that’s not ideal. Have them turn and line the shoulders up.

This is an important habit to get into for future defense. If you think your kid might possibly ever want to field the ball, this is a good habit to create.

Take throwing hand out of glove facing the ground.

Once the ball is in throwing position, your fingers should be near your ear. The first tendency for most kids is to have the ball pointing at the target. As you can see in the video, that’s not what we want. That will result in weak throws.

The Scarecrow is a VERY common way of teaching young kids to throw. Avoid this. It’s not how baseball players actually throw.

At best, it will cost you accuracy, quickness and power

1) The “scarecrow” is bad for accuracy – It’s more difficult to repeat consistently. Complexity is the enemy of consistency. And so is getting further away from your core. Both of these will result in less accuracy and less consistency (which is the #1 complaint of infielders)

2) The “scarecrow” is bad for quickness – Being able to make an accurate, strong throw QUICKLY is important for infielders. Learning to throw this way can be a very hard habit to overcome in the future.

3) The “scarecrow” is bad for power – This is critical for infielders, but even most pitchers don’t throw this way anymore.

At worst, you’ll develop bad technique that can put stress on the shoulder and elbow and lead to injury down the road.

A better image for kids is the “bow and arrow”, for developing a compact, powerful and accurate throw across the infield.